Southeast Missouri State player Louis Taylor III attempts to tackle MU running back Michael Cox on Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021 at Faurot Field in Columbia.
Missouri football defeated Southeast Missouri State 59-28 around 2:20 p.m. at Faurot Field Saturday, but really, the game was wrapped up just six snaps into the afternoon.
When senior running back Tyler Badie took a handoff from redshirt sophomore quarterback Connor Bazelak, he had nothing but green AstroTurf in front of him and turned a simple read into a 49-yard touchdown. The play gave the Tigers an early 7-0 lead, but also proved indicative of what was to come.
By the end of the first quarter, Missouri led 21-0, capped off by Bazelak finding D’ionte “Boo” Smith for a 46-yard touchdown. The Tigers ran away from there, as they built a 38-0 advantage by halftime, and piled up 675 yards of offense by game’s end.
The contest was never close, but it wasn’t supposed to be. The Tigers took care of business and bounced back from its first loss of the season with a dominant performance, at least in the first half. While not FBS opposition, all that mattered to Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz was the result in the win column, which they picked up Saturday afternoon.
“It doesn’t matter who our opponent is,” Drinkwitz said. “We treated this week like it was the Super Bowl. We tried to call our best stuff, put together the best plan possible and attack their defense. The opponent didn’t matter.”
Now, here are five thoughts for the five first-half touchdowns Missouri scored against the Redhawks.
Multiple young players achieved MU “firsts” Saturday afternoon, and that was pretty neat to see. Freshmen wide receivers JJ Hester and Chance Luper, as well as running back Michael Cox, all scored their first touchdowns in the win, while freshman quarterback Tyler Macon threw his first touchdown.
On the other side of the ball, freshmen defensive linemen Travion Ford and Arden Walker played their first snaps and each made two solo tackles. Sure, the Tigers’ second and third teams struggled in other areas, especially in the second half, but plenty of players achieved firsts and that’s always cool to witness.
“A lot of those guys don’t have a lot of experience,” Bazelak said. “So just getting that chemistry in game was very important.”
Missouri will only go as far as Tyler Badie takes it. The senior running back only further enforced that notion Saturday afternoon. He played just a half against SEMO, but made the most of it with touchdowns of 49 yards, 11 yards and 1 yard.
“It was a good feeling,” Badie said. “Being out there, helping my teammates out. It was good for me to be able to go out there, do what I got to do, and then get out of the game.”
With Larry Rountree III now taking snaps in the NFL, Badie has stepped into the lead back role and serves as the Tigers best and most important offensive weapon. Through three games, Badie has rushed for a team-high 361 yards, turned a team-high 15 receptions into 142 yards and also leads the team with 6 touchdowns.
It’s still early in the season, but he’s already proven to be exactly what the Tigers need: an all-around weapon and a catalyst in games against SEC opposition. While he didn’t need to do much against SEMO, he answered when called upon and continued his phenomenal start to the 2021 season.
The entire game wasn’t perfect, but the Tigers at least put together a pretty efficient first half. Through the game’s opening 30 minutes, they scored 38 points and allowed none –– a stark difference from last weekend.
After punting five times against Kentucky, graduate punter Grant McKinniss was called into action just once against SEMO, as the Tigers scored on 9 of their 11 drives. With multiple touchdown drives lasting just three, four or five plays, Missouri’s starting offense played like a well-oiled machine.
“We wanted to go out there and put in a complete game,” graduate receiver Keke Chism said. “It was important to start fast, end fast and execute offensively, defensively and on special teams. I feel like we did a good job with that in the first half.”
That efficiency began to dip in the second half, as backup players came in, but the Tigers still found the end zone enough and put nearly 60 points on the board. Offensively, there wasn’t too much to complain about and for McKinnis, well, he had plenty of time to rest his leg after last weekend.
After last season’s 10-game SEC slate, Saturday’s game felt strange. Just a week ago, Kentucky and Missouri played in a back-and-forth intraconference game that came down to the final minutes in front of over 58,000 fans. Saturday’s game against SEMO paled in comparison.
With all 10 games coming against SEC opposition last year, this type of win and game felt new. The Tigers hadn’t played an FCS team since beating this same SEMO team 50-0 in 2019. There was natural room for error because the talent discrepancy between both teams was so large.
But, as Missouri learned last season –– and last week –– that room for error doesn’t exist against SEC foes. Saturday was nice, but the Tigers need to parlay that into something because not every game will feel wrapped up by the end of the first quarter.
“It’s still a football game,” Chism said. “Nothing is given out there. We got to win and execute well, and we did that. That’s all we’re concerned about.”
Does this game really tell us anything about the 2021 Missouri football team? On one hand, a win is a win and the outcome never felt in doubt. But how much should fans read into the Tigers being outscored 28-21 in the second half?
Most starters were rested after halftime, and many third-stringers played valuable minutes. There was always going to be a slight drop-off, but to allow late touchdowns of 60 and 75 yards is also a bitter pill for defensive coordinator Steve Wilks to swallow.
It’s hard to take much away from an early-season matchup against SEMO, especially with the wide gap of talent, but each game is a learning process and, while the team knows that every win matters, it also knows there are plenty of things to improve upon.
“We’ve got to realize that we’re playing SEC teams,” Badie said. “We’re not going to play SEMO every week and we have to get that in our mind and keep pushing forward. It’s a great win, but there are still things that we have to work on if we want to be dominant in the SEC.”
The Tigers now have a few days to recover before they travel to Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, to take on ACC side Boston College next Saturday at 11 a.m.
Edited by Mason Arneson | marneson@themaneater.com