Questions Remain Following Missouri’s Win Over Abilene Christian

Evidently purple groups with Wildcats as their mascot are destined to provide the Missouri Tigers bother this season.

Per week after a 40-12 blowout loss to the Kansas State Wildcats, the Missouri Tigers struggled at instances at dwelling towards the Abilene Christian Wildcats. Regardless of a 34-17 victory for the Tigers, they seemingly struggled to place the sport away for good. 

Offensively, the Tigers appeared significantly better from Week 2 to Week 3, as quarterback Brady Prepare dinner appeared poised and able to ship. He accomplished 21 of 30 passes for 294 yards and three touchdowns. 

Prepare dinner related with receiver Dominic Lovett for 132 receiving yards and a pair of touchdowns on seven receptions. In the meantime, freshman receiver Luther Burden III confirmed why he was such a coveted recruit for coach Eliah Drinkwitz and his employees.

The freshman caught six passes for 58 yards whereas returning 4 punts for 111 complete yards, together with a 78-yard landing return to open the scoring for the Tigers within the first quarter. 

Nevertheless, whereas the passing sport was firing on all cylinders, the identical cannot be stated for the dashing assault. The Tigers completed the sport with 193 yards dashing, which does not appear dangerous on paper. Nevertheless, exterior of three runs that gained 77 yards, they solely averaged 3.0 yards per carry and struggled to maneuver the ball on the bottom. 

No opponent must be taken flippantly, after all, however there isn’t a motive the Tigers ought to battle this a lot towards the Wildcats. If they can not get the run sport getting into a sport like this, there isn’t any telling how they anticipate to get it going after they get into SEC play towards significantly better defenses. 

Whereas there have been undoubtedly shiny spots on offense, the identical cannot precisely be seen for the defensive effort the Tigers put forth. Sure, they held the Wildcats to 17 factors and received by 17, however the protection nonetheless left a lot to be desired forward of convention play. 

They allowed the Wildcats to realize 309 yards of complete offense, struggling mightily at instances to get off the sector, with the Wildcats working 59 performs to the Tigers’ offense working 71. 

Once more, whereas an opponent must be taken flippantly if that is how the Missouri protection performs towards Abilene Christian, there isn’t a telling the way it will carry out towards a lot harder SEC opponents. 

Do not be mistaken, there are facets to be happy with for the Tigers after this sport. Prepare dinner appeared significantly better, and the receiver duo of Burden and Lovett present a spark on offense that makes the passing sport deadly after they’re clicking. 

Nevertheless, there are merely too many questions surrounding this Missouri workforce as they stare down SEC play subsequent week. The run sport struggles to get going whereas the protection can not get off the sector at instances. Once they play groups like Georgia, if these points aren’t mounted, it could possibly be ugly. 

After three weeks of the season and with a 2-1 report, Missouri nonetheless has loads of inquiries to reply. If they do not reply these questions in a rush, although, there isn’t any telling how this season will search for the Tigers. 

You can discover Connor Zimmerlee on Twitter @Connorjz98

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