Missouri football beat Central Michigan 34-24 at Faurot Field Saturday afternoon and — in many ways — it felt like the first game of the season.
For the first time in almost two years, numerous fans tailgated in the hours leading up to kickoff, excited about the prospect of a season script yet to be written. But the on-field product was, at times, rife with sloppy play as the Tigers struggled to put together a convincing performance against the Group of Five Chippewas.
“I just felt like all week we were going to be in this kind of game,” head coach Eli Drinkwitz said. “I preached it all week and talked about having a four-quarter mentality. There’s a lot of things on tap that we’re going to get fixed, but it’s much better to correct and be 1-0 than it is to be 0-1.”
Starting with the positives, Missouri provided fans a glimpse of how they want to play defense this season: aggressive and with lots of pressure. Missouri’s defense frequently got home against Chippewas sophomore quarterback Jacob Sirmon, generating nine total sacks –– the most since 2009 according to Missouri’s PR staff –– and 14 tackles for loss.
“We definitely have an aggressive defensive mentality,” graduate transfer linebacker Blaze Alldredge said. “Our goal is to score on [defense] and get after the passer.”
Alldredge stood out in his first game in black and gold with 10 total tackles, 6 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks.
“You know, I’m not surprised,” junior safety Martez Manuel said about Alldredge’s afternoon. “The dude’s a beast, I don’t know how else to say it. I can’t wait to play with him all year.”
Defensive coordinator Steve Wilks’ aggressive defensive scheme provided the Tigers’ secondary with opportunities to pick off errant passes, which happened twice Saturday afternoon.
Both redshirt senior cornerback Akayleb Evans and sophomore cornerback Jaylon Carlies took advantage and combined for a pair of interceptions. Evans snagged his late in the first quarter along the west sideline. Carlies’ interception stopped a dangerous Central Michigan drive deep in their red zone with a chance to take the lead.
While the pass rush impressed, holding Sirmon to just a 50% completion rate, one area of emphasis for the Tigers going forward was their run defense.
Too many times the Chippewas gashed Missouri for big gains. Not even midway through the second quarter, the Chippewas already accumulated four plays that went at least 25 yards. They finished with seven of those plays and 475 total yards offense.
Central Michigan freshman running back Lew Nichols III had a field day against the Tigers’ discombobulated rush defense. He finished with 135 yards and scored an 18-yard touchdown midway through the second quarter to put the visitors up 14-7.
“Obviously we got beat a few times, but we made up for it with sacks and turnovers,” Drinkwitz said. “We’ve got to force turnovers and negative yardage plays. There’s going to be a lot of things on tape that we want to fix, starting with tackling issues and gap integrity issues in the run game. But we can fix that.”
On offense, senior running back Tyler Badie led the Tigers’ attack with 237 total yards. He finished his afternoon with carries of 69 and 22 yards and put Missouri on the board shortly before the end of the first half with a 30-yard touchdown reception.
“I’m always very confident in myself and what I can do,” Badie said. “It was good to get my feet wet early and keep it going throughout the season.”
Redshirt sophomore quarterback Connor Bazelak finished his first start in front of a full-capacity Faurot Field with 257 passing yards and 2 touchdowns, flashing the solid decision making and accurate passing that landed him Tigers’ starting job last season.
Still, Bazelak admitted that, naturally, improvements are needed.
“I [got to] be better on third downs and we got to do a better job of staying ahead of the chains,” Bazelak said. “We found ourselves in a lot of third-and-extra-longs, and those are going to be hard to convert.”
Last year, Missouri opened its season against eventual national champions, Alabama. This year it started with a non-conference matchup against Central Michigan. And while the performance wasn’t convincing for all 60 minutes, the Tigers got the job done.
“Tonight wasn’t the prettiest,” Manuel said. “It’s week one and our defense is all about learning and getting better. Once we do that, it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Edited by Mason Arneson | marneson@themaneater.com