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In-Depth Review Week 1 vs South Dakota State
Posted on 9/1/14 at 1:28 pm
Posted on 9/1/14 at 1:28 pm
I'll try to do one of these every week as long as there is interest and I have time(Navy keeps me busy 
).
1st Quarter:
First offensive drive is exactly want you want. Running game was established and then the perfect deep ball to Darius White for the TD. A+
Hard to tell exactly what happened on the first defensive series, the bad snap and then misdirection by Zenner turned into the perfect storm. A Mizzou defensemen had a chance for the tackle and missed it, couldn't quite see who it was. Zenner hit the hole hard and has some quality speed for a FCS RB.
2nd Offensive series: Initial run by Murphy, followed by a dropped pass by Hunt, something we can't have a lot of this year. Instead of it being 3rd and 3 it was 3rd and 7, Mauk tried to force it to Hunt and overthrew him. Protection looked good.
2nd Defensive series: Defense responded well on this series. The DLine was stout and the linebackers pursued and tackled well. The big play on this drive was due to Shane Ray not taking the QB on the option and allowing him outside. It was an unusual play for their offense so I'll chalk it up as Ray was "Surprised" by the option and not prepared for it.
3rd Offensive Series: This series was the epitome of what Mizzou should be doing on offense this year. They pounded the ball with Hans and Murphy and then when the defense crept up they blew the top off the defense with a deep pass. Only complaint on the drive was too many east/west running plays, against a smaller defensive line we should have been running it right down their throats.
INT and TD: Defense got great penetration on the first two downs, high throw by the QB led to an INT by Singleton.
Hans with a great run to finish it. The play was terrible, whatever Henson called there was just dumb, looked like a slow developing mis direction cutback play, busted from the very beginning, he got bailed out by Hans.
SDSU lost their QB on the next series, this seems to be where the gameplan changed occurred for SDSU and they went with a more pass happy attack. After good pressure from Ray the Jackrabbits punted.
The next series for the Tigers was one of their better all around drives, minus the bad play call on 3rd and 2 to pass the ball. With the size advantage there was no reason why they should have to throw on 3rd and short. Hunt made some nice catches, I think the option will be a big weapon this season with Mauk. Baggett shows up to miss the FG, good drive yields zero points.
Rest of the first quarter was more of the same, defensive line chewing up their oline and forcing bad throws and scrambles. The offense finished the first quarter with a nice Hans run.
2nd Quarter:
2nd Quarter started really well, but the story was ill timed penalties, a holding call followed by a deep pass on 2nd and 15 and a busted screen on 3rd down led to a bad field goal attempt. Holding penalty killed the momentum of the drive, the deep throw on 2nd and long was kind of strange to me as well. At this point the care level on Mizzou's sideline is about a 3 out of 10. Mauk's deep pass was out of bounds and never really gave Leftwich a chance, the protection was ok, there seemed to be some lack of communication on blitz's, several times guys came in unblocked.
After the dumbest FG attempt in recent memory, the defense holds and Brantly runs into the punter giving them a fresh set of downs, really unfortunate, gave them 3 points and kept the ball out of Mauk's hands. Ruise and Hoch looked really good on the SDSU possession, loud and harris got playing time as well as just about every linebacker. It seemed at this point Mizzou was doing ALOT of rotating of personnel. Whether this is the norm or was just the plan for this game I can't say. Drive ends with a gimme FG.
Once again more bone head play calling on the next drive, 3rd and short and we're 5 wide and no RB's. What the hell Henson? Why not at least a QB draw? The Jacks were dropping 8, terrible play calling on 3rd and short once again. OLine dominates their DLine and you refuse to run on the ball up the middle, totally mind blowing.
Ray and Golden dominate on the next possession, 3 and out, defense looks good in the first half, take away the 75 yard run and there's very little to complain about. Receivers were tackled immediately upon catching the ball, QB was pressured throughout the half, and the running game was stuffed after the initial run.
Two minute offense was a disaster, I don't even know where to begin. The out of bounds play where Mauk ran backwards, the throw backwards, the fact SDSU was playing a 3-3-5 defense and we refused the run the ball. I don't know what the hell the coaching staff or Pinkel was doing on that drive but it was heinous.
Overall the 1st half was never in doubt to me. Baggett, two bad penalties, busted run and some BAD 3rd and short play calls made this game much closer then it should have been. Game score in my eyes was 27-7. Which people would claim the game was out of hand at that point and we probably see the 3rd stringers in the second half. Mauk looked fine, he made some really stupid decisions that he needs to eliminate from his game, but overall he was efficient and didn't force anything he didn't need to. I thought we could have ran the ball all over these guys, they were in a 3-3-5 for the majority of the 2nd quarter and were just spread open for a serious gashing. Instead we decided to go 5 wide on short 3rd downs and play right in their defense. Henson gets a D- for this first half. The Defense gets a B, would be an A if they didn't choke on the first play. Offense gets a C due to the fact they got into SDSU territory enough that they should have put up 30+ points.
I'll post the 2nd half review shortly.
). 1st Quarter:
First offensive drive is exactly want you want. Running game was established and then the perfect deep ball to Darius White for the TD. A+
Hard to tell exactly what happened on the first defensive series, the bad snap and then misdirection by Zenner turned into the perfect storm. A Mizzou defensemen had a chance for the tackle and missed it, couldn't quite see who it was. Zenner hit the hole hard and has some quality speed for a FCS RB.
2nd Offensive series: Initial run by Murphy, followed by a dropped pass by Hunt, something we can't have a lot of this year. Instead of it being 3rd and 3 it was 3rd and 7, Mauk tried to force it to Hunt and overthrew him. Protection looked good.
2nd Defensive series: Defense responded well on this series. The DLine was stout and the linebackers pursued and tackled well. The big play on this drive was due to Shane Ray not taking the QB on the option and allowing him outside. It was an unusual play for their offense so I'll chalk it up as Ray was "Surprised" by the option and not prepared for it.
3rd Offensive Series: This series was the epitome of what Mizzou should be doing on offense this year. They pounded the ball with Hans and Murphy and then when the defense crept up they blew the top off the defense with a deep pass. Only complaint on the drive was too many east/west running plays, against a smaller defensive line we should have been running it right down their throats.
INT and TD: Defense got great penetration on the first two downs, high throw by the QB led to an INT by Singleton.
Hans with a great run to finish it. The play was terrible, whatever Henson called there was just dumb, looked like a slow developing mis direction cutback play, busted from the very beginning, he got bailed out by Hans.
SDSU lost their QB on the next series, this seems to be where the gameplan changed occurred for SDSU and they went with a more pass happy attack. After good pressure from Ray the Jackrabbits punted.
The next series for the Tigers was one of their better all around drives, minus the bad play call on 3rd and 2 to pass the ball. With the size advantage there was no reason why they should have to throw on 3rd and short. Hunt made some nice catches, I think the option will be a big weapon this season with Mauk. Baggett shows up to miss the FG, good drive yields zero points.
Rest of the first quarter was more of the same, defensive line chewing up their oline and forcing bad throws and scrambles. The offense finished the first quarter with a nice Hans run.
2nd Quarter:
2nd Quarter started really well, but the story was ill timed penalties, a holding call followed by a deep pass on 2nd and 15 and a busted screen on 3rd down led to a bad field goal attempt. Holding penalty killed the momentum of the drive, the deep throw on 2nd and long was kind of strange to me as well. At this point the care level on Mizzou's sideline is about a 3 out of 10. Mauk's deep pass was out of bounds and never really gave Leftwich a chance, the protection was ok, there seemed to be some lack of communication on blitz's, several times guys came in unblocked.
After the dumbest FG attempt in recent memory, the defense holds and Brantly runs into the punter giving them a fresh set of downs, really unfortunate, gave them 3 points and kept the ball out of Mauk's hands. Ruise and Hoch looked really good on the SDSU possession, loud and harris got playing time as well as just about every linebacker. It seemed at this point Mizzou was doing ALOT of rotating of personnel. Whether this is the norm or was just the plan for this game I can't say. Drive ends with a gimme FG.
Once again more bone head play calling on the next drive, 3rd and short and we're 5 wide and no RB's. What the hell Henson? Why not at least a QB draw? The Jacks were dropping 8, terrible play calling on 3rd and short once again. OLine dominates their DLine and you refuse to run on the ball up the middle, totally mind blowing.
Ray and Golden dominate on the next possession, 3 and out, defense looks good in the first half, take away the 75 yard run and there's very little to complain about. Receivers were tackled immediately upon catching the ball, QB was pressured throughout the half, and the running game was stuffed after the initial run.
Two minute offense was a disaster, I don't even know where to begin. The out of bounds play where Mauk ran backwards, the throw backwards, the fact SDSU was playing a 3-3-5 defense and we refused the run the ball. I don't know what the hell the coaching staff or Pinkel was doing on that drive but it was heinous.
Overall the 1st half was never in doubt to me. Baggett, two bad penalties, busted run and some BAD 3rd and short play calls made this game much closer then it should have been. Game score in my eyes was 27-7. Which people would claim the game was out of hand at that point and we probably see the 3rd stringers in the second half. Mauk looked fine, he made some really stupid decisions that he needs to eliminate from his game, but overall he was efficient and didn't force anything he didn't need to. I thought we could have ran the ball all over these guys, they were in a 3-3-5 for the majority of the 2nd quarter and were just spread open for a serious gashing. Instead we decided to go 5 wide on short 3rd downs and play right in their defense. Henson gets a D- for this first half. The Defense gets a B, would be an A if they didn't choke on the first play. Offense gets a C due to the fact they got into SDSU territory enough that they should have put up 30+ points.
I'll post the 2nd half review shortly.
This post was edited on 9/1/14 at 1:33 pm
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Posted on 9/1/14 at 2:42 pm to TigerCruise
Thanks for the review. Letting it all settle in, gotta remember:
LT: 1st game at that position
LG: Played but not full time starter.
C: Experienced starter
RG: 1st time starter
RT: 1st time starter
QB: RS Soph who started 4 games
RB: No starters but experience with Hansbrough/Murphy
TE: 1st time starter
WR: Some experience but 3 1st time starters
Yes, we played a subpar team (a good subpar team, but subpar nonetheless) but this team has all kinds of room to improve. It's not like we were shaky with guys who have reached their ceiling.
LT: 1st game at that position
LG: Played but not full time starter.
C: Experienced starter
RG: 1st time starter
RT: 1st time starter
QB: RS Soph who started 4 games
RB: No starters but experience with Hansbrough/Murphy
TE: 1st time starter
WR: Some experience but 3 1st time starters
Yes, we played a subpar team (a good subpar team, but subpar nonetheless) but this team has all kinds of room to improve. It's not like we were shaky with guys who have reached their ceiling.
Posted on 9/1/14 at 2:54 pm to reedus23
Going back and looking at the drives, I know GP mentioned converting on 3rd downs on offense and getting off of the field on 3rd downs on defense, but what I'm seeing is that we have to do a better job on 2nd and long. Every single time we had 2nd and long, we failed to get a first down with 2 exceptions. On one, we did shave some yards of on 2nd down but it took a 4th down conversion to move the chains. The other one was the long pass to Sasser for a TD that we were fortunate not to get an offensive pass interference on.
If we got good yardage on 1st down(4 or more yards), we converted almost every single time. If we had 2nd and 7 or more, with those 2 exceptions, we stalled out every single time and it was usually precipitated by not carving up yards on 2nd down and making 3rd down more manageable.
If we got good yardage on 1st down(4 or more yards), we converted almost every single time. If we had 2nd and 7 or more, with those 2 exceptions, we stalled out every single time and it was usually precipitated by not carving up yards on 2nd down and making 3rd down more manageable.
Posted on 9/1/14 at 5:53 pm to reedus23
quote:
The other one was the long pass to Sasser for a TD that we were fortunate not to get an offensive pass interference on.
Just got done rewatching that half, and that play specifically, it was 3rd and long btw.
But Sasser was clearly playing the ball and sensed the defender coming in on him when he puts his hand up, that in itself is legal, to make the catch he simply leaps up and reaches back at the same time, a great athletic move to be sure, but something he's easily capable of, I don't think he pushes off at all and I think that's what the refs saw.
Of course I could see that getting called and going against us on general principal, after all, we are Mizzou.
quote:
Two minute offense was a disaster, I don't even know where to begin.
This is where the lack of precision timing and polish in execution really shows, and also makes the weak short to intermediate passing glare like a giant red pimple on a prom queens nose. I consider this a direct reflection on the coaching staff and lack of understanding on what they need to accomplish.
Yep without the really solid running game to go with the bombs, our offense would have been so screwed. Well at least we know the staff has something to work on, assuming they watched the same game we all did.
This post was edited on 9/1/14 at 6:08 pm
Posted on 9/1/14 at 6:24 pm to Jagd Tiger
I'll take your word for it on the push. I haven't re-watched it. Just seeing it in the game and the replays during and after the game, it sure looked like he used 2 hands to push the defender, thereby creating separation, allowing him to catch the ball with no defender within a yard or 2.
Posted on 9/1/14 at 6:32 pm to TigerCruise
quote:
SDSU was playing a 3-3-5 defense and we refused the run the ball. I don't know what the hell the coaching staff or Pinkel was doing on that drive but it was heinous.
yea you don't have to run the ball, though its a solid option, when you have a half minute and a couple of timeouts, you have options.
We needed a checkdown play that would either screen a RB or put him in a swing route, when they go into that kind of 3-front look playing prevent, they are daring you to make a short play, if you have play makers like Murph and Russell you take that dare every time, at least once in the series.
I'm also not at all impressed with this new set where the put Culkin in motion and have him set up on the wing behind the line, I know we ran a few times pretty well doing it, but it's basically another big tell. Any decent DC is gonna notice you're running about 90% of the time when you are doing that and have it planned, if we had better precision on offense you could have him turn up and run block or keep moving outside and turn into a sweep blocker or swing pass target, "IF". It looks like a work in progress at best.
Pinkel has never impressed me as a sideline clock manager in these situations, and at this point, it's hard to think he ever will. When we had Iceman Chase out their we were still barely able to run a 2 minute offense that didn't trip over itself, and we can now see that the "IT" that Mauk has is not the same "IT" that Chase had.
What I take away from this game is we are relying on athleticism which will work verse inferior opponents, but still don't have a game plan any where near what a top notch SEC team has. The biggest danger is this coaching staff underestimates how much work it has to do.
rating the teams performance:
Running Backs: A
Hansbrough and Murphy are as solid as ever and right now the real strength of the offense. Witter looked good in the few touches he was allowed, if we do get Steward back, that just makes it better, right now this seems like the position group we can depend on.
Receivers: B and inc.
Hard to criticize guys who were open and didn't have the ball thrown to them or close enough to catch. White, Hunt and Sasser did get it done though, Murphy looked good in the dual role, and Culkin likely has a couple of catches if the ball just gets to him.
O-line: B-
They really did pretty well, after all running games don't just happen with out some work up front. Much of the Mauk "happy feet" show was as much his doing as theirs. The 3 man rush did break through a few times though and that is a bit disconcerting. Seeing a center and 2 guards on one nose tackle while both tackles are one on one, well, let's hope we get this stuff cleaned up. Same performance against an SEC team I would say B or even B+, vs FCS SDSU... half a grade off.
QB: C+
What can you say, he played well enough to win, but the grading curve has to be appropriate for the competition. Downfield passing just works and some of it happens under pressure, lack of improvement every where else after an entire off season should have Andy Hill losing sleep.
Defensive Line: B+
While they still miss assignments that prove costly, they have the ability to make up for it by shutting down a lot of running and passing. Let's just hope they can do this vs the SEC.
Line Backer: B
Over all solid, well played and like the line occasional blown assignment that proves costly. Mild if pleasant surprise there hasn't been a major step back here, once again, we'll know more when the competition ratchets up.
D Backs: B-
Singleton at Nickel is the strength of this unit so far, the kid can play. While they look ok to good for the most part, the corners are getting beat on too many go routes. Safety play seems like it was solid but could have been better.
Special teams: B
That's really about as high as you can be for not having a lights out kicker, Murphy in return can pretty much bring that score by himself. A shame the punt return got called back by an unnecessary and poor block in the back.
Coaching: C-
To be clear, without the ability to prepare good Line play and players, running backs and some other positions, this would be an F, the gameday coaching is abysmal.
This post was edited on 9/1/14 at 8:23 pm
Posted on 9/1/14 at 6:35 pm to reedus23
Meh, it's a preseason tune up game that counts. I have the same feeling Remote conveyed in another thread. Very toned down generic game plan for this game. GP keeping things under wraps. I don't think he was necessarily trying to keep the score down.
There are some rooms for improvement. Like Mauks crazy scrambling backwards passing attack thing. Didn't see that last year. Something he must have added this spring. Hope Gary makes that disappear. That, will make the target on his back that much bigger in conference play. I think the message to Mauk from Gary has to be "go up field with the ball whether you run it or pass it".
The rest to me is hard to judge. I know it's toned down. Not wanting to show much.
Kicking game makes me sick. But the running game could pick up where it left off last year. Though the secondary seems to be noticeably a weak spot too. D-line is going to be good this year as well as linebackers. I thought they looked good. I think they were playing down a little.
Main thing is I think Mizzou got out of there with no injuries? At least I don't recall anything serious. That's the best thing I'm going to take away from this game.
There are some rooms for improvement. Like Mauks crazy scrambling backwards passing attack thing. Didn't see that last year. Something he must have added this spring. Hope Gary makes that disappear. That, will make the target on his back that much bigger in conference play. I think the message to Mauk from Gary has to be "go up field with the ball whether you run it or pass it".
The rest to me is hard to judge. I know it's toned down. Not wanting to show much.
Kicking game makes me sick. But the running game could pick up where it left off last year. Though the secondary seems to be noticeably a weak spot too. D-line is going to be good this year as well as linebackers. I thought they looked good. I think they were playing down a little.
Main thing is I think Mizzou got out of there with no injuries? At least I don't recall anything serious. That's the best thing I'm going to take away from this game.
Posted on 9/1/14 at 8:21 pm to jafo
quote:
There are some rooms for improvement. Like Mauks crazy scrambling backwards passing attack thing. Didn't see that last year. Something he must have added this spring. Hope Gary makes that disappear. That, will make the target on his back that much bigger in conference play. I think the message to Mauk from Gary has to be "go up field with the ball whether you run it or pass it".
He actually did that last year too. I remember commenting on it because I think he was able to get away with it in high school because he could outrun pursuing DLine and get the ball off. DLine in D1 is too fast and all it does is give them an angle of pursuit. I remember also watching the spring highlights and scrimmage and noting how he seemed to eliminate the backwards scramble and instead went more horizontal to the line of scrimmage, eliminating the DLine's angle of pursuit. I think he'll review the film and fix it because he's fixed it before.
Posted on 9/1/14 at 11:22 pm to TigerCruise
spot on analysis of the running attack, remember commenting in the game thread about why the hell we were running so many outside runs/horizontal runs and not running down hill which was successful all game. In many ways I would say this game was the worst I have seen out of Henson hate to say it but almost Yost like.
Posted on 9/2/14 at 7:57 am to Tackle74
My kid actually noticed it too. Made a comment about how many of the run plays seemed to be those slow developing or horizontal runs like 2 years ago and not the faster hitting runs like last year. I don't think they were all like that like they were under Yost, but certainly did seem to be more of them.
Posted on 9/3/14 at 3:29 am to TigerCruise
Hey Cruise... Thanks for the nice work on Part One. Looking forward to Part Two.
Posted on 9/3/14 at 2:53 pm to Mizz-SEC
Part 2 might be on hiatus, my internet has been down in Sicily for a couple days, hoping tomorrow!
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