In case you didn’t see it (and for your sake, I hope you and the entire College Football Playoff Committee didn’t, either) Mizzou got boat raced today in College Station. Final score was Texas A&M 41, Mizzou 10. And it wasn’t really even that close.
There’s not enough lipstick in the midwest to apply to this pig, but I signed up to handle the post-game five takeaways, so here goes:
1.Wow. Just wow.
I sat through 73-0. If you’re too young to understand that reference, congratulations, do yourself a favor and don’t bother to look it up. Never thought I’d see that again but when it got to 34-0, this game had a similar feeling. Thank goodness that A&M called off the dogs after that point.
Welp. The dew is off the lily. It’s a shame, but Mizzou will be looked at as frauds nationally, and there’s not a damn thing any of us fans can say to counter it. And that’s too bad because this program is absolutely better than it showed on Saturday. Drink will have quite a tough job of motivation going forward – both with the team and with the fan base – because this team got flat-out embarrassed on the national stage. It’s the type of outcome that can sink a team’s season if the leadership isn’t tight. The Tigers entered 2024 with dreams of reaching the playoffs, and they’ve been presented with some massive adversity they’ll have to regroup from.
Are the playoff possibilities completely out the window just because of one week? Technically no, but let’s play it out. Let’s say that Mizzou is able to win every remaining game other than at Alabama (let’s be realistic) and ends at 10-2 overall. Is that playoff worthy? Absolutely, on paper. But the bloodletting they experienced today in reality is worse than one loss in the eyes of the CFP committee. It’d be one thing to go into a hostile environment against a quality team and have a back-and-forth game that just doesn’t go your way. But to be manhandled so completely in every facet of the game, this was not the audition tape they were looking to put out there. If Mizzou goes 10-2 with both losses in blowout fashion, there will be a lot of reasons to leave them out of the 12-team field in the end.
Still lots of season left, but I think we can all relax on the playoff discussion. If the Tigers can play their way back into the conversation, that’s awesome. Let’s just take it week-by-week and see how this team chooses to respond.
2. Mizzou’s manhood got challenged. They weren’t up to the task.
I’m really surprised that the Aggies were so physically dominant. That’s not something we’ve seen for awhile, and I thought this program was past having that happen to them. A&M looked like they had a different level of athleticism, and it was really surprising to see. On offense the QB run game is non-existent, and there are no quick slants, screens, swing passes to take the pressure off Brady Cook. The passing game seems like all long-developing routes, and while there were a few that should have hit, overall the offensive line couldn’t protect well enough to give Cook time to find his second or third options.
And why can’t Brady scramble effectively any more? Even when he tried to pull the ball down and go, he just doesn’t seem to be fast and dangerous like he’s been the past couple of years. Even more surprising was the fact that Connor Weigman of A&M looked way more fleet afoot – and he is supposed to be a statue pocket QB. That was frustrating to see him pull it and run and not be touched until he was 10 yards downfield, while Cook could barely get past the line of scrimmage when he decided to go.
3. One play CAN’T tank a game like it did. But it did.
One play on the first drive of the game SHOULDN’T determine the eventual outcome, but it’s hard to think anything other than that with the overturned defensive pass interference call that should have stood. I’m not a fan of blaming officials, especially when you get your tails kicked, but wow this officiating crew has some explaining to do as that just opened the flood gates for A&M. You know that Mizzou will ask the SEC for an evaluation of that sequence during the week. You also know it was a horrendous call when the rules observer on the telecast comes on and acknowledges it was the wrong move. He’s a former official who will do everything he can to always try and defend the refs, but he had no way to defend that one.
In the end would it have made a difference? Probably not but it would have been nice to not get hosed like that. It definitely set the tone for the day.
4. What will the fan reaction be?
I’m almost as interested in seeing how Tiger Nation will respond to this beat down as I am the team itself. The team has had such great fan support the past year, but it’s been easy, right? The Tigers have been fun, dominant, resilient and tough. Even when things didn’t go their way in 2023 in losses against LSU and Georgia, Mizzou was competitive and was only a play or two away from winning both games. And in no moment in either of those losses, did the Tigers look outclassed like they did today. How hot will the takes be on the fan boards this week?
I hope that one really, really, really bad, awful day won’t dampen the overall enthusiasm of the fan base, but I also won’t be shocked if some people take a wait-and-see approach going forward. The home games are sold out, and I’m hopeful that everyone will still decide to show up. They should, because there’s still lots of exciting action to come.
5. Is it the offensive line?
There’s got to be several aspects of this offense that aren’t clicking for it to look as disjointed as it did today, but I’m thinking the biggest issue is the play of the offensive line. Certainly the game script allowed A&M to pin its ears back on defense and just pressure the hell out of Brady after the Aggies got up big early, but the line just didn’t pass the eye test at all on Saturday. When your QB doesn’t have any time, long developing pass routes just aren’t going to work, and we saw that all day long.
So what’s the overarching takeaway at the end of the day? Nothing left to do but to lick our collective wounds this week. The Tigers will have to regroup and pick themselves up off of the mat. Same for the fans. We’ll all wear the sting of this one for awhile.
