Missouri football freshman quarterback Tyler Macon’s last start in a competitive football game came a whopping 707 days ago.
Macon, then a junior at East St. Louis Senior High School, led the undefeated Flyers to a 43-21 state championship victory over Prairie Ridge High School. That day, Macon completed 13 of his 19 passes for 304 yards and three touchdowns, while tacking on 91 yards and a touchdown on the ground.
Macon’s first start since then came Saturday in Athens, Georgia. He had nowhere near the amount of success he had in his last start — going up against No. 1 Georgia and college football’s top scoring defense, he and redshirt freshman quarterback Brady Cook found little offensive success against in the 43-6 blowout.
“I thought [Macon and Cook] had good and bad, and both had some learning experiences,” Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz said.
Drinkwitz ran with a two-quarterback system Saturday afternoon after his usual starting quarterback, redshirt sophomore Connor Bazelak, sustained a soft tissue injury in the fourth quarter of last Saturday’s 37-28 victory over Vanderbilt. With the quarterback situation up in the air, Drinkwitz said he wanted to give Macon and Cook opportunities in Athens.
“We told them both they were going to play, and I thought [Macon] had the first couple of drives, and Brady had a couple of drives,” Drinkwitz said. “[We were] just trying to see if one of them could really spark us and sustain it.”
Drinkwitz stuck with Macon for the first two drives against Georgia. Macon’s two opportunities at the reins of the Tigers’ offense in Nashville, Tennessee, foreshadowed how Drinkwitz plotted out his early offensive game plan.
Macon’s ability to both pass as well as use his legs to get out of difficult situations helped Missouri find early success against Georgia’s formidable defense.
On Missouri’s second drive of the afternoon, Macon took a shotgun snap on a 3rd-and-6, brought the ball up as if he was going to pass, then tucked the ball and bolted through a hole up the middle for a 20-yard gain. Macon’s rush set the Tigers up inside Georgia’s 30-yard line. The drive ended with a field goal from sophomore kicker Harrison Mevis, which gave the Tigers a brief 3-0 lead in the first quarter.
That play wasn’t an anomaly. Macon carried the ball 11 times for 42 yards, most of which came from designed quarterback draws. Macon’s ability to run the ball provided the Tigers’ offense with a new look that it can’t use as effectively with Bazelak and Cook both being less mobile than Macon.
Cook led Missouri’s offense on three first-half drives, but none of them amounted to anything. He completed all five pass attempts, but those completions resulted in just 10 yards as the Georgia defense snuffed out screen and swing passes behind the line of scrimmage.
The passing performance didn’t improve much over the course of the next 30 minutes, as Macon and Cook finished the afternoon a combined 20-32 for 152 yards. Neither quarterback racked up many yards until Drinkwitz switched the passing attack to a more vertical scheme, which allowed for redshirt junior wide receiver Tauskie Dove to make catches of 31 and 28 yards in the final two possessions.
“[We] had more confidence in our ability to throw the ball in those moments,” Drinkwitz said.
Given the context of two quarterbacks getting their first crack against a top-tier defense, Missouri’s offense sustained more drives than expected. Their 273 yards of total offense are the fourth-most Georgia has allowed this year, and the Tigers gained more yards than the likes of Clemson, Kentucky and Arkansas.
Only one of Missouri’s 10 drives surpassed 50 yards, but Macon and Cook led the offense to the brink of scoring on several occasions. Half of Missouri’s drives crossed midfield, and the Tigers had opportunities to make the final score line closer.
But nearly every drive in which the Tigers had a chance to cut into the deficit went awry. The two quarterbacks lacked explosive plays to bring Missouri closer to the end zone.
Missouri’s final offensive play summed up Cook and Macon’s difficulties against Georgia’s defense. After driving the ball down to Georgia’s 1-yard line in just over two minutes, Missouri failed to find paydirt on two consecutive plays to bring up a 4th-and-goal. Macon rolled out to his right and found senior tight end Daniel Parker Jr. open at the goal line.
Macon threw behind his intended target and Parker Jr. couldn’t reel the ball in. As the ball hit the Sanford Stadium grass, another opportunity slipped through the fingers of a Missouri quarterback to make a significant impact against the nation’s best team.
Edited by Kyle Pinnell | kpinnell@themaneater.com
