By his own admission, the start of Blaze Alldredge’s time in a Missouri uniform didn’t go as planned. Early in the first half of the Tigers’ season-opening matchup with Central Michigan, the graduate transfer linebacker from Rice failed to fill a few running lanes and missed multiple tackles. Around halftime, he said, he acknowledged to himself that he was “leaving money on the field.”
Like its starting weakside linebacker, Missouri’s defense struggled early. On its first possession, Central Michigan marched 75 yards in five plays for a touchdown. The Chippewas scored again midway through the second quarter to take a 14-7 lead over the Tigers, and the margin could have been larger had it not been for a timely strip sack from Trajan Jeffcoat that pushed CMU out of field goal range.
But both Alldredge and new defensive coordinator Steve Wilks didn’t let the slow start sap their aggressiveness. Wilks kept dialing up pressure, and his defense delivered — particularly Alldredge. Alldredge continually knifed through the Central Michigan offensive line and hit Chippewa quarterback Jacob Sirmon. He finished the game with 3.5 sacks — the most by a Missouri player in a single game since Brian Smith recorded four sacks against New Mexico in 2006.
Missouri’s offense responded to Central Michigan’s go-ahead score with 10 straight points, and then its defense settled in. The Tigers ultimately won 34-24.
“Blaze performed just like how he did all fall camp,” safety Martez Manuel said of Alldredge. “I'm not surprised. The dude's a beast.”
If there were two areas in which Missouri struggled under former defensive coordinator Ryan Walters, it was rushing opposing passers and taking the ball away. Head coach Eli Drinkwitz acknowledged that his team’s first defensive performance of the year included a lot of errors that need to be cleaned up, but Wilks’ unit delivered in those two areas.
Missouri finished the game with nine total sacks. No one seems to know the last time the Tigers recorded that many sacks in a single game, but it’s been since at least 2000. The defense also totaled 14 tackles for loss and two interceptions. For reference, last season, Missouri averaged 1.9 sacks, five tackles per loss and half an interception per game. Drinkwitz said those kind of momentum-generating plays helped mask the other mistakes.
“I think Steve did a nice job there,” Drinkwitz said. “Obviously got beat a few times, but we made up for it on sacks and turnovers, and that's kind of the name of the game for us defensively is we got to force turnovers, negative yardage plays. There's gonna be a lot of things on tape we want to fix, starting with some tackling issues and gap integrity issues in the run game. But we’ll fix them.”
After the game, several defensive players said it took about two quarters for the defense to get comfortable. Central Michigan ran some plays and formations it hadn’t before shown on film, Alldredge said, and he also admitted that playing in front of a sizable crowd for the first time in nearly two years resulted in some early-game jitters.
But as the game went on, Wilks made adjustments and his players found a rhythm. That led to the pass rush being more effective. Six of Missouri’s nine sacks came during the second half.
Both Alldredge and Manuel praised Wilks for his in-game adjustments. Manuel even said at one point Wilks “drew up a play in the dirt that was really successful for us.”
“I think we did a great job just adapting over the course of the game and finding their weak points,” Alldredge said, “and I think that’s what led to a lot of the sacks.”
Wilks showed Saturday that he’s not afraid to be aggressive in bringing pressure. Five-and-a-half of the team’s nine sacks came from blitzing linebackers or safeties. His blitzes clearly fooled Central Michigan on several occasions, too. Alldredge charged through the defensive line untouched on a couple plays, and quarterback-turned-safety Shawn Robinson burst into the backfield so quickly in the fourth quarter that Sirmon barely controlled the snap before Robinson tackled him.
“One of the biggest strengths of our defense, I think, is that we do a really good job of making everything look the same,” Alldredge said. “And especially at the college level, there's not a lot of quarterbacks that are going to be able to notice slight differences in things and, you know, call out blitzes or call out different coverages. So credit to coach Wilks. It's been one of my favorite things about the defense since I've come here is that we do a really good job of keeping a lot of our looks the same so the offense doesn't know what's coming.”
The pressure didn’t just lead to sacks and tackles for loss. Missouri came up with two key interceptions, something Wilks promised with his infusion of more zone coverage into the scheme. Tulsa graduate transfer cornerback Akayleb Evans grabbed his first career interception in the first half when he undercut a pass from Sirmon and out-muscled the intended receiver. Free safety Jaylon Carlies came down with an important pick in the second half, grabbing an overthrown ball along the sideline and tapping his toes in bounds when Central Michigan was driving and trailing by just three points.
“It was pretty big for us,” Drinkwitz said of Carlies’ interception. “They were past the 50 and were in field goal range.”
While the start of his performance might have been underwhelming, Alldredge’s final stat line jumps off the page. He finished the game with 10 total tackles, which included six for loss. Drinkwitz said he wasn’t surprised by the impressive debut.
“Have you seen his hair?” Drinkwitz quipped. “You wear hair like that, you gotta be a player. Yeah, I kind of expected it. I don’t know if I expected three and a half sacks, but he’s a good player.”
Likewise, the defensive players said the unit has plenty of room to get better. But while the tackling and schematic execution should improve with time, the aggressive blitzing and emphasis on creating sacks and turnovers will remain a cornerstone under Wilks.
“It’s very important to us,” Manuel said. “That’s something that was being emphasized through fall camp by coach Wilks. … But it wasn't even our best night. So when we're clicking on all cylinders and playing how I know we can play, it’s going to be even better.”
Bazelak goes deep on first play
Throughout the offseason, one of the question marks surrounding Missouri starting quarterback Connor Bazelak had been his ability to extend the field vertically. Bazelak completed just 28 percent of passes that traveled more than 20 yards in the air last season, according to Pro Football Focus.
On the very first snap of the season, Bazelak challenged that narrative. Drinkwitz dialed up a play-action pass and wide receiver Boo Smith beat his defender on a deep post route. Bazelak launched a rainbow that landed in Smith’s outstretched hands for a gain of 63 yards. The following play, running back Tyler Badie started his big day by finding a hole for a 12-yard touchdown.
“We thought the stage was set, and if it was, we were going to take it,” Drinkwitz said of the play call. “And hat’s off to being a great throw, catch.”
Bazelak wound up completing 21 of 31 passes for 257 yards and two touchdowns. He narrowly overthrew an open Smith for what would have been another long score. He said after the game he wanted that one back.
While the fast start drew the first roars of the season from the home crowd and gave Missouri a seven-point lead less than 30 seconds into the game, Drinkwitz said it might have lulled the Tigers into a premature sense of security.
“I think maybe it backfired on us a little bit because I think we all took an exhale instead of putting the hammer down,” he said. “That’s something to learn from.”
Carlies makes impact in second half
In a bizarre twist, Missouri had to take the field without one of its starting defensive backs Saturday. Carlies served a suspension during the first half of the game due to a targeting penalty he drew during last year’s season finale at Mississippi State. Carlies was ejected as a result of the call, and because it occurred in the second half of the game, he was also suspended for the first half of the following game. And since Missouri withdrew from its bowl game due to COVID-19 contact tracing, that suspension carried over to Saturday.
Jalani Williams started in place of Carlies, and he recorded four tackles and a pass break-up. But once Carlies entered the game, he made his presence known — particularly to Sirmon. Early in the fourth quarter, Sirmon tried to scramble, and Carlies delivered a thunderous hit to his midsection, forcing Sirmon to miss the following play.
Carlies totaled six tackles in addition to his interception, when he showed off his ball skills honed as a high school wide receiver. Drinkwitz said he was pleased with the performances of both Carlies and Williams.
“He’s a good player,” Drinkwitz said of Carlies. “But I thought Jalani played pretty good in the first half, too. So kudos to us, we got two pretty good free safeties. JC just brings a little bit of a load when he hits you, and he was able to secure that interception. Jalani had a shot at one, kind of was off balance. But it wasn’t like we weren’t confident Jalani could win the game for us at safety, it was just an opportunity for JC to play the second half.”
Faurot three-quarters full
Saturday marked the first time since Nov. 23, 2019 that Missouri fans could pack Faurot Field to watch Missouri play with no limit on attendance. In the days leading up to the game, Drinkwitz challenged the fanbase on multiple occasions to show up in force.
Fans ultimately filled the stadium to roughly 75 percent capacity. The university reported an official attendance of 46,327. The stadium capacity is listed at 62,621.
Asked about the crowd after the game, Drinkwitz expressed gratitude for those who attended.
“I appreciate everybody that showed up,” he said. “I mean, it’s an awesome opportunity for us, and that’s the first time I’ve seen Faurot the way it was, and everybody that came provided an energy and a boost. I’m never going to focus on people that aren't here. I'm only gonna focus on the people that are here, whether it's on our football team, whether it's in our fans or whatever. So I appreciate how many were here and their contribution to helping us be 1-0.”
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