Ten Thoughts from Mizzou's 17-10 win over South Carolina
PowerMizzou.com had wall-to-wall coverage of Missouri's win over South Carolina late into Saturday night. Now we take a next morning deeper dive into some things that stood out.
What we liked, what we didn't and where the Tigers go from here in our ten thoughts from the game:
Let’s start with some good because, well, it was a win and why wouldn’t we start there?
1) Nick Bolton has reached absolute superstar status. The dude is playing out of his mind. He is everywhere. He was making tackles in the backfield and 20 yards downfield last night. He nearly (probably should have) had an interception. He did everything for Mizzou. Again. Bolton had 14 tackles, which is exactly twice as many as anyone else on the team. In seven games he now has 81 tackles, including seven for a loss and 56 solo stops. Bolton entered yesterday 13th in the country with 11.17 tackles per game and his performance against the Gamecocks bumped that number up to 11.57. Only two players averaging more tackles per game have played as many games as Bolton (oddly, both play for Arkansas: Grant Morgan and Bumper Pool). Someone asked me yesterday where I’d put Bolton on the list of Mizzou linebackers in the last 20 years. I can’t put him over Sean Weatherspoon. Spoon was a tackling machine and a three-time all-Big 12 player on the best teams Mizzou has had in 60 years. But I’d put Bolton second behind Spoon and ahead of Kentrell Brothers. He just seems like a guy that makes more plays to me. It’s fun when a guy who is hyped up to you before he plays a down actually lives up to that hype. Bolton has been everything the previous staff thought he was going to be. Enjoy the next four games. I can’t see a scenario where he stays beyond this year.
2) Bolton is the star, but when the defense plays as well as it did last night, there are contributors all over the place. Since the LSU game, I feel like Isaiah McGuire has really emerged. He’s a guy you notice. He’s a guy I think you can build around. For the second time this season, Missouri was woefully undermanned on the defensive line and McGuire made his presence known with five tackles and a TFL. I question any system in which Nick Bolton wasn’t the highest graded player on the defense, but PFF had McGuire with the highest mark. Martez Manuel was all over the place. I thought it was his best game, including a sack and a half. I’d like to see him jawing at the other team a bit less (that could really go team wide) but he played a hell of a game. You can definitely see it with Ennis Rakestraw. Corner is a tough position to play in the SEC, especially as a freshman and especially when the officials are throwing flags any time you breathe on a receiver wearing pants, but Rakestraw has looked like everything he was billed to be thus far.
3) Tauskie Dove gets starter’s reps the rest of the way at receiver.
RELATED COVERAGE FROM SATURDAY NIGHT:
Video: Drinkwitz post-game press conference
Mitchell Forde's Instant Impressions
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