After 241 days of no Missouri college football, we will all once again be able to watch Missouri play college football.
Here’s the preview I did on Central Arkansas back in May. There hasn’t been a lot of chatter about the Racers this year with very few stories or roster updates from the Murray Ledger or any other regional-based outlets. So a lot of my roster projection here is based on scant notes and returning production; there’s a good chance I get this wrong but…hey, it’s the season opener against
an FCS opponent. We all have to start the season somewhere!
FCS teams beat FBS team. It happens, and can happen on Thursday. But Missouri has never lost to an FCS team, and worse Missouri teams than the ‘24 squad have beaten better FCS teams than ‘24 Murray State. So, you shouldn’t worry.
Or, if they do lose, fire Drinkwitz, burn the program to the ground, etc.
Let’s look at the keys to the game:
When Missouri Has the Ball
How the recruiting services ranked you coming out of high school doesn’t always mean much by the time you’ve played three to four years of college football. But, if it did, Missouri’s offense would put up 70 points in a half against this defense. The Bears defense has some playmakers who have experience at the FBS level but Missouri should absolutely overwhelm them in less than 30 minutes. And yes, I’m accounting for the fact that the Tigers have a ton of new faces and will be juggling quarterbacks.
So, much like last year’s FCS preview, here’s what Missouri’s offense needs to do beat the defense…
Figure Out What You Have
There is just way too much “new” for this offense to think that this game doesn’t matter. The quarterbacks will be juggled and two new running backs, four new receivers, and a bunch of offensive linemen are going to be playing together for the first time against an opponent that is actively trying to make them lose. Every snap needs to be the best rep, every play needs to be clean so that this staff can figure out who is and isn’t working out. If that means we see a jumbled mess of rotations, so be it. If that means that every receiver gets two targets and then goes off the field, that’s fine. But the next week is a week that is the most important week in Missouri football in quite some time and the live fire reps are extremely important in this game.
When Murray State Has the Ball
Central Arkansas’ offense was impressively bad last year, and that was when they had established pieces. Now they’re starting nearly completely over with Head Coach Nathan Brown assuming play calling duties. It’s a lot of new for their offense, too, and so the plan for this awesome Missouri defense is simple.
Say it with me…
Play Your Young Guys
Figure out what you can do with newly named defensive positions of “JACK” and “ROVER” and the personnel slotting those roles. Play all your talented interior defensive linemen to get them some live reps. Show me what the backup linebackers can do, especially Huff, Jacobs, and Beasley. And let’s see what the young defensive backs can do since all five will (potentially) be gone next year. Let everybody have some fun, please!
Conclusion
Missouri will win. If they don’t then the season is, essentially, over. Play the depth, give everyone experience, figure out what you have at the positions of extreme inquiry, and enjoy a beautiful night of Mizzou football being back.
