Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NCAA. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Missouri fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.
Despite the injuries to Sam Horn and Blake Craig – there were certainly a lot of positives from Mizzou’s season-opening 61-6 victory over Central Arkansas. If there was one unit to nitpick however, it would be the performance of the offensive line.
We knew coming into this season
that position would have some question marks after losing Armand Membou, Cam’Ron Johnson, and Marcus Bryant – and it carried over into the season-opener. It’s not that the offensive line was horrible, but they weren’t as dominant as they needed to be against an FCS opponent — which is a cause for concern as the schedule starts to ramp up. From Sam Snelling’s pourover:
Things you wanted to see: The new offensive line dominate.
Things you saw: A mixed bag. 5.76 yards per carry is good, three tackles for loss isn’t awful. But there were some obvious issues in the early going. Cayden Green’s pre-season All American status looked shaky as he whiffed on a few blocks in the first half, but he and the rest of the line settled in and played great after halftime. Hopefully the early bumps were the adjustment, and the later more fluid play is where things are going to end up.
There were also some discipline issues on the O-Line as they combined for four penalties in the first half.
Simply put, the unit will need to be much more disciplined come Saturday in the heated Border War rivalry against the Jayhawks. The good news is that Thursday’s performance was only Week 1 and there’s certainly time to improve.
Missouri’s offensive line has to be better — and it has the potential to be good with the talent and experience they have at the position.
So, in this week’s SBN Reacts survey, we ask you this: Which player on Mizzou’s offensive line needs to improve the most heading into Week 2?
