Sept. 2, 2017
COLUMBIA, Mo. --- Can Michael Porter play football?
Specifically, defense?
Saturday was a football day, a day for offense, tailgating, seeing friends you haven't seen since last season, and talking about the prospects of Missouri basketball and that fantastic recruiting class.
Winter is coming.
Because for Barry Odom's team, expectations are low and on this day, the Missouri Tigers met them. They won, but it's hard to feel like much of a winner when the defense plays like this --- especially against an FCS team that hasn't had a winning season in eight years.
Missouri's offense wasn't good, it was great. The same goes for our beloved JV team, Missouri State, as the teams combined to score 115 points.
115.
There were 1,307 yards of offense. Or to put it another way, 3/4 of a mile. One yard at a time.
The defense rests? Nope. They didn't show up, they were more transparent than a whisper, and it led to the Tigers' silly 72-43 decision over the Bears before a season-opening crowd of 50,131 on a Chamber of Commerce weather day at Faurot Field.
Touchdowns and Tigers and Bears, oh my.
"I'm so proud of the way our offense came out and played," said Odom, in his second year at the Mizzou helm. "They're explosive in a lot of different spots, and they showed that.
"Defensively, we obviously have our work cut out for us. We were tackling poorly, our eyes were in the wrong place ... we didn't do anything very good."
Here's a list of the teams the Bears scored more than 43 points against last year:
^ Indiana State (45). We've heard of them, that's Larry Bird's school.
^ Southwestern College (57). Southwestern College? Yes, they're the NAIA Moundbuilders.
Do you know what a Moundbuilder is? Me neither.
Do you know where Southwestern College is? Same here.
It's in Kansas. Winfield, to be precise. Don't know where that is, either ... and still not sure what a Moundbuilder is. And you thought Jayhawks was a stupid mascot.
At least the Tigers' defense is 14 points better than the Moundbuilders.
But the offense was good enough to dispose of Missouri State, which is directed by former defensive coordinator Dave Steckel. Both Steckel and Odom pride themselves on their defensive prowess, so this one had to be a swift kick to the gut --- if not a bit lower.
Missouri finished with a school-record 815 yards of total offense, led by the school-record day of junior quarterback Drew Lock --- 521 yards passing and seven touchdowns. The latter also ties the all-time SEC record.
Gaudy, brilliant numbers. But at the same time, it's easy to throw to receivers who aren't covered.
"He has a chance to be a special player," Odom said of Lock, who surpassed 5,000 yards passing for his MU career, the eighth in school history to do so. "He understands what we're asking him to do and he obviously has some pretty high-level physical tools."
Other Tigers had huge days.
^ Demarea Crocket rushed for 202 yards and two touchdowns, and had another score wiped out by penalty.
^ Jonathon Johnson had five catches for 116 yards and two touchdowns, including a 65-yard swing-pass-turned-touchdown on the first play of the game and season. A lot of Lock's 521 yards through the "air" came on the ground after the catch.
^ J'Mon Moore, four catches, 187 yards, two scores.
The Bears had their own video-game type numbers, including 492 yards of total offense. Sophomore quarterback Peyton Huslig threw for 353 yards and two touchdowns, while the Bears had a 100-yard rusher (Calan Crowder, 124) and 100-yard receiver Malik Earl (163).
The first half was just ridiculous --- the Bears led 21-20 after one quarter, the Tigers led 48-35 at the half. 83 points in one half.
It looked like a game of 7-on-7, except the offense got to play with 11. Receivers were painfully wide open time after time, the tackling was pitiful, and the defensive discipline was worse --- there seemed to be less communication than there is a bad marriage.
The second half had a bit more sanity, but this was a sad defensive statement, indeed, on the eve of Missouri's SEC opener at 6:30 p.m. Saturday against South Carolina at Faurot Field. If you were curious, the Gamecocks (1-0) have a really good offense.
Just two years ago, the Tigers had one of the best defenses in the nation, but couldn't score to save Truman the Tiger's life. Now this.
My, how things have changed, just like Missouri's weather. And just like fans looking forward to basketball season on the day football season starts.
Winter is coming.
Loeffler's Link
Mizzou football photo
Missouri junior quarterback Drew Lock had a record-setting day Saturday as the Tigers won a wild 72-43 shootout over Missouri State at Faurot Field.
On silly day of football, Lock has
record day in Mizzou's 72-43 win