PFF Insights: Mizzou at No. 25 South Carolina

Another season of college football means another season of Rivals teaming up with PFF College to do a deep dive on player analytics. After every Missouri football game, we will use PFF College's numbers to break down the Tigers' performance as a unit and as individuals. Here is a breakdown of how the team performed in week two as well as how they did individually. For those unfamiliar with how PFF calculates its grades, an explanation can be found here.

Overall grades

Pro Football Focus grades offenses based on five categories: passing, rushing, receiving, pass blocking and run blocking. It grades defenses based on four: run defense, tackling, pass rush and coverage. Here's how Missouri fared in each category Saturday.

Takeaways: The 367 yards of total offense Missouri put up is the second-most (370 at Florida) total yards Mizzou has had versus a conference opponent this season. The total offensive grade is a bit misleading. This grade is actually a little lower than the Tigers' grade last week (67.5) versus Vandy when it was shut out in the second half to a bottom-three FBS defense.

This was the highest passing grade of the season and marked the second time this season that the passing grade was above 80 (versus Abilene Christian in week three).

The rushing grade is far below the season average, but that's because sometimes the analytics don't always have the context or use the best context. Running back Cody Schrader was chipping away with positive yardage and kept the chains moving forward for the Tigers. Typically, Nathaniel Peat would be good for a run or two a game where he would make a big chunk run to boost the stats. Schrader's longest run of the night was nine yards, but his impact can't be understated. He helped get the Tigers into a lot of third and manageable situations which the Tigers excelled in.

The receiving grade is about right. Dominic Lovett was the only receiver making plays consistently and was the only receiver with three or more catches and 30 or more receiving yards. Barrett Banister and Luther Burden III joined Lovett as the only receivers to catch a pass.

With the exception of the Florida game, the Tigers' pass-blocking grade has always been between 63.9 and 69.5. The Tigers only allowed one sack and only three pressures.

Run blocking appeared to be slightly better than the grade suggests. Part of that could be because Schrader was just running the ball up the middle and kept his legs churning which made sure the offensive line didn't have to block longer than it actually could. It did mark Missouri's fifth straight game with a run-blocking grade below 60.

Takeaways: A true testament to how good this defense is it gave up 10 points to a top 25 team and its total defensive grade, while still very good, is still below its season average. Missouri has the 21st-best total defensive grade in the FBS for the season. For comparison, last season's defense had a total defensive grade of 68.8 which ranked 91st.

The run defense used to be a crutch for this defense a season ago and is now one of its strength which is also telling considering the most consistent position group is probably the secondary. Mizzou only allowed 32 rushing yards on 23 carries against South Carolina.

The pass rush was a little bit better than the grade indicates. Last week, Mizzou had 23 pressures and got one sack. This week, it had 24 pressures and had four sacks. Pressuring Spencer Rattler was a part of the game plan and it worked out well for the Tigers.

The series when the defense allowed the Gamecocks to score its lone touchdown was the drive when Mizzou had a defensive holding call on cornerback Dreyden Norwood and then a pass interference on cornerback Kris Abrams-Draine. So, scoring almost a grade of 90 while having some key penalties is still outstanding. Spencer Rattler completed 20 of 31 passes for 171 yards and an interception.

The only blimp on these grades for the Tigers is their tackling grade which graded out better than its season average, but indicates it was far from a great day in that department. The Tigers missed seven tackles.

Note: Players qualify for top performers if they record 15 or more snaps.

Other notables: Lovett caught all 10 targets for a career-high 10 receptions and a career-high 148 receiving yards. This was his third 100-yard receiving game of the season.

This was easily Cook's best game of the season and Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz said that the team doesn't win the game without Cook's play (more on Cook down below).

Armand Membou got some looks as a sixth offensive lineman which has been his role since week four. Membou had the team's best run-blocking grade at 72.2.

Left tackle Javon Foster had the best total offensive grade among the Tigers' starting offensive linemen at 62.1.

EJ Ndoma-Ogar got the start at right guard in place of Mitchell Walters and had an overall grade of 52.9. Part of that is because there weren't any big runs up the middle and because Ndoma-Ogar had a false start. He did have a pass-blocking grade of 76.1 which was the third-best of any offensive lineman.

Right tackle Connor Wood had the best pass-blocking grade at 81.0 which is his second straight game with a pass-block grade above 80.

Cook's week nine performance was the best he has played all season even though statistically it wasn’t his best. That would be when he completed 22 of 30 passes for three touchdowns and 292 yards versus Abilene Christian in week three.

In week nine, he outplayed his season passing pressure grades after completing 17 of 26 passes for 224 yards. He also rushed for 53 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries. Cook was poised in the pocket and seemed to never be rattled. He didn't force passes and probably had his best pocket of the season behind his offensive line in week nine.

He was 13 of 17 on passes 10 yards or less and a lot of that was due to the screen passes and jet sweeps. Completing short passes at a high efficiency is typical for Cook and this offense. What's not typical is Cook efficiently throwing the ball 10 yards or further. Cook was actually 5 of 7 on passes 10 yards or more (this graph is missing a deep middle pass to Lovett for a gain of 21).

Cook was at his best when he was not blitzed, earning a grade of 83.0 after going 15 of 22 for 218 yards when he wasn't being blitzed. He was also decent when he was kept clean with a grade of 75.5 after going 15 of 23 for 164 yards.

He was at his worst when he was blitzed, eating a grade of 59.6 after completing 2 of 4 passes for six yards.

Other notables: Norwood had a pass deflection and the lone interception of the game to seal the win for the Tigers. Norwood also had the highest coverage grade on the team at 89.5. Norwood wasn't perfect as he did have a holding penalty on what would be the Gamecocks' lone scoring drive. Overall, Norwood has come on strong over the last three to four games as the Tigers' No. 3 cornerback who is capable of filling in for starting cornerbacks Ennis Rakestraw and Abrams-Draine at a moments notice.

Rakestraw has seemed to make a play game after game. He had four tackles, a tackle for loss, a pass deflection and a forced fumble in week nine which marked his fourth straight game with a pass deflection.

His partner on the other side of the field, Abrams-Draine had a decent day himself with five tackles and a pass deflection. Although, he did have a pass interference penalty called on him on the same drive as Norwood's penalty. Abrams-Draine finished with a total defensive grade of 73.5 and the best tackling grade on the team at 80.9.

Safety Martez Manuel led the team in tackles (along with Abrams-Draine and Isaiah McGuire) with five tackles, a sack, a tackle for loss and a quarterback hit. He had the highest run-defense grade at 76.1. Manuel's fellow safeties also came to play. Joseph Charleston had three tackles, a tackle for loss and a quarterback hit. Again, Charleston had another bone-rattling hit which seems to be a weekly occurrence for the Clemson transfer. Jaylon Carlies had three tackles, two tackles for a loss and a forced fumble and Daylan Carnell had three tackles and a fumble recovery.

Linebacker Ty'Ron Hopper's streak of games with five tackles or more ended at seven games after only having three tackles in week nine. Hopper still had a really good game. Along with his three tackles he had two tackles for loss, a pass deflection and a quarterback hit. He had the best pass rush grade of any Tiger at 81.4.

McGuire received a total defensive grade of 58.1, but had one of the better stat lines on either side of the ball for Missouri. He had five tackles, three tackles for loss and two sacks.

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