Three takeaways from Missouri football’s 23-19 Win Over Middle Tennessee State

Missouri Football’s 23-19 win over Middle Tennessee State can be summed up with one classic saying: “a win is a win.” No matter if a team wins by 40 or stumbles its way to a close victory like Missouri did on Saturday, the tallies are added to the same column in the record book.

Though Missouri came away with the win, the list of critiques for the performance is longer than a CVS receipt. The Tigers came into the game as 21-point-favorites, yet their biggest lead of the night was only 13 . From the highs of Nathaniel Peat’s 49-yard touchdown, and the lows of Brady Cook’s disastrous safety, here are three takeaways from Missouri’s second win of the season.

Offense is in need of aggression

Leading 23-10 with 10:42 left in the game, the Tigers faced a 4th-and-1 from the Blue Raider’s 44-yard line. Instead of trying to convert on the fourth down to potentially take control of the game, head coach Eli Drinkwitz sent the punt team to the field. The fans responded with a wave of boos. Any score on this drive would’ve likely sealed the game for Missouri, and even if they didn’t score, a first down would’ve killed more time.

“Up 13, if [Middle Tennessee] has to go 83 yards, their chances of scoring are a lot less than on the 50 [yard line],” Drinkwitz said after the game.  “I think it’s the right call every time.”

Instead of playing to win, the team was more so playing not to lose. This mindset has drawn plenty of criticism from fans over the years. 

Drinkwitz putting more faith in his powerful defense than his offense is reasonable. In this situation, however, moving the ball just three feet seemed fairly achievable. The idea should be to dictate the direction of the game instead of playing passively.

This offense revolves around Luther Burden III

When describing sophomore wide receiver Luther Burden III’s game after his first 100-yard performance of his career, senior wide receiver Theo Wease Jr. put it simply, 

“Luther is him.”

Burden once again proved that he’s the engine to the inconsistent vehicle that is the Missouri offense. It’s not ideal to not know whether or not your vehicle will sputter after a few yards or make it all the way to its destination. 

This offseason, Drinkwitz handed the keys of the Missouri offense over to offensive coordinator Kirby Moore. One of Moore’s main focuses for the offense was increasing the amount of explosive plays. The group was unsuccessful in that regard against Middle Tennessee, as only three of Brady Cook’s 14 completions went for more than 15 yards. Two of the three were to Burden. 

One of Burden’s big-time catches, a 44-yard-reception over the back of an MTSU defender, showed off the sophomore’s untapped ability to compete for contested catches. Burden has done more than enough to prove that he’s an elite playmaker, and  his value to the Missouri offense can not be overstated. He has the wheels to gain separation from corners, and has become a much more aggressive pass-catcher in his sophomore year. 

If the passing offense is going to find any success this year, it’s likely going to be because of Burden’s elite play. 

Lots to clean up before Kansas State

Next week, the 15th-ranked Kansas State Wildcats will come to Faurot Field. On Saturday night, Missouri did not look like a team that would be able to compete with a team like Kansas State. 

“There’s just so much to work on,” Drinkwitz said. “[The] lack of explosiveness offensively, the short yardage debacles, the missed extra point.”

Last season, the Tigers traveled to Manhattan and suffered a miserable 40-12 loss against the Wildcats. Missouri only generated 222 yards of offense and turned the ball over four times, including two interceptions from Cook. 

 Cook spoke about the revenge he and the team is seeking next week.

“This team wants this one a lot,” Cook said. “We’re hungry for this one”Missouri athletics announced earlier this week that the Kansas State game is the first sellout at Faurot Field since 2019. The team’s work is cut out for them to avoid another underwhelming performance in front of the 62,621 spectators expected to be in attendance. 

Edited by Quentin Corpuel

Copy edited by Grace Knight