“Get used to this blanket...it will be real tomorrow”.
The note, placed on Mizzou wide receiver Theo Wease’s bed, was a strong message, the opposition being Texas A&M defensive back Will “The Blanket” Lee III. Whether it was sent from Lee or not, it added a little extra seasoning leading up Saturday’s matchup between the Tigers and Aggies.
When the dust settled, the note proved to be true. Mizzou got rocked by reality as Texas A&M dominated from start to finish en route to a 41-10 victory. Multiple “overrated” chants rained down from the Aggie faithful as the Tigers got run out of College Station.
“I apologize to our fans,” Mizzou head coach Eli Drinkwitz said. “It’s my responsibility for us to be better.”
Pick a facet of the game, and the Aggies were the superior team. One of the many big-time matchups within the contest was the battle at the line of scrimmage; Texas A&M dominated both sides of it all afternoon.
Mizzou’s stretch run game, which had been its offensive engine through four games, was stonewalled by Texas A&M’s defensive line. The Tigers registered just 68 rushing yards on 30 carries, and the ground game was rendered almost trivial as they were down big early. Mizzou found itself down 24-0 with 6:34 left in the second quarter. The Tigers hadn’t been down by that much that early since they trailed by 25 to Tennessee in 2021 a little over midway through the second frame. Brady Cook, who’d only been sacked four times through four games, was brought down three times in the first half and three more over the last two quarters. Nic Scourton was a comet, tallying 2.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks.
“We weren’t able to protect the passer as well as we needed to,” Drinkwitz said. “We weren’t ever able to establish a rhythm in the run game. When the score got lopsided, we really weren’t able to even try and run the football, so that put a lot of pressure on the offensive line.”
On the other side, Mizzou’s defensive line got pushed around. Gaping holes were prevalent, giving Conner Weigman ample time to throw and gaping scrambling lanes to hit, which he did frequently. The redshirt sophomore kept finding soft spots in MU’s defense, only throwing four incompletions on the afternoon
“Really good player. He was very accurate today,” Drinkwitz said. “Did a great job scrambling, threw the football extremely well. We weren’t ever able to make him uncomfortable.”
A&M also had their way on the ground, taking 36 carries for 236 yards, including a 75-yard touchdown by Le’Veon Moss on the first play of the second half. It wasn’t quite the bulldozing Isaiah Spiller and De’Von Achance enacted three years ago, but it was in the same stratosphere.
“236 yards is unacceptable,” defensive tackle Kristian Williams said. “We’ve got to go back to the drawing board and get better.”
Mizzou had also been one of the best teams in the nation on third down entering Saturday; the Tigers were among the top 10 teams in converting third downs on offense and preventing third down conversions on defense. They started 0/7 on third down; although they finished 5/15, most of those conversions were in garbage time. The Aggies, on the other hand were 7/12.
“Not being able to convert third downs, not being able to stop them on third down, (that was) ultimately the difference in the game,” Drinkwitz said.
The Tigers also struggled staying out of their own way. An ineligible receiver downfield, called on offensive tackle Armand Membou, wiped away a 75-yard passing touchdown from Brady Cook to Luther Burden III late in the first quarter. A delay of game immediately followed. Defensively, Mizzou struggled with tackling once again, allowing several plays to balloon into chunk gains.
The only major positive play that counted for MU was a 59-yard touchdown throw from Cook to Wease. Even so, the joy was bogged down by frustration, as the score cut the lead from 34 to 27.
If one play could sum up Saturday’s beatdown, it came at the end of the first half. With 13 seconds left, A&M punter Tyler White booted a kick from about his own 40-yard line; the ball bounced inside of the five closer to the left hash than the sideline. Almost improbably, the pigskin bolted to the maroon paint like the green turf was lava, rolling out of bounds at the half-yard line. ABC play-by-play commentator Joe Tessitore said it was as if White had a joystick that could control the ball, a metaphor that could’ve been applied to the entirety of Saturday afternoon.
“We got slapped in the face,” Wease said. “We’ll see how we respond next week.”
After its first road-eo went awry, Mizzou has a good chance to get itself right next week against UMass. Kickoff from Amherst is set for 11 a.m.
For now, the Tigers will have to get used to this blanket that’s covering them in major defeat. It’s only going to get realer from here.
“You’ve got one of two choices. You can fall apart, or you can dig deep and find resolve to get better,” Drinkwitz said of his postgame message to the team. “The season really starts today, and how we respond will determine what kind of football season we’ll have.”
