There’s a movie that came out in 1999 called “Ride With The Devil”. I’m not Josh Matejka so I’m not going to go into too much analysis of the flick other than it’s a fictional story revolving around Missouri irregulars fighting Jayhawker Union soldiers. The movie is mostly fine and kind of forgettable…other than this scene (and apologies for the low quality, apparently the internet doesn’t value this scene as much as I do):
I reviewed my family’s experiences with kansas during the Civil War in my preview
that I wrote in May. And if you think for even an instant that I haven’t recited parts of this speech – or used “ARE THERE ANY MEN HERE WHO WILL RIDE WITH ME” – in times of feigned importance of mundane activities, well…you don’t know me very well at all.
I have been waiting for this day for 13 years. The day that college kids dressed in black and gold inflict violence on college kids dressed in blue and red in a sanctioned struggle of supremacy. The cowards to the west ran and hid when it was convenient for them to no longer take an ass whipping from the superior football team in the superior state, and consequently Mizzou missed out on a likely 9-game win streak over some of the most dog meat football teams in the history of the sport. Pathetic.
But those tribe of losers now think that they’re competent and are willing to start this rivalry back up. Good. I choose not to even fathom the concept of losing to the terrorists hailing from Lawrence but, even if the loss were to happen, I’d rather feel the deep feelings that come from playing that disgusting organization than force the level of high emotion on empty vessels of history in the SEC.
Missouri can lose, don’t think that they can’t. But my hope is that everyone – from the old timers griping about posting pictures on facebook to the students who were 5-years old the last time these two teams met on the gridiron – will feel the acidity of sports hatred and unfathomable joy of beating a rival – A TRUE RIVAL – that has actual meaning and history that dates back 160 years.
So I will preview this matchup, with all effort I can muster. I will do this myself. Unless there be any among you who will ride with me.
So I’m ask-ING.
ARE THERE ANY MEN HERE.
WHO WOULD RIDE WITH ME?
THEN HELL BOYS. RIDE WITH ME TO LAWRENCE.
When Missouri Has The Ball
We now have a much better idea of what this offense can look like under Beau Pribula and all the new weapons, but we’re not totally sure how they want to operate when they go up against competition of similar skill. Assuming that the offensive line will still stink – and the kansas defensive line can absolute rip through uncoordinated offensive lines – there’s a decent plan that I would put into place to take advantage of some matchups.
Run to Win
The best way to avoid giving up a pressure or a sack is to run the ball. And given the fact that Missouri has a quarterback that likes to run, three running backs who are talented and experienced, and an offensive line that’s (currently) better at run blocking, then it makes all the sense in the world to do what Drinkwitz and Moore like best and mash the ball into the faces of the stupid beakers.
Now, the downside is that the kansas defense hasn’t allowed more than 75 yards on the ground in either game that they’ve played this season. The good news? They haven’t played any team even remotely close to the talent that Missouri will put on the field.
Ahmad Hardy ran 10 times last Thursday. Let’s see that cranked to 25.
I want to see at least a 47% success rate on the ground at the conclusion of this game.
Create Explosive Plays Through The Air
We know that Speedy Johnson just wants to run and catch the deep ball. We know Kevin Coleman loves taking short passes for 10-12 yards after the catch. We know Josh Manning will run a crisp route and overpower his defender for a 13-17-yard catch. And, frankly, that’s what Mizzou should do here as well. kansas has feasted on two offenses that relied on weak screens and inaccurate deep shots to hold opponents under 200 yards passing each game. If the run is working well then there should be plenty of opportunities to hit deep on a bludgeoned secondary. I’d expect to see at least nine (9) explosive pass plays in this game.
Maintain Possession
Specifically, convert your 3rd-downs. Do you know why we didn’t see much of Central Arkansas’ offense last week? Because Mizozu went 9-13 on 3rd-downs and held on to the ball for long stretches of time while UCA went 2-13 and couldn’t sustain any drive outside of the last three minutes of the game. Jalon Daniels and the kansas offense are currently 11th in the country and are dangerous, not only in execution but in the manipulative way they get the ball to playmakers and deceive defensive reads. The faster that kansas gets into panic-mode and abandons their funky spread-triple-option bull shit the better chances Mizzou has on stopping them. That means Pribula and friends need to manage at least a 60% 3rd-down conversion rate.
When Those Dirty Sons of Bitches Have The Ball
The Lance Leipold offense is complex in its execution but simple in its goal: they want to run the ball and catch the eye with extra movement and shifts to get an idea of what the defense is running and then counter it with a bunch of eye candy to draw attention from where they want to go. Mizzou has faced enough option attacks in the past 15 years – Navy, Auburn, Army, Wake Forest – and been subsequently scarred and beaten by it that there’s no reason to let up or think sheer athleticism can win the day here.
Here’s what I would look for:
HAVOC!
Jalon Daniels is a good college quarterback but he has a perceived weakness of not being able to read defenses very well. Additionally, I’ve seen analysis of his play that sites his tendency to make one read – and maybe a second read – and then run if those two aren’t open. Last year’s struggles involved him not being able to identify combo coverage and throwing catchable interceptions straight into a defender’s hands. He can be rattled and forced into bad decisions, that’s the main point here, and if Mizzou’s offense is playing keep away to ratchet up the pressure then the Mizzou defense needs to play its part and ratchet up the pressure right into Daniels’ face. We hardly saw any blitzes or exotic looks against Central Arkansas and I expect that to change drastically this week. Unleash the Kraken and finish with at least a 28% havoc rate.
TURN THEM OVER
kansas has played two games against overmatched foes and lost two turnovers: one fumble and one interception (thrown by Daniels). It’s a feature, not a bug, and Mizzou needs to slap that feature’s button as many times as possible to keep the jayhawk offense off balance and out of their comfort zone. Let’s settle for +2 on the turnover margin.
Conclusion
The last time Missouri played kansas I was single, childless, and still living in Columbia. It was a 24-10 beat down in Arrowhead that could have been so much worse.
I have a lot of pent up sports anger that needs to be released on those terrorists from the west. I can’t wait to see them run out on to the field at Faurot and have everyone boo their asses off. It’s going to be magical.
I AM VENGEFUL. WHO WILL RIDE WITH ME?
