The Opening Punch
Troy
quarterback Goose Crowder connected with speedy wideout TK Keyes for a 76-yard touchdown on the second play of the game. Mistakes happen, but a recurring one happened to give up this big play.
For starters, Missouri
rushed five players immediately: Langden Kitchen and Darris Smith on the edge, Marquis Gracial
and Jalen Marshall
on the interior and Nicholas Rodriguez
on a blitz. Woodyard joined the rush about a second after the snap. None were particulary close to pressuring Crowder, who stood upright while throwing after a three-step dropback.
Advertisement
Keyes got open about 15 yards downfield by gaining half a step on safety Santana Banner, who was just out of reach to make a play on the ball or finish the tackle. His over-the-top help, fellow starting safety Trajen Greco
- who's particularly fast for positional standards - took a poor pursuit angle toward his target and was left in the dust as Keyes sprinted down the sidelines and into the end zone.
"Our free safety had terrible angle," Drinkwitz said of the play. "He's supposed to be there to tackle it or to get it down, and didn't. And, I mean, it's awful. Bottom line, that's awful defense."
The play was concerning for two main reasons; The first being that Missouri's pass rush failed to get home without Daeden Hopkins - who leads Missouri in both pressures (14) and sacks (3)- and the second being that Greco - who's supposed to be a pillar of stability in the secondary - had a another consequential lapse in judgement. Greco was out of position once again on Troy's 55-yard touchdown to close the half.
Missouri has given up a few worrisome explosives during nonconference play. The pass rush has been relatively solid, especially when Hopkins is on the field, but when it's not able to get to quarterbacks at the speed it did a season ago, Missouri's secondary has shown that it struggles hold up and prevent explosives.
Advertisement
Missouri's run blocking looked much improved against the Trojans than it did from its performances against Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Kansas
. Roberts averaged 3.67 yards after contact per attempts, but had the lowest percentage of yards after contact (77) compared to his total yards (133) through three games this season. He rushed for 121 yards with 102 after contact against Kansas and 47 yards with 40 after contact against UAPB.
Thanks to what appeared to be some nice blocking, Roberts followed his blockers downfield and through a B-gap to bounce outside and pick up 22 yards. The play was largely negated by a holding penalty on starting right guard Curtis Peagler
, though.
The play serves as a microcosm for two lessons learned in the game - a positive sign that the run blocking seems to have found its footing is moving forward, and a negative sign that penalties continue to hold back Missouri. The Tigers are up to 24 penalties this season, tallying the fourth-most in the SEC. Many of those penalties have either been preventable, courtesy of veterans or both.
Advertisement
The Tigers cleaned up the run blocking; now it's time to clean up penalties heading into SEC play.
Simmons Adds New Fold
Although Simmons uncharacteristically missed a few routine throws against the Trojans, he still completed one that seems both particularly impressive and important to Missouri's offense moving forward.
The southpaw signal-caller hit one of his favorite targets, sophomore wideout Donovan Olugbode
, for a 12-yard touchdown to take a 17-10 lead in the second quarter. What made it impressive was the manner in which Simmons threw the pass, rolling out left and releasing the ball while in full stride, placing it perfectly on target for Olugbode despite a Trojan defensive back sprinting just half a step behind.
Advertisement
This was Simmons' first play-action touchdown of the season and his 14th passing attempt of such nature. When Hardy returns, it's likely the play action gets incorporated even more, given former Missouri starter Beau Pribula
threw 74 passes out of play-action last season.
The rollout touchdown is new for the Tigers, though, as Pribula very seldomly threw on the run during his one-season stint at Missouri. Simmons' mobile touchdown throw to Olugbode was of a higher degree of difficulty than any of Pribula's on-the-run throws last season, yet another area in which Simmons seems to be adding a layer of versatility to Missouri's offense.
Sign up for our free newsletter
and follow us on Twitter/X
, Facebook
, YouTube
and Instagram
for the latest news.
Today's best reads
Advertisement
This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/missouri as 3 Key Plays From Mizzou's 27-17 Win Over Troy and What They Mean Going Forward
.
