Missouri Tigers College Football Preview 2021: Keys To The Season
Missouri Tigers Biggest Key: Offense
What happened to the passing game? There were plenty of completions, and the offense was able to keep the interceptions to a minimum with just six on the year, and four of them came in the last two games.
However, Mizzou threw just nine touchdown passes in the ten games, and six of them came in two of them – four against LSU and two against Mississippi State.
Granted, Connor Bazelak was a freshman, and there weren’t nearly enough yards after the catch, but …
Nine touchdown passes? The offense has to start opening it up a bit.
Missouri Tigers Biggest Key: Defense
The secondary can’t keep getting rocked. The pass rush wasn’t good enough, but it had a few moments. Of course there were several great passing games on the slate, but a few more interceptions would’ve been nice.
Four.
The Tigers came up with four interceptions on the season, and two of them came at the very end in the loss to Mississippi State. But it was more than that for a Mizzou secondary that allowed three touchdown passes or more in five of the last eight games.
To be fair, the defense was solid at not allowing a whole lot of completions – just 59% on the year – and there were plenty of games when it kept offenses from going off. However, those games were against Vanderbilt, and Kentucky, and South Carolina.
Allowing 7.9 yards per throw were way too many after giving up 6.2 in 2019 and
Missouri Tigers Key Player To A Successful Season
RB Tyler Badie, Sr.
Is Badie ready for the spotlight role? Larry Rountree spent the last few years as the team’s featured back, earning All-SEC honors with a 14-touchdown season and with over 3,700 career rushing yards and 40 scores. Now he’s a Los Angeles Charger.
Badie is more of a do-it-all back who’s been a nice part of the rotation, but he only had double-digit carries once last season. He can catch, and he’s dangerous with the ball in his hands, but if Badie isn’t the guy who can bring it inside and out, Mizzou needs someone else to step up in fall camp.
Missouri Tigers Key Game To The 2021 Season
at Kentucky, Sept. 11
It’s the SEC opener for both teams and it’s a must win for each side. Georgia and Florida are the two best teams in the East, but the winner here could end up being third.
Win, and Mizzou will almost certainly be 3-0 – Central Michigan is before and SE Missouri State is after – with Tennessee the next SEC game and with winnable conference games against at Vanderbilt, South Carolina and Arkansas to go.
The Tigers lost five in a row to the Cats before pulling off a 20-10 victory last year.
– Missouri Tigers Schedule Breakdown & Analysis
2020 Missouri Tigers Fun Stats
– Passing TDs: Opponents 21 – Missouri 9
– 3rd Quarter Scoring: Opponents 82 – Missouri 47
– 4th Down Conversions: Opponents 72% – Missouri 56%