No. 22 Missouri has an amazing opportunity to go into No. 1 Georgia and leave with a massive upset victory. Now, that’s easier said than done, but the Bulldogs’ only loss of the year is at home to a 5-4 Auburn team.
Mizzou is an extremely talented team, but in its three losses, it has been a result of a lot of self-inflicted errors, preventing it from being ranked higher in the CFP rankings. Will the Tigers play well enough to pull off an upset? Time will tell, but here are four questions ahead of Saturday’s
matchup in Athens.
Will Mizzou re-commit to the run, even in a tight, close game?
In Mizzou’s past two losses, the team has shied away from running the football. Against Mississippi, the Tigers ran it just 26 times in Oxford. Versus Texas, the Tigers finished with just 24 attempts.
Sometimes there is context behind that. If a team is trailing, of course it’s going to pass the ball more. Even taking away the time Missouri trailed against Texas, it threw the ball 35 times, while having 21 attempts.
Earlier this week, Drinkwitz felt more can be done in the run game.
“I think the first thing we have to do is be more committed to the run,” said Drinkwitz on what the team can do to help the run game bounce back after Texas. “I think 19 carries for a tailback, especially in that kind of game, you know we can do more in the run game.”
Drinkwitz also mentioned that some of the lack of attempts against Texas was a product of RPO’s where the throw was the right decision, specifically when Ahmad Hardy was in.
But a part of Mizzou’s identity is being able to run the ball. While the passing attack has improved this season with Austin Simmons, Jamal Roberts has been a workhorse, and in each of the Tigers’ SEC wins, being able to land what Drinkwitz described as “body blows throughout the game” has been crucial.
The Tigers are going against one of the toughest SEC rush defenses, but in the Bulldogs’ only loss, Auburn gashed Georgia with 46 rushing attempts for 192 yards. Mizzou can’t be a one-dimensional offense against a team like Georgia and rely on just Simmons’ arm.
Can Mizzou be disciplined enough?
The last time Mizzou was in Athens in 2023, my biggest takeaway coming from that game was how the Tigers didn’t do themselves any favors, with hopes of a potential upset. Penalties, special teams errors, and defensive breakdowns plagued the Tigers in that game, and it is something that has seemed to follow Mizzou in the ensuing years.
Of course, a year prior in 2022, Mizzou had a first-and-goal at the one-yard line, but a false start backed the Tigers far enough that they didn’t score a touchdown against a talented Bulldogs defense.
Bringing it back to this week, Georgia is one of the most disciplined teams in football. The Bulldogs average just 4.89 penalties per game, which ranks 9th among Power 4 teams. As for Missouri, they rank 40th among Power 4 teams (6.89), or tied for 86th among all FBS programs.
A night-and-day difference between both teams.
Earlier this week, Drinkwitz highlighted how difficult it is to overcome penalties that set the offense back 5-plus yards.
“When you reduce the uncertainty of what the scheme or play could be, it gets a lot more difficult to win,” Drinkwitz said. “And you know, I’ve been in other leagues where we kind of had a plan to overcome some of these, and we need to do a better job of planning and overcoming that. But I think it just gets more and more difficult as the level of competition increases.”
Mizzou can’t afford to have self-inflicted wounds against Georgia offensively. The Bulldogs have the sixth-best 3rd down defense in the SEC. But also beyond penalties, Mizzou can’t afford to not have a cleaner operation on special teams and in defensive coverage. Last week was an example of how disastrous that could be.
The Tigers haven’t played clean football consistently throughout the 2026 season. They don’t need to be perfect, but making it harder on themselves will decrease its chances of an upset against the No. 1 team in the nation.
How will the run defense bounce back?
The road doesn’t get any easier for the Tigers. Texas found success with Raleek Brown on the ground last week while Hollywood Smothers was sidelined with injury for the rest of the year.
While Mizzou’s rushing attack will be trying to regain its juice, the Tigers’ rush defense will have to do the same.
Georgia has the second-best rushing attack in the SEC (210.7 yards per game). The Bulldogs are led by Dwight Phillips Jr. (481 yards – 7.3 YPC), while Nate Frazier (404 yards – 6.4 YPC), Bo Walker, and Gunner Stockton are all threats with their legs as well.
Drinkwitz highlighted how they create mismatches with their personnel and formations, which was crucial in a blowout win at Mississippi.
“They’ve got multiple abilities to create challenges for you with their three tight end sets and run they ball with their running backs and offensive line,” Drinkwitz said. “Or they can go spread out wide with their wide receiver sets. I thought they did a really good job of creating a lot of mismatches against Ole Miss and stretching the ball vertically down the field, as well as finding ways to run it.”
Speaking of stretching the field vertically, Will Mizzou’s pass rush present a different look?
Among the things that went wrong against Arch Manning, the inconsistent pass rush allowed the quarterback to effectively pick apart Mizzou’s defense.
That’s not going to work against Stockton. When he is kept clean in the pocket, Stockton has an 84.7% adjusted completion percentage.
When examining Mizzou’s pass rush, Drinkwitz thinks since there is more film on the Tigers’ edge rushers, the first moves aren’t as effective as before.
“We’ve got to create some counter moves. We got to put some counter moves on tape. We got to work some counter moves on tape,” Drinkwitz said. “We’ve got to create pressure through pressures, and we’ve have not done that enough.”
Mizzou over the past three weeks has tried to get home with four, but might require some revamping against UGA.
“It hasn’t been as effective as we would like,” Drinkwitz said. “And so that’s some things you got to go back to the drawing board and work on.”
Mizzou will also be walking into Athens with a reshuffled defensive line, with Langden Kitchen out for the year. Sterling Webb has filled in his absence, but players like him and Daeden Hopkins are part of the equation in generating a rush alongside Darris Smith.
