College Football News Preview 2020: Previewing, predicting, and looking ahead to the Missouri Tigers season with what you need to know.
CFN in 60 Podcast: 2020 Missouri Tigers
Missouri preview in 60 seconds
– Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak
– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Key Players, Games, Stats
– What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
– Schedule Analysis
– Missouri Previews 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015
2019 Record: 6-6 overall, 3-5 in SEC
Head Coach: Eliah Drinkwitz, 1st year, 0-0
2019 CFN Final Opinion Ranking: 63
2019 CFN Final Season Formula Ranking: 87
2019 CFN Preview Ranking: 28
NOTE: Obviously, no one knows what’s going to happen to the 2020 college football season. We’ll take a general look at where each team stands – doing it without spring ball to go by – while crossing our fingers that we’ll all have some well-deserved fun this fall. Hoping you and yours are safe and healthy.
5. College Football News Preview 2020: Missouri Tigers Offense 3 Things To Know
– Let’s be fair to the Missouri offense and the former coaching staff. QB Kelly Bryant got banged up, the schedule got harder, and there was no bowl game to play for in what became a lost season. Even so, scoring 27 points over a four game late season stretch wasn’t okay.
Enter new head coach Eliah Drinkwitz, who’ll handle some of the offensive coordinator duties along with former TCU co-OC Curtis Luper. Together. they have more tweaking to do than a total overhaul despite the O losing six starters.
It all starts with cranking up an offensive line that wasn’t up to the normal Missouri snuff when it came to pass protection and giving everyone time to work.
CFN in 60 Video: Missouri Tigers Preview
– Center Trystan Colon-Castillo is now with the Baltimore Ravens, guard Tre’Vour Wallace-Sims is on Jacksonville, and left tackle Yasir Durant is a Kansas City Chief. So the line that wasn’t all that great last year now has to be better without three NFL-caliber blockers.
Start with Case Cook at one guard gig, junior Larry Borom to move around where needed at one of the tackle jobs, and the rest of the parts to be filled in from there.
Working behind the reconfigured group is leading rusher Larry Rountree, a tough back who ran for 829 yards and nine scores without too many big runs. there’s more than enough depth to come up with a decent rotation, but again, the line has to be put together first.
– Is this the start of the Taylor Powell era? The junior got plenty of work when Bryant was hurt, but he only hit 47% of his passes for 297 yards with a touchdown and two picks. TCU transfer Shawn Robinson had to sit out last season, but he’s been around for a year, has the all-around skills that fit what Drinkwitz wants to do, and he’s got the experience Powell is missing.
The starter won’t have TE Albert Okwuegbunam around – he left early and hooked back up with QB Drew Lock with the Denver Broncos – and top yardage guy Jonathan Nance is done.
The receiving corps gets a shot in the arm with Virginia Tech transfer Damon Hazelton almost certain to be the new No. 1 target. The grad transfer averaged 17 yards per catch with a Hokie-high eight touchdowns last year.
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: Missouri Tigers Defense 3 Things To Know
4. College Football News Preview 2020: Missouri Tigers Defense 3 Things To Know
– There wasn’t a pass rush – Mizzou was last in the SEC in sacks – but overall the defense was good enough. The secondary had a nice season, the run defense gave up just 133 yards per game, and it did its part. The problems were mostly on the offensive side.
Tackling machine Cale Garrett is finished in the linebacking corps – he got hurt early on last year, though – and DT Jordan Elliott was selected in the third round by the Cleveland Browns. In all, 13 of the top 16 tacklers are expected back.
Taking Garrett out of the equation, the top four linebackers at the end of last year return. Junior Nick Bolton stepped up at one linebacker spot and finished with a team-high 107 stops, and sophomore Devin Nicholson is back in the middle after coming on late.
– Elliott was a force on the inside. He was the quick anchor for the defensive front and led the team in tackles for loss, but 270-pound Chris Turner is back at one end, and 6-1, 300-pound Kobie Whiteside is back at tackle after leading the team with 6.5 sacks. Overall, it’s a much deeper defensive line.
– The pass defense that was so strong loses good-hitting safety Khalil Oliver and top corner DeMarkus Acy. Even so, Joshuah Bledsoe is a good veteran at one safety, and senior Tyree Gillespie is back after finishing second on the team with 50 stops.
As good as the secondary was last year, though, it only picked off two passes – both by former safety Ronnell Perkins. The battle for corner jobs will be one of the focuses of the D around veteran junior Jarvis Ware.
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: Top Missouri Tigers Players
College Football News Preview 2020: Top Missouri Tigers Players
Best Missouri Tigers Offensive Player
WR Damon Hazelton, Sr.
No pressure, new guy. Just be the team’s most dangerous offensive weapon right out of the box. The 6-3, 215-pound Hazelton started his career off at Ball State and went off, catching 51 passes for 505 yards and four scores for an offense that struggled a bit too much.
He sat out a year to be ready to shine at Virginia Tech, and he blew up in two seasons with 82 catches for 1,329 yards and 16 touchdowns. Even as a two-time transfer, he’s fine after getting his degree. He’s big, fast, and experienced – he’s exactly what the Tiger offense needs.
2. QB Shawn Robinson, Jr.
3. RB Larry Rountree, Sr.
4. OT Larry Borom, Jr.
5. RB Tyler Badie, Jr.
Best Missouri Tigers Defensive Player
LB Nick Bolton, Jr.
The 6-0, 230-pounder made a few plays as a promising freshman in the linebacker rotation, and last year he rose up and rocked into an All-SEC star when he got his shot to shine.
A big all-around playmaker, he led the team with 107 stops with 7.5 tackles for loss, eight broken up passes, and two interceptions, taking one for a score against West Virginia. He’s a smart, tough defender who’s always seemingly in the right position – he can work at any linebacking spot.
2. DT Kobie Whiteside, Sr.
3. S Tyree Gillespie, Sr.
4. DE Chris Turner, Sr.
5. S Joshuah Bledsoe, Sr.
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: Missouri Tigers Keys To The Season
College Football News Preview 2020: Missouri Tigers Keys To The Season
Biggest Key To The Missouri Tigers Offense
The offense has to get moving again. There weren’t any problems over the first half of the season, but once the problems started to kick in, and once the schedule got a wee bit tougher, everything started to stall.
The Tigers converted 41% or more of their third down chances in all five games over the first half of the year against FBS teams, and didn’t get to 30% in any of the next five before picking things back up again against a hapless Arkansas.
On the season, they were 5-0 when converting 42% or more of their tries and was 0-6 when they were worse. How important is this? Mizzou is 1-26 going back to September of 2015 – a 40-37 win over Purdue in 2018 was the outlier – against FBS teams when it can’t convert 42% of its third down tries.
By the way, head coach Eliah Drinkwitz’s Appalachian State team last year converted 44.5% of its third down tries.
Biggest Key To The Missouri Tigers Defense
The D has to start coming up with more big plays again. It didn’t have a problem taking the ball away early on last year – with 14 takeaways in the first eight games – and it came up with just one in the final four.
Worst of all, the secondary picked off just one pass over the last seven games. It all had something to do with the lack of pressure into the backfield.
The Tigers came up with 12 of their 19 sacks in the first five games, generated four in the loss to Florida, and came up with a total of three in six of the final seven games.
Key Missouri Tigers Player To A Successful Season
QB Shawn Robinson Jr.
A terrific recruit for a TCU program that – at the time – was on a nice run of ultra-productive quarterbacks, Robinson brought the mobility and all-around game that was supposed to make him a difference-maker.
He was fine – hitting 59% of his passes for 1,518 yards and 12 touchdowns with eight picks and ran for 389 yards and three scores – but he claimed to be mistreated at TCU and transferred.
He waited a year while Clemson transfer Kelly Bryant handled the offense, and now he’s going to push for the starting gig along with junior Taylor Powell and sophomore Connor Bazelak. No matter who wins the job, the offense has to be far more explosive, efficient, and effective. Robinson has waited his turn.
Key Game To The Missouri Tigers Season
at South Carolina, Sept. 19
The Tigers got past the Gamecocks last year in a 34-14 win, and now they have to do it all again, but on the road. They lost three straight before that and are 3-5 in the series since joining the SEC.
With a trip to Tennessee coming up after this in a few weeks, and with a date at Florida later, Mizzou has to pull this off in Columbia – the South Carolina version – to have any hopes of being any sort of a factor in the SEC East race.
– Missouri Tigers Schedule Breakdown & Analysis
2019 Missouri Fun Stats
– 1st Quarter Scoring: Missouri 85 – Opponents 31
– Penalties: Missouri 83 for 808 yards – Opponents 69 for 627 yards
– Missouri points first six games: 233 – Missouri points last six games: 71
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: Missouri Tigers Win Total Prediction, What Will Happen
1. College Football News Preview 2020: Missouri Tigers Win Total Prediction, What Will Happen
Where’s the talent?
Missouri has carved out an okay niche as a decent program that’s able to beat the mediocre teams after going to back-to-back SEC Championships – and coming within a win over Auburn of going to the BCS Championship in 2013 – but things have changed.
The SEC East might be the easier of the two divisions, but Florida has turned into a thing again, and Georgia has grown into a superpower. Missouri has been okay, but it hasn’t had enough of the top stars needed to be a true SEC player – just eight six players were drafted over the last four years – and there’s been a big, big issue against the good teams.
Over the last three years, Missouri is 2-16 against FBS teams that finished with a winning record, and is 19-1 against teams that finished at .500 or worse and FCS programs.
It’s nice to beat the teams you’re supposed to, but can new head coach Eliah Drinkwitz push the program forward in a league where being in the top 20 in the recruiting rankings isn’t close to being good enough?
This year’s team has experience, but it’s going to be about consistency, health, and having something to play for now that bowl eligibility is a possibility again.
Drinkwitz is a bright young head coach who might be able to do for Mizzou what Scott Satterfield did for Louisville after leaving Appalachian State to be a recharge of a program’s battery, but as the numbers bear out, for now, it’s all about how good the schedule is.
Set The Missouri Tigers Regular Season Win Total At … 7
Bet at BetMGM Win Total Line: 5
Let’s start by assuming that Drinkwitz and the new staff are good for one close win, and having a bowl game to play for is good for another.
Central Arkansas, Vanderbilt – last year’s loss was the 1 in the 19-1 against losing teams – Eastern Michigan, Louisiana, Arkansas.
Drop-kick those five, then hope for a win over Kentucky at home, or at BYU, or at Mississippi State, or maybe even pull off a big upset.
The Tigers will get past six wins.
