The Missouri Tigers have become a rather interesting team under head coach Eli Drinkwitz the last few years (if you remember some of my rantings in the days after Nick Saban retired, Drinkwitz was one of the few guys I said I was interested in for Alabama). He started his coaching career in high school with Gus Malzahn. He trained under Malzahn at Auburn and Arkansas State, then (coincidentally) joined Brian Harsin’s staff at Boise State. His first head coaching job was at Appalachian State where he went 12-1 and won the Sun Belt, then immediately got his shot at Missouri.
His first three years were a struggle for the Tigers, but in 2023, the Tigers won 11 games and became a top-30 offense with QB Brady Cook. So far in 2024, they’re still at about 32 points per game, but have struggle a little in SEC play, scoring 10 vs Texas A&M, 21 vs Auburn, and 27 (before overtime) vs Vanderbilt.
Offensive coordinator Kirby Moore, interestingly, is a Fresno State guy, and was the passing game coordinator and WR coach for Kalen DeBoer before getting promoted to OC after DeBoer left, then coming over to Missouri.
The Missouri offense has some themes from the Malzahn tree, but is strongly pistol-based. The rushing game features a lot of offset TE looks (again, this is where you see the old 2010s Auburn influence) for unique blocking combinations that typically stem off of either inside zone runs or stretch plays.
The passing game is heavily play-action based, with most of the routes built on that timing, targeting either a post, a curl, or a checkdown. It’s not a very horizontal offense, but does attack different vertical levels fairly well.
The rushing game is the focus of this offense, with RB Nate Noel leading the charge with 503 yards at an impressive 5.9 yards per carry. The 190 pound 5th year senior transferred from Appalachian State and has been a revelation so far this season with his top-tier acceleration to chew up 15-20 yard chunk gains with even a sliver of a crease in the offensive line.
He shares the backfield with 5th year senior Georgia State transfer Marcus Carroll. At 205 pounds, Carroll is given the bulk of the short yardage and redzone work. He’s got 321 yards at 4.9 YPC, but has 6 TDs to Noel’s 2.
Finally, QB Brady Cook gets a fair share of designed QB keepers for some reason. He’s got almost 50 carries on the season. He’s not a BAD runner or anything, but it’s definitely a part of their offense I don’t understand.
In the passing game, Cook is completing 63% of his passes at 7.5 yards per attempt. Far from special, but his 7:1 touchdowns to interception is impressive, if a bit risk-averse. His main target is slot receiver Luther Burden, the All-American breakout player from last season. Burden hasn’t quite gotten as much production as he did a year ago, but he’s a dynamic threat with the ball in his hands and is expected to be a first round NFL draft pick this spring.
He’s flanked by two graduate transfers – Theo Wease from Oklahoma and Mookie Cooper from Ohio State. Wease is the main target, with 35 catches for 463 yards, but Cooper has pulled off some big plays with limited targets, averaging almost 20 yards per catch.
TE Brett Norfleet has 13 catches too, but the TEs are primarily blockers in this offense.
For Alabama, I think the Tide will match up fairly well with this scheme. The secondary tends to be able to crash on the curl, crosser, and check down routes with Wommack’s “vision-based” zone coverages. Shutting down the run game will be a little tougher, particularly the stretch plays if Alabama’s DBs aren’t able to take on blockers.
It’ll be a big game for new safety Bray Hubbard as he’ll likely be playing a lot of off-tackle clean up crew in the run game. And whoever is in the slot for the Tide is going to need help from Hubbard on limiting the damage the Burden can do after the catch.
I think Missouri will move the ball a bit on Alabama, but will struggle to get the ball into the endzone. I’m thinking 20-23 points for the Tigers.
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