On Nov. 3rd, 2018, Missouri football traveled to Gainesville, Florida, and beat the No. 13 ranked Florida Gators 38-17. In the nearly five years since, the Tigers have failed to beat any other ranked team. This Saturday, they’ll have the opportunity to end that streak against the No. 15 ranked Kansas State Wildcats. Here’s what Missouri needs to do in order to end that 54 game streak.

Containing Kansas State’s rushing attack

In Missouri’s 40-12 loss against Kansas State last season, Wildcats running back Deuce Vaughn did his best Forrest Gump impression by running and running and running. The future sixth-round NFL draft pick was a Swiss Army Knife for the Wildcats offense, rushing for 145 yards and scoring two touchdowns in the blowout victory.

But, as Forrest Gump claimed that his Mama always said, “You’ve got to put the past behind you before you can move on.”

Missouri head coach, Eli Drinkwitz, attempted to do just that when speaking on the team’s preparation for this Saturday’s game.

“We’re going to have to do a better job than we did last year to defend the run,” Drinkwitz said. “We got to limit the explosive plays in the run game.”

Though Vaughn is now in the NFL, Missouri’s defense will still have their hands full on Saturday with the Wildcat’s new running back duo of senior Treshaun Ward and sophomore DJ Giddens. The two combined for 294 rushing yards through the first two games of the season. Explosive performances from the two could lead to Kansas State replicating their high scoring day from last year’s matchup.

Protecting Brady Cook

Solid offensive line play is arguably the most crucial ingredient to have when attempting to create an effective offense. Missouri’s offense has yet to include this important element so far in 2023, leading to struggles from the group.

Last week, the offensive line let up four sacks and had two costly penalties in the red zone. This constant pressure led to quarterback Brady Cook rarely having time to read Middle Tennessee State’s defense and accurately deliver throws. He missed sophomore wide receiver, Luther Burden III, a couple of times early on in large part due to the pocket quickly collapsing around him. 

“Four sacks is way too many,” Drinkwitz said.“I’m definitely disappointed by the amount of pressure that we faced. [I] didn’t think we were going to struggle as bad as we did.”

Drinkwitz also suggested that he would consider making personnel changes along the offensive line, specifically at the right-guard position. Junior Cam’Ron Johnson, a transfer from Houston, started at the position in the first two games but has struggled thus far. The candidates to replace Cam’Ron include junior EJ Ndoma-Ogar, Eastern Michigan transfer Marcellus Johnson and freshman Logan Reichart. 

No matter who ends up starting at the right guard position, Missouri will be in trouble if their offensive line performs similarly to how they did last Saturday. Kansas State’s front seven is one of the most powerful in the NCAA and currently has eight sacks on the year — the fourth most in all of college football. 

Last year, Missouri’s offensive line had a performance to forget against Kansas State. The constant pressure that Cook faced caused him to throw two interceptions, and Missouri’s aerial attack was grounded in large part because of the Wildcat’s dominant front seven overpowering the Tigers offensive line. If Cook faces a similar amount of pressure as last week, it could be a long afternoon for Missouri’s offense.

Starting Off Quick

The first two games of Missouri’s 2023 season started out the exact same way: junior Riley Williams punting after MU’s offense failed to travel more than 20 yards on their opening drive. Additionally, against Middle Tennessee State, the Tigers did not score a touchdown until their fifth offensive drive. Luckily, this lethargic start from the offense did not cost Missouri the game against its first two opponents. However, against a ranked team like Kansas State, failing to get the offense rolling early on could be the kiss of death for the Tigers.

In last year’s game against Kansas State, Missouri converted a field goal on their first offensive drive, but didn’t touch the scoreboard again until Kansas State had already scored 20 points. 

One of the most crucial components for an offense to start off quickly is to generate explosive plays. Unfortunately, the Tigers offense has famously struggled to create big passing plays over the past three seasons. The task of moving the ball deep down the field becomes significantly more difficult when a quarterback has defenders in his face within seconds nearly every single play. 

When asked why the offense hasn’t generated many explosive plays thus far, Drinkwitz mentioned three factors: protection issues, misreads by Brady Cook and route running. All three of these aspects will have to be improved upon in order for Missouri’s offense to keep pace with Kansas State.

The Tigers offensive performance during their first few series could decide the direction of the remainder of the game. If they sputter early on like they did against Middle Tennessee, the Wildcats will pounce on the opportunity to take a substantial lead early in the game. 

Edited by Quentin Corpuel | qcorpuel@themaneater.com

Copy Edited by Jae Green and Sterling Sewell | ssewell@themaneater.com 

Edited by Sophie Rentschler | srentschler@themaneater.com