The 20th ranked Missouri Tigers are off to a promising 4-0 start – continuing their momentum of a season-opening six-game home stand. Mizzou’s 14-game home winning streak is currently fourth in the country
behind Georgia, Washington, and Oregon. Ahmad Hardy has emerged as a dark horse contender for the Heisman, and the defensive line is operating at a high-level.
Vibes are pretty good surrounding this Mizzou team and the program entering Homecoming week with UMass looming on Saturday night. Barring a catastrophe against the Minutemen, Missouri will be 5-0 heading into their bye week. Then, a home game vs Alabama on October 11th could determine if Eli Drinkwitz’s Tigers are for real or not.
After their first four games, we asked on the latest SB Nation survey what grade would you give Mizzou’s undefeated start. The majority has graded the current state of the Tigers as resounding A.
This looks to be a very good Mizzou team that will be in the College Football Playoff discussion all throughout the season. These Tigers aren’t perfect, however. If there is one glaring problem with this team — it is the secondary position.
Nathan Hurst graded every position group thus far — and the secondary has been the weakness up to this point with a C- grade.
This grade is really a combo grade with the cornerbacks, as the entire secondary has been problematic this season. The only reason this isn’t a failing grade is because the team is 4-0. The safeties might be the most disappointing position group on the team to begin the year. For a unit returning starters Daylan Carnell and Marvin Burks Jr. and adding experience in Jalen Catalon and Santana Banner, their performance has been lackluster thus far.
It’s safe to say that the secondary needs to get fixed in order for Mizzou to become a legitimate CFP threat. They have the talent and experience to improve — and things must come together by October 11th.
