COLUMBIA, Mo. — Welcome back, Southeastern Conference play.
With three nonconference games in the books, No. 7 ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ opens its SEC schedule in manageable fashion this weekend, with the Tigers (3-0) facing a 2-1 Vanderbilt team that has already impressed and disappointed this season.
The Commodores visit Columbia after a last-minute loss on the road to Georgia State, while Mizzou remains undefeated after beating then-No. 24 Boston College last weekend.
Saturday’s game kicks off at 3:15 p.m. and will be televised on the SEC Network. Taylor Zarzour, Matt Stinchcomb and Alyssa Lang will have the call.
It’s the second year in a row MU begins SEC play by facing Vanderbilt. The Tigers won 38-21 last year in Nashville.
They’re heavily favored to take care of business again this time around. Here are three things to watch for when Missouri and Vanderbilt face off in Week 4:
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Is this the week the deep ball works?
Any lingering offensive anxiety milling about the Mizzou offense seems to be concentrated on deep passing. Quarterback Brady Cook is just 2 for 10 on throws sent 20 yards or more downfield through three games.
That has yet to keep the Tigers from scoring enough to win games or otherwise jeopardize results. But that doesn’t mean it hasn’t caused any angst.
“I don’t think we’ve scratched what this offense can be,†Cook said. “I really don’t think we have. We all know it: We haven’t had as many explosive plays as we should.â€
Cook and the MU wideouts haven’t been missing drastically on deep routes — quite a few of those incompletions have almost been caught. But almost only counts in hand grenades, horseshoes and drawing pass interference penalties — and when the flags aren’t flying, as was the case against Boston College, it’s only catches that will ease concerns.
Mizzou did complete a couple of longer passes against the Eagles while missing a couple of others, including a no-call to Theo Wease Jr. on the sideline.
“Then the rest, that’s just kind of what the coverage dictated,†coach Eli Drinkwitz said.
Perhaps opposing defenses, leery of what Missouri’s wideouts can do, are trying to keep a cap on things. Vanderbilt’s defensive strength is its safety room, but the Tigers will still be looking for chances to get the aerial attack aligned.
How does Mizzou contain Pavia?
Another week, another mobile quarterback for the Tigers to corral.
It took a quarter and change against Boston College, but defensive coordinator Corey Batoon figured out how to stop BC’s Thomas Castellanos: make him throw. Save for a couple of big letdowns, it largely worked. With some tweaks, that could be a potential game plan for Vandy and quarterback Diego Pavia.
“We really felt like if we could keep Thomas in the pocket and utilize our zone coverage, we felt like we could force him into a couple of mistakes, which ultimately we did,†Drinkwitz said. “But I thought he did a really nice job picking us apart too. We certainly have to be better in zone coverage.â€
One of the Missouri staff’s priorities against Castellanos was not over-rushing, or sending defenders past him. Given his speed and willingness to step up in the pocket, a blow-by created an 11-on-10 situation that the Tigers didn’t particularly like.
That led them to scale back blitzes and pressure against Boston College, opting instead to clog Castellanos’ vision and keep him in the pocket. Pavia has shown this season that he can improvise when flushed from the pocket, but Mizzou might be willing to show more aggression than it did last week.
“We do have to contain him, but ultimately when you look back at the plan, maybe there’s some more opportunities for us to try to create pressure,†Drinkwitz said.
Win streak closing in on history
There’s been a lot of streaking going on inside Memorial Stadium recently, though it seems that pants have largely stayed on as it happens.
Saturday is already guaranteed to be Mizzou’s ninth consecutive sellout. If the Tigers prevail, it would be their eighth win in a row.
Missouri’s seven-game win streak is the longest active run in the Football Bowl Subdivision. It dates back to last season’s win over Tennessee.
MU hadn’t won seven straight since 2013, and reaching that threshold this season is the seventh time in program history a winning streak has reached seven games. How’s that for symmetry?
The last time Mizzou won eight consecutive games was 1941, when the Tigers went 8-1 in the regular season under legendary coach Don Faurot, winning the Big Six Conference title. That streak was snapped in the Sugar Bowl, a rainy affair in which Fordham blocked an MU punt for the lone points of the game — a 2-0 victory. That’s not a typo.
Mizzou still has a ways to go before it can approach a program record for consecutive wins. The all-time long streak sits at 13 in a row between the 1960 and 1961 seasons. That includes a forfeit victory over Kansas that was lost on the field — stopping a streak at nine — but overturned after the fact.