Mizzou Football went into Lawrence and made a statement last Friday. The Tigers defeated the Jayhawks 38-21 to improve to 2-0 on the young season.
Against a Power Four opponent, it provided a much better level of competition than a team from the FCS. It revealed a lot of things, both good and bad, that you couldn’t quite observe against UAPB.
With that being said, let’s examine the stock risers and fallers from Week 2.
Stock Up
Austin Simmons and Chip Lindsey
The rest of the college football world is starting to see the talent that Austin
Simmons possesses. It’s cool to see a sort of coming-out party happen at Kansas, out of all places. Now, we saw Beau Pribula have a strong start in 2025 (And Virginia is 3-0 this year), but the arm displayed live on the field explains why Eli Drinkwitz said before the season that he’s the most talented quarterback he’s had at MU, arm-talent-wise. He’s throwing with anticipation, hitting tight-window throws, and launching lasers from one side all the way to the other sideline.
More importantly, and this brings a smile to my face, Simmons is attacking the deeper parts of the field, bringing out the talent of the wide receiver duo of Donovan Olugbode and Cayden Lee. One of the most impressive throws I thought he had on the night came right out of halftime, when he launched a deep ball off play action to Caleb Goodie, but the speedster just couldn’t haul it in.
But also, credit goes to offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey. The OC-QB pairing is exactly what was hypothesized in the offseason. From Lindsey’s standpoint, it was interesting to see what they did in the run game.
The Tigers’ rushing attack hasn’t been the road graders of the past, but Lindsey got creative to help provide a spark in the second quarter, where he called a sprint-draw, which opened up a 64-yard score for Jamal Roberts. He called that exact play three more times, going for 6, 6, and 13 yards, with the final helping set up a closer field goal.
Daeden Hopkins
Another player to have sort of a coming-out party was edge rusher Daeden Hopkins, who was named the SEC Defensive Lineman of the Week.
His 50 snaps also matched his season total from 2025. Against KU, PFF credited him with 8 pressures (He had 4 against Arkansas-Pine Bluff a season ago). He provided the final knockout blow with a strip sack, which led MU to go up 38-21. In a year where the edge rusher room has a lot to prove, Hopkins, Darris Smith, and Langden Kitchen have all looked the part. Hopkins’ showing he can produce in a larger workload helps answer the questions of who will step up in the edge rusher room.
It’s a wonderful story for the former four-star recruit from down the road at Hermann High School, who plays in Class 2 at the MSHSAA level.
Linebackers
Robert Woodyard Jr. was robbed of SEC Defensive Player of the Week honors. I talked about him already, and how he changed the momentum of the entire game with a forced fumble and an interception to start the second half, but he and Nicholas Rodriguez were all around the football, leading the team in tackles and combining for six pressures.
Jahlil Florence
It’s been a rough past couple of years for the Oregon transfer, but he has settled in as this team’s No. 3 cornerback. For the most part, Mizzou’s cornerbacks played well against Kansas.
As for Florence, he was targeted three times, allowing just one reception for three yards. His highlight play, of course, came on his interception while covering Keaton Kubecka. It was not an easy interception, as Kubecka originally had the catch, but Florence wanted it more, securing possession as he came down with it. Like at edge rusher and linebacker, the cornerback room had its questions as well. So far, they’ve performed well, and we’ll see if that trend continues later in the season.
Xai’Shaun Edwards
With Ahmad Hardy still out, Edwards received plenty of opportunities against Kansas. 10 carries for 45 yards might not seem like much, but per Nate Edwards, he had a 50% success rate when carrying the rock. On his touchdown run, his vision and extra effort to fight in the end zone were excellent, putting Mizzou up 28-14.
Against Troy, it will be interesting to see if he establishes himself more and makes it to where he can’t be taken out of the rotation.
Stock Down
Special Teams
One blocked field goal is unacceptable, but two?? And one for a touchdown??
On the first one, the blocked one, the defender went right in between Jack Lange and Jordon Harris. The second came on the opposite side of the protection. Luckily, the errors didn’t faze the Tigers. This game has been defined by special teams before (2008). Drinkwitz let us know his thoughts on the unit this Tuesday.
“Probably the most embarrassed I’ve been,” Drinkwitz said. “And we’ve had some embarrassing special teams performances here. That was as embarrassing as I’ve been on special teams. To have two blocked kicks, and four penalties, two personal fouls on 15 yards, just inexcusable, and that’s on me.”
Run blocking
As mentioned above, Mizzou gained 89 yards on four rushing plays. Outside of those four, 88 yards on 37 attempts it’s 2.37 yards per carry. The Tigers only had three rushes that went over 10 yards. It’s been two weeks where it hasn’t felt dominant up front; even with the return of Cayden Green, the Tigers gained just 5 yards on three attempts when running off the left tackle.
The issue is it’s not going to get any easier after Troy. It’s nine straight games against SEC defensive lines.
Tight End Usage
While Brett Norfleet helped put the game away with the team’s final score, he had an egregious drop in the end zone, and on the following play, Kansas scored on a blocked field goal.
It represents kind of the start of what’s been seen from the tight ends so far. Granted, the rest of the wide receiver room has been awesome, but the tight ends have been left out of the party. Norfleet has just 36 receiving yards on five receptions, and that makes up the entire statistical receiving profile for the entire tight end room.
As for Jordon Harris, he didn’t have the best game against Kansas. Run blocking is his forte, and while PFF grades aren’t everything, he finished with a 55.7 grade in that department. While Simmons was rolling out to the right in the first quarter, backed up in the end zone, the defender Harris was blocking was able to get in the air and bat the ball down.
Not the greatest start for the tight end room, but it’s a long season.
Onto Troy.
