Each Sunday, PowerMizzou.com will hand out a position-by-position grade card for Missouri from Saturday's game. Here are the marks from the Tigers’ 59-28 victory over Southeast Missouri.
Quarterback: Missouri wasn't afraid to let Connor Bazelak air the ball out, even against FCS competition. Bazelak threw the ball 30 times during the first half, competing 21 of those throws for 346 yards and three touchdowns. He started sharp, completing each of his first 10 passes, including a pair of 46-yard bombs. He slowed down a bit after that, but the 346 yards still represented the third-highest yardage total of his college career. Bazelak wasn't perfect, as he missed a couple of open receivers downfield, but it's certainly difficult to criticize his performance too much after Missouri didn't punt, gained 19 first downs and scored 38 points during the first half. The two backups, Brady Cook and Tyler Macon, both saw their first action of the season and both threw touchdowns, as well. Cook hit Elijah Young for a three-yard score. All Macon did on his first college attempt was deliver a strike to JJ Hester, who took a slant 65 yards for a touchdown. GRADE: A-
Running backs: Tyler Badie only played a half, but he still managed to log another career high. Badie scored three touchdowns for the first time in his college career. He picked up right where he left off at Kentucky with a 49-yard burst on Missouri's first drive. Young looked solid in relief of Badie, rushing for 46 yards and catching three passes for 11 yards and the aforementioned touchdown. BJ Harris got his first action of the season and operated as Missouri's third running back, but Michael Cox was the star of the backfield in the second half. The walk-on redshirt freshman had a 55-yard scoring run and totaled 77 yards on four carries. GRADE: A
Wide receivers: The Tigers got a plethora of different pass-catchers involved. The receivers delivered, with seven different wideouts catching at least one pass. Boo Smith beat his defender and made a nice catch for a 46-yard touchdown, the first score of his career. Chance Luper also scored for the first time when he took a swing pass 52 yards. The play was made possible by good blocking from fellow wideouts Keke Chism and Tauskie Dove. True freshman Dominic Lovett caught four passes for 79 yards and also gained eight yards as a rusher. Hester may have been the best of the bunch, turning a slant into a 65-yard catch and run for his first touchdown and also catching a short pass and gaining 14 yards on third and 13. GRADE: A+
Tight Ends: Missouri didn't ask for as much from Daniel Parker Jr. and Niko Hea this week. Parker caught the only pass of the two when he found himself wide open for a 17-yard gain after a play fake. He did have a couple eye-popping blocks in the running game, as usual. Messiah Swinson had a nice catch that went for a first down and Ryan Hoestkamp saw his first college action, as well. GRADE: B
Offensive line: Even without Case Cook, the Missouri offensive line had little trouble handling SEMO's defensive front. With the starters in the game, the Tigers averaged 6.6 yards per rush and 9.7 yards per play. That doesn't happen without good offensive line play. Bazelak was hit a few times, but he did not get sacked, and SEMO only recorded one tackle for loss all game. GRADE: A
Defensive line: Missouri's run defense looked vastly improved from the first two weeks of the season — at least while the starters were in the game. SEMO only gained 56 yards rushing in the first half. However, the struggles against the run reappeared once the reserves entered the game. SEMO was able to find some running room, particularly on option plays. The Redhawks wound up with 294 yards rushing. Eli Drinkwitz made clear that he's not pushing the panic button yet, noting that most of the players who were on the field during the second half have only been practicing on the scout team, but it's fair to be concerned about Missouri's defensive depth moving forward. GRADE: B-
Linebackers: Missouri got its backup linebackers plenty of run after riding Blaze Alldredge and Devin Nicholson heavily for the first two games. Chad Bailey and Jamie Pettway combined to play about half the game and each recorded three tackles. True freshmen Dameon Wilson and Zach Lovett played most of the fourth quarter, the first college action for both, and there were some growing pains evident. Once again, depth is a concern here, maybe more so than any other position. GRADE: C
Secondary: SEMO certainly didn't find much success through the air. The Redhawks completed just eight of 15 passes for 79 yards. Kris Abrams-Draine made a nice catch for his first career interception, and Allie Green IV would have picked off CJ Ogbonna as well if not for a penalty on Jatorian Hansford. The defensive backfield wasn't tested much, but when SEMO did throw, it rarely had an open receiver. GRADE: A
Special Teams: Smith might need a refresher on when to field a punt (he let one bounce to the one-yard line) and when to call for a fair catch (he got drilled after fielding his first punt of the day), but that's nit-picking. Missouri managed to avoid getting a kick blocked after Drinkwitz warned of the Redhawks propensity to do so. Harrison Mevis made all eight of his kicks. Overall, a solid day. GRADE: A-
Coaching: You can debate the sportsmanship of Drinkwitz's decision to keep the offense on the field on fourth down and two while leading 31-0 at the end of the first half. But I like the fact that Drinkwitz coached his team hard all game coming off last week's loss. The only thing we were likely to learn about coaching in a matchup like this would have been bad, but I didn't see anything negative. GRADE: A
Final Overall Grade: A-
