If you’re looking for some early poop on Missouri, here’s a Q&A with beat writer Dave Matter that may shed some light on a few things.
It sounds like the Tigers’ offense is being retooled, with some hope that it’s got the same DNA that caused Kirby Smart problems a few years ago.
Q: Do the Tigers believe they have the secret code for breaking a Kirby Smart defense in Josh Heupel? Can you explain their history for our readers?
Matter: “I’m not sure they believe they have the secret code, but at least five offensive players interviewed Monday mentioned the 2014 Sugar Bowl, when Heupel’s Oklahoma offense shredded Smart’s Alabama defense for 429 yards. The offense has been watching that film and it’s obvious we’ll see some elements from OU’s game plan show up on Saturday, possibly the heavy use of presnap shifts and motions the Sooners used.”
On the other hand, the defense appears to be different, too, which may not be such a good thing (remember that last year’s great defensive line coach is now with Richt in Miami).
“Missouri has switched to more of a read scheme along the front where linemen have to diagnose formations and adjust their assignments accordingly. In the past, they were free to burst off the ball and rush up field. There’s been a learning curve so far, and linemen are still adjusting to their new assignments. This group still has loads of talent, starting with Harris, though he hasn’t had much of an impact the first two games. West Virginia and Eastern Michigan neutralized MU’s pass rush with quick passes. Both teams had mobile quarterbacks who had some success on designed runs. This might be a better matchup for the front four because they don’t have to worry about either QB scrambling or keeping the ball on options.”
Missouri finished last season second in the conference in total defense. After two 2016 games, the Tigers are thirteenth, yielding about 130 more yards per game — against West Virginia and Eastern Michigan. Perhaps more surprisingly, they’ve gone from middle of the conference pack in sacks to dead last.
I don’t want to read too much into the sample size, but if Georgia can run on the Mizzou defense and its quarterbacks aren’t feeling much heat, those are good reasons to be optimistic that the Dawgs can put some points on the board.
Get The Picture 
“if Georgia can run on the Mizzou defense and its quarterbacks aren’t feeling much heat, those are good reasons to be optimistic that the Dawgs can put some points on the board.”………..having to assume that both those things happen in order to be optimistic is why I am NOT optimistic.
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Yeah, exactly. Watching our Schitty offense the past two games doesn’t give me the warm fuzzies. We might end up on the wrong end of a 9-6 thriller this year.
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To do that you have to assume that we make two field goals. Bold.
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Well, we could always miss the extra point.
Gah, I’ve done a complete 180 from the start of the season. I hope the Dawgs wash this bad taste out of my mouth with some tasty Koolaid this Saturday.
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And i’m making the trip! Hope the dawgs do not disappoint.
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I think Mizzou suspended two of their DL players this summer, made me wonder if that were that deep. Odum was a solid DC but they do seem softer this year. Our OL should have been read the riot act this week so if we don;t have success blocking in Columbia this week, you can prepare to be humiliated in Oxford the following week. What I don’t understand is why we haven’t mixed or matched along the front, we were told this summer that we had 10-11 we felt good about.
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Why haven’t we mixed/matched along the DL? Why haven’t we thrown to the TEs? Why haven’t we spread out a little to give Chubb/Michel/Herrien/Holyfield a little space? Why haven’t we thrown on early downs more often?
That busload of 5*’s better arrive quickly if we’re going to stick with this “impose our will” type of game plan. Otherwise, this might be Boom 2.0.
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I blame it on Shotty, apparently Cheney thinks it is the Georgia Way…only had time to study 2015 film, missed the Bobo years I guess.
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Not feeling good about this game…….not feeling good at all
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The post itself clearly states that Mizz have new stuff going on in both Offense and defense so there will be adjustments and mistakes to be expected from both teams. It’s just a matter of which 2 teams out scheme each other and which team will have athletes missing the calls.
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Talent matters. Mizzou is no slouch, but UGA has more of it.
Bottom line is that Mizzou lost to their real opponent but dominated their cupcake…whereas, UGA beat their real opponent but struggled against their cupcake.
I’ll let you guess which scenario I feel is more predictive of future success.
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I think Georgia romps. It’s a bad match-up for Missouri, and the offense is only going to get better each week. I think Chaney takes some of the training wheels off Eason this week, too.
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Now that the East schedule gets started, the playbook has to open up a bit more offensively, which means our talent level should rise….special teams will prove to be +/- the topic of of conversation
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Three games, 3 venues: neutral, home, and away. I believe this is a good place to kick-off our sec schedule. It isn’t as hostile as many other sec locales. Its a program in a huge state of flux after losing an overachieving HC (perhaps best HC ever at mizzou?). Last year’s stats are meaningless for mizzou. I see mizzou as being in serious rebuilding mode, although I like Heupel as OC. Maybe by the time Lock’s a senior they might be okay. For now they’re equivalent to vandy or kentuck. If we lose, it’ll be because we hand it to them.
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No #11 and I will be happy with a win or loss.
“Men, this is our QB and we need to rally behind him”
or
“Men, we are not sure who to pick to lead us, but support whoever we put in, ummkayy?”
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I don’t feel good about this game at all. But I also have Munson blood pumping through my veins.
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Considering we are coming off our worst performance since the 40s, we will likely play better this week. I think thats about all you can say at this point.
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Throw to the Tight Ends! Amiright?
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I watched the Mizzou game on Sat night. Yes, I know that they played against a lesser opponent (E. Mich.) and, yes, I know my view was likely skewed by our awful showing against our lesser opponent, but, my God, they have a FAST offense.
Even in this day of HUNH, the speed of their drives was more impressive than anything I’ve seen in awhile. Here are the number of plays and time of possession for each of their 7 scoring drives (each one of which resulted in a TD; they also had a punt return for a TD):
7 plays = 1:31
12 plays = 2:40
1 play = 0:15
3 plays = 0:21
6 plays = 1:33
7 plays = 1:36
14 plays = 3:25
Seriously, 12 plays in 2:40 and 14 in 3:25. They were ablaze getting back to the LOS after each play. Drew Lock looked like Drew Brees. ( I read he had nearly half of his 450 yards (and a 400+ passer rating) just on balls thrown over 30+ yards in the air.) Mizzou put up 61 points in just over 21 minutes of possession. (A 61-21 win during which you spend much of the 4th Qtr trying to run out the clock, and, even with that, your opponent dominates TOP 39 minutes to 21 minutes.)
So I don’t think there’s any doubt we win the clock battle on offense, but I hope to hell we can keep our 3-and-out success going on defense. If not, I hope the one positive about the lack of urgency exhibited against Nicholls will be that we at least have some fresh legs for Sat nite. We’ll need them.
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Sorry for the long post, but with all the comments about 9-6 scores, “rebuilding” and “retooling” Mizzou offense, and the two defenses, I just didn’t think enough attention had been given to the pace of their offense.
The rebuild and retool construction project looked pretty damn completed as of last Saturday night. One thing’s for sure: This ain’t last year’s UGA-Mizzou game; ain’t go be no 9-6.
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I put more stock in how UNC’s offense did against Illinois than how Mizzou’s offense performed against EMU…but that’s just me.
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I hear there are plenty of tickets available!
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