September 28, 2021

By Jaden Lewis

Courtesy of SEC Media Portal

On Boston College’s first offensive snap from scrimmage, redshirt senior quarterback Dennis Grosel dropped back to pass. While under pressure he was forced to throw the ball into triple coverage, which was intercepted by junior defensive back Shawn Robinson which seemed to give the Tigers momentum for the rest of the game. 

Missouri football has been a turnover machine through the first quarter of the season. Defensive coordinator Steve Wilks’ defense has done great at putting pressure on the quarterback and forcing turnovers. Robinson joins redshirt senior defensive back Akayleb Evans and sophomore defensive back Kris Abrams-Draine with 1 interception on the year, while sophomore defensive back Jaylon Carlies leads the team with 2. 

Toward the end of the first half, the Tigers stalled an Eagles drive, forcing them to settle for a field goal as junior safety Martez Manuel and graduate student linebacker Blaze Alldredge got home for a sack. Alldredge leads the team with 4 sacks, and the Tigers rank in the top 20% in the nation in quarterback sacks.

Overall, the Tigers have picked off five passes through four games while collecting 13 sacks. 

But, in their first-ever meeting, Missouri left Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, with a heartbreaking 41-34 overtime loss, dropping them to 2-2 on the year. 

So while Missouri’s defense has forced turnovers and gotten to the quarterback, what is the issue? Why have the Tigers given up 32 points per game and an average of 452.5 yards per game? The answer has been a problem all season-and that is stopping the run.

While the Tigers only give up 183.5 passing yards per game, Missouri is giving up an average of 269 rushing yards through three non-conference games and one SEC matchup. While they have a star senior running back in Tyler Badie, they are being outrushed by 442 yards on the year.

This includes 253 yards rushing by Central Michigan, 351 yards by Kentucky and 303 by Southeast Missouri State. The same pattern continued on Saturday afternoon as Boston College outgained Missouri on the ground 286-94.

“We have to adjust our scheme and make it match,” Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz said. “But we can’t repeatedly give up 275 yards, and be successful.”

In the first half the Eagles ran for 123 yards, and it got worse in the second half. Coming out of the locker room, Boston College ran 6:40 off the clock, which ended in redshirt sophomore running back Pat Garwo III’s second touchdown of the day from three yards out, giving the Eagles a 24-17 lead.

Redshirt sophomore quarterback Connor Bazelak threw his second interception of the season, giving the Eagles the ball right back. Boston College followed the same pattern by driving 50 yards downfield in 16 plays, with a majority being on the ground. They would settle for a field goal extending the lead to 10.

Garwo himself ran for a career-high 175 yards on 25 carries for 2 touchdowns. 

An opposing team running the ball can cause problems for an offense as it keeps them off the field. In the third quarter, the Tigers offense ran just eight plays for 17 total yards. It also causes problems as it creates opportunities for the play action game.

“You got to give credit to them because they had a great game plan that came in, and when you are having a good run game, it really sets up the play action pass,” Alldredge said. “So going in, we knew that we needed to try and stop the run and make them a little more one-dimensional.”

A loss to an ACC opponent doesn’t hurt the Tigers’ chances in the SEC standings, but it’s not going to get easier for the Tigers to make a run at a division title. An inability to stop the run will present problems down the road for Missouri.

Multiple teams still on the Tigers’ schedule can do what the Tigers can’t stop. The Florida Gators averaged 323 yards on the ground, with Arkansas averaging 261 yards rushing. The Georgia Bulldogs ran for 241 yards against Vanderbilt on Saturday. 

The Tigers’ next opponent, the Tennesse Volunteers, average 204 yards on the ground, but optimism is still high in the Tigers’ locker room.

“We’re strong and we’re together and that’s a good thing to see,” Alldredge said. “This team has shown great maturity. And that gives us a lot of promise for the future.”

Missouri put up a good fight backing up the reason for optimism. Offensively, the Tigers put up 25-plus points for the fourth straight week for the first time since the 2019 season, and are averaging 483 total yards through the first four games of the season. 

They have also overcome two double-digit deficits to make games interesting on the road in front of high capacity crowds. If Missouri can find a way to stop the run, it will keep their defense off the field and give the offense more opportunities to shine.

The Tigers will face off against the Volunteers at 11 a.m on Faurot Field next Saturday with the chance to pick up their first SEC victory. Former Missouri offensive coordinator Josh Heupel will make his return to Missouri. 

“Next week is going to present a whole ]other] challenge, so next it’ll be a spread with a run,” Drinkwitz said. “We will figure it out, that’s what we got to do. I told the team in the locker room, ‘We’re 2-2 and we’re going to go play an SEC opponent. We have a chance to get where we want to [go], but we have to [get] to work. And it is more about us than it is about anybody else right now.’”

Edited by Mason Arneson | marneson@themaneater.com