Missouri football entered Saturday’s contest against Boston College with the worst run offense in the Power 5 and were tasked with stopping Boston College’s rushing offense, ranked No. 31 in the nation. Everyone and their mother knew what the Eagles’ offensive strategy would be going into the game.
“They’re gonna establish the run game,” Missouri defensive coordinator Steve Wilks said in pregame media availability. “That’s what they’re known for.”
Even knowing that Boston College planned to give the ball to redshirt sophomore running back Pat Garwo III all afternoon, Missouri’s defense couldn’t buy a stop in a 41-34 overtime loss at Alumni Stadium.
Missouri’s defense entered Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, allowing 269.3 rushing yards. Somehow, the Eagles surpassed that mark by allowing 275 yards on the ground. No matter if Garwo III, graduate running backs Alec Sinkfield and Travis Levy or redshirt senior quarterback Dennis Grosel carried the football, Missouri rarely stuffed the rusher for negative yards.
Missouri’s defense played better than it did against Kentucky, but 340 rushing yards and gaping holes for Wildcats’ junior running back Chris Rodriguez Jr. is a low bar to clear. Missouri’s defense hit the holes and got their hands on Garwo III, but few Tigers found consistent success in bringing him down.
Garwo III set the tone with his second carry of the afternoon. He took a handoff to the left, slipped out of the grasp of redshirt sophomore cornerback Ish Burdine, evaded junior defensive back Martez Manuel and shook off sophomore defensive back Jaylon Carlies en route to a 67-yard touchdown run to knot the game at 7-7 early.
“A lot of the time, explosive plays against any defense are going to be just the result of a missed tackle,” graduate linebacker Blaze Alldredge said. “Everybody draws it up to where it comes down to one-on-one with the running back in the hole with one person, and if you miss that tackle, it can get bad.”
While the Tigers weren’t torched for a chunk play of that size for the rest of the contest, the Eagles continued to run all over them the rest of the way.
Missouri shut down Boston College’s rushing attack in the second quarter, only allowing a single rushing yard on the Eagles’ five attempts. It looked like a sign of improvement, but the worst was yet to come.
Boston College finished with two running plays that eclipsed 10 yards in the second half, but head coach Jeff Hafley was more than okay with that. Seven running plays that ranged from three to seven yards kept Boston College on the field for 6:40 on its first possession of the second half. On the next series, the Eagles ran the ball on 12 of their 16 plays, going only 50 yards in 7:02 before settling for a field goal.
Missouri only gave up 10 points on those two drives, but the damage came in the time of possession battle: Boston College held the ball for 13:42 of the third quarter while Missouri had offensive possession for a measly 1:18.
“It just comes almost to a mental grind of we know what they’re doing and they know what we’re doing,” Alldredge said. “You can’t get lulled to sleep and give up play actions and stuff like that. It’s a challenge for sure.”
Behind redshirt sophomore quarterback Connor Bazelak and senior running back Tyler Badie, Missouri retook the lead with 14 unanswered points, and the Tigers forced one of the only punts of the game on a 3-and-out. But with 6:18 remaining and an inability to stop the run, Missouri’s lead slipped away.
The Eagles commandeered their second-shortest drive of the half, which relied more heavily on Levy, who continued the no-frills rushing attack of running the ball right up the middle for medium gains. When Levy punched it in from five yards out to give Boston College a 34-31 lead with just 25 seconds remaining, it surprised absolutely no one.
Missouri’s offense is not the problem. The Tigers have scored at least 28 points all four games this season. Bazelak has thrown for over 250 yards in every contest this season, and while Badie had a slow start, he surpassed 100 all-purpose yards by game’s end. Add on top of that Bazelak’s masterful two-minute drill to set up sophomore kicker Harrison Mevis’ career-long 56-yard field goal to send the game to overtime, and the offense that Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz put on the field put in a strong effort.
But the offense can’t always bail out Missouri’s defense. The Tigers finished out their first month of the season 2-2 with both losses coming in close, one-possession games, but the margins of those losses will become greater as Missouri faces more talented teams in the SEC.
Edited by Kyle Pinnell | kpinnell@themaneater.com