Bring your Tigers football, basketball and recruiting questions, and talk to Eli Hoff in a live chat at 11 a.m. Thursday.
Transcript
Eli 贬辞蹿蹿:听Good morning from Kansas City! The UM System Board of Curators is meeting at UMKC later this afternoon to talk about the Memorial Stadium project, and SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey is in town. Could be some interesting things coming your way from those events this afternoon. But for now, it's all about your questions!
Todd H:听Good day to you Eli--hope all is well your way. I've missed so many chats lately and I'm not proud of it.听
贬辞蹿蹿:听Howdy, Todd! I may be writing from a coffee shop next to UMKC's campus, but I promise I don't take attendance.
碍别惫窜辞耻:听Everyone is talking about BC being for real and Mizzou better watch out. I say we don't know anything about BC based on two games....and perhaps not much about Mizzou. What say you?
贬辞蹿蹿:听Sure. I don't think anyone can argue with that. How much of what we'll know about any team by season's end is evident through Week 2? Probably not a whole lot, and last year's Mizzou team is a good example. The working hypothesis through the first two games of last season was that the Tigers would get blown out by K-State... and then that didn't happen.
I actually think Missouri is more of an unknown than Boston College is, though. We've seen BC go all-out to win a game 鈥 Week 1 to beat Florida State. That showed that Castellanos can scramble and control a drive, the Eagles can and will run right at you, and the defense, especially around the line of scrimmage, doesn't mess around. That isn't everything, but it's something. What I think the bigger unknown is with Boston College is how good it'll end up being. Florida State could finish 8-4 and that win stays as a really good one for BC. Or they could be 4-8 and that ends up being a routine one.
Whereas with Mizzou, there've been two shutouts against some lowly opposition. The offense has a lot of firepower 鈥 nobody's disputing that 鈥 but it hasn't showed it yet, and hasn't needed to. I think if I'm a neutral observer trying to figure something out while watching this game, it's actually with how the Tigers look in this one. But I see where that can be subjective.
罢颈驳别谤叠辞锄:听Is the Mizzou defense likely to spy the BC QB for the entire game or just in certain situations?
贬辞蹿蹿:听This is one of the things I'll be watching for. I'm pretty confident that Mizzou will try to through a few different things at Castellanos 鈥 Eli Drinkwitz said just about as much during his news conference. I'm sure at least some of those will involve a QB spy.
And the more I think about it, the more I like the idea of Corey Flagg Jr. in that role. He's incredibly mobile for a middle linebacker and can tackle well, so if Mizzou needs someone to follow a scramble in a hurry and put a stop to it, that seems like it's up Flagg's alley. I don't know if this actually would impact things, but Flagg's on the short side for a linebacker, too, which could actually play to his favor. If Castellanos (also short) is escaping the pocket, maybe Flagg is quite literally under the radar compared to the trees that are linemen.
Where the approach might matter the most 鈥 and be the most interesting 鈥 is on 3rd downs. Let's say Boston College faces a 3rd and 8. There's a good chance they pass, but picking up 8 yards for a scrambling QB isn't exactly difficult. If Mizzou goes with its prowler package (3-1-7 defense), that gets interesting. There's a lot of speed and versatility on the back end to contain Castellanos.
I know a lot of you have vested interests in this game, but from just a football standpoint, that's going to be fascinating. Drinkwitz called it a "chess match," and I'm inclined to agree.
Todd H:听These penalties committed by our OL have been infuriating and are inexcusable and unacceptable. This is not something new Eli--these OL penalties have been a problem now for over 2 seasons! (Remember how 1st and goal at the UGA 1 was moved back 5 yards and MU had to end up settling for a FG in that game 2 years ago?!?) What can Drinkwitz do as the head coach to fix this problem?
贬辞蹿蹿:听I'd argue the inexcusable ones are the illegal formation ones. Drinkwitz called them "embarrassing," so I don't think I'm taking an unfair shot there. Those ones are on the coaches. Especially with in-helmet comms now, they need to be lining up in a way that they are either correct from the get-go or can be corrected from the sideline. Just shouldn't happen.
Penalties backing up field goals isn't anything new with Mizzou, either. Mevis' 61-yarder was longer than it needed to be because of a penalty. So that supports your point.
There might be a technique aspect to some of these holding calls that have popped up. The O-line spent time this week working on when to time their release 鈥 the fine line of finishing a block without holding the other guy. That's probably the extent of what the coaching staff can really do for right now.听
And maybe being in a higher-pressure situation will help. It's not like any of these penalties have been costly so far. Sub-optimal, sure, but the impact hasn't exactly jeopardized a game. That could change starting on Saturday. If the players are a little more locked in overall that might help avert mental lapses. Though I also understand if not all of you share that optimistic view.
罢颈驳别谤叠辞锄:听The Mizzou program has to be happy that BC comes in as a ranked opponent it's a must win game and a win will only help the resume moving forward. Also, wouldn't you agree that a number by BC helps the team's motivation, if that's needed?
贬辞蹿蹿:听Definitely. With where things stand right now (see above point about what we really know at this stage of the season), some points of Mizzou's schedule have strengthened (BC, Vandy, maybe Arkansas and South Carolina?) while others have weakened (Texas A&M, perhaps Auburn). Given how we think the CFP process might shake out, every bit of strength helps 鈥 assuming, of course, Missouri wins.听
And yes, it's good for motivational purposes, too. If you've been reading our pages or listening to the Eye on the Tigers podcast, you've known not to underestimate Boston College. Week 1 against Florida State should've confirmed that. The ranking by their name is there for the rest to catch on that this team, at this stage, is one to take seriously. I don't think Missouri was going to be caught by surprise 鈥 regardless of whether BC was ranked 14, 24 or would be 44 if the poll went that far, this was always going to be the best team faced so far this season. There's plenty of material to hype up this MU team for the importance of this game.
碍别惫窜辞耻:听I don't think that matters. They will be unranked again when Mizzou beats them. And later in the season people will say "but BC was 24 when Mizzou beat them." And they'll say "It's just BC...and they aren't ranked any more."
贬辞蹿蹿:听I guess. But there's also a world where BC contends in an ACC field that looks pretty wide open right now, isn't there? I'm not saying there won't be a 20-20 hindsight view of this game, just like there is with BC beating FSU, but what matters at the moment is that Mizzou gets the No. 24 team in the country this weekend, and beating them is helpful for building a resume.
闯别谤别尘测:听I was thinking about how BC beat Florida State and Duquesne, and it seems very unlikely that BC could manage to run such long, slow drives with 75% rushing plays and so many successful 3rd downs against Mizzou's defense. Clock control only works if you can keep moving the chains. I'm starting to believe that MU may not be as vulnerable to a running QB in 2024, either. (Does being vulnerable to a Heisman winner even count?) So at this point I'm really only worried about Mizzou's offense being the letdown. (Also: another lopsided stat in the BC-FSU game was the penalties; so that's making me a little nervous.)
贬辞蹿蹿:听The question there is how Mizzou's defense can do against the run, right? And I think the answer to that remains to be seen 鈥 hence my earlier point that there are still a lot of unknowns about this team even with some encouraging signs. You'd expect the Tigers to hold up better than Florida State, defensively, and I'm not even going to use Duquesne as a bar. But the game will show whether that's the case.
Figuring out how to deal with mobile quarterbacks is especially important for this year's team. Jayden Daniels made last year's unit look silly 鈥 but you're right, he won the Heisman because he made darn near everyone look silly. Diego Pavia at Vandy is a scramble. So is Milroe at Bama, Thorne at Auburn, Sellers at South Carolina. That type of quarterback is hard to stop at the college level, but if Misosuri can't at a minimum mitigate their damage, it'll be a long season.听
It's also fair to have some questions about the offense. We'll see how much explosiveness is in the cards against a tougher opponent.听
罢颈驳别谤叠辞锄:听The book makers set the opening spread at 17.5, doesn't sound like they are buying the BC hype and this should be a very comfortable Mizzou win? However, the spread seems high to me. Your thoughts?
贬辞蹿蹿:听I don't disagree with Vegas too often, but that does seem a little high. That spread is saying Mizzou will win by more than two scores. And if you had to predict this result in terms of scores, I think a lot of folks would say they think BC will be within two scores late in this one. Or at least, that's where I land. But I don't go betting against the spread.
罢颈驳别谤叠辞锄:听Isn't it fair to say that Mizzou must get off to a quick start offensively and hopefully make BC play from behind? I would rather have the BC QB attempting passes to catch up rather than using his legs to cause havoc.
Hoff:听Game script-wise, that certainly seems like something that would help. The first couple of drives will be tone-setters. If BC gets to run 12 plays, that's a very different start from going 3 and out.听
顿颁骋:听Hey, Eli: Just joining the chat, and I was listening to the pod early this morning and stunned to hear (though perhaps I shouldn't be) that some fans think Drew Pyne would be better than Cook. I look at Pyne and see an NFL-type backup. Lesser talent, but experience makes him ideal to take over if injury calls for it. I wonder though--does the coaching staff see him as a future starter? I'm sure he was recruited with assurances that he'll have a chance, but it seems like Mizzou has landed some young talented QBs and I think Pyne is just a guy.
贬辞蹿蹿:听I was shocked by that too. But the people on Twitter are the people on Twitter. And some of them will look for any reason to advocate for someone not named Brady Cook.
I do think Pyne will be in the mix for the starting job next season. He has experience and will be quite familiar with Mizzou's scheme by that point. I could see Missouri rolling with a competition of Pyne, Sam Horn (if he picks football) and possibly another transfer portal vet. But it's too early to be certain of how that'll go.
厂肠丑濒补测:听Interested to hear how Jude James the local Francis Howell WR is doing as a Freshman and when we might see him in action.
贬辞蹿蹿:听I expect him to redshirt this season. He looked good in camp, but that was with Brett Norfleet and Jordon Harris hurt. With them back in the picture, James is battling for fourth in the TE room at best. He and Whit Hafer will be the developmental guys for this season.
颁奥贰冲罢颈驳别谤:听Just curious about the transfer punter from Murray State. Any idea why he couldn鈥檛 beat out Bauer for the job?
贬辞蹿蹿:听To be blunt: Because Bauer is a better punter. That job was up for grabs. Bauer had better punts in camp and has been quite solid in the first two games. It's very much a results-based position.
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