Missouri left Saturday night with a 27-17 win over Troy and a 3-0 record, but the performance in Columbia raised plenty of questions along the way.
The 20th-ranked Tigers were supposed to handle a Sun Belt opponent with relative ease. Instead, they had to fight through an uneven game that kept Troy around longer than expected. Missouri did enough to avoid a damaging loss, but the issues on display were hard to miss.
The biggest one showed up immediately. Against Troy, Missouri allowed a 75-yard touchdown pass on the first defensive drive of the game.
That came after the Tigers had already opened the Border War with a 7-0 deficit on a blocked field goal returned for a touchdown. Rivalry games can produce chaos.
Slow starts against lesser opponents are a different problem, and Missouri has now shown that pattern over its last couple of games.
That kind of sluggish beginning is the sort of thing that can eventually catch up with a team once SEC play ramps up. Missouri has the talent to erase those mistakes now. The concern is what happens if those early lapses keep piling up against stronger competition.
There were bright spots, though. Austin Simmons didn’t have a flawless night, but he steadied things enough to keep Missouri on track.
He finished 11 of 20 for 108 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions. He wasn’t asked to carry the whole show, and he didn’t need to.
More importantly, he avoided the kind of mistake that swings a game the wrong way.
Jamal Roberts also gave Missouri a needed lift on the ground. He handled 22 carries for 128 yards and a touchdown, giving the Tigers another productive outing even without the elite production they’re missing from Ahmad Hardy. Roberts has now put together back-to-back 100-yard rushing performances.
The defense, meanwhile, was a mixed bag. Missouri forced two turnovers and came up with plays when it had to, but it also gave Troy enough openings to stay in the game.
Corey Batoon’s new-look unit still looks like a work in progress, and the chemistry issues showed up in stretches. The Tigers have enough talent on that side to make impact plays, but they also looked vulnerable at times.
The unnecessary penalties didn’t help matters either.
Special teams, at least, looked much cleaner. After Eli Drinkwitz called that group out last week, Missouri got a response.
Florida State transfer Brunno Reus delivered punts that helped flip field position, DeMarion Fowlkes returned a punt for a touchdown, and Blake Craig went 2 for 2 on field goals. His second make, which pushed Missouri ahead 27-17 late in the fourth quarter, effectively sealed it.
Even after all that, the clearest takeaway may be the simplest one: this team still isn’t fully defined yet. Missouri is 3-0, which is exactly where it was expected to be.
The Tigers are not perfect, but few teams are at this point in the season. The record is intact, the goals are still there, and the real test starts next Saturday at Mississippi State in Starkville.
The Bulldogs just beat South Carolina 41-34 on the road and should probably move into the Top 25 next week with starting quarterback Kamario Taylor leading the way. There are no easy games in the SEC, and if Missouri wants any real path toward the College Football Playoff, that trip has to be a win. That’s a big ask, and it’s exactly the kind of game that should tell us much more about Missouri’s direction.
In Other News...
Missouri Escaped Troy With A Problem Tigers Fans Can't Ignore
Missouri got out of Troy with a win, but it did not look like the kind of afternoon that lets a team breathe easy. The Tigers leaned on a 27-17 result in a game full of mistakes and defensive breakdowns, while Eli Drinkwitz was left to acknowledge both the sloppy play on that side of the ball and the offenses own inefficiencies.
The good news is Missouri is still undefeated, and the schedule does not leave much time for self-scouting. SEC play is next, starting with Mississippi State, and the gap between surviving a game like this and being ready for what comes next is the part Tigers fans cannot ignore. [Read more 🡒]
Mizzou Finally Got The Response It Needed In One Troubling Win
Missouri spent the lead-up to Troy trying to clean up special teams after earlier problems with blocked field goals, and the emphasis showed up in a much more meaningful way on Saturday. Blake Craig handled the kicking duties cleanly, and DaMarion Fowlkes turned a punt return into a touchdown as the Tigers got 13 points from a unit that had been a concern coming in.
For Eli Drinkwitz, it was the kind of response that mattered even in a win that still left plenty to sort through. The special teams play looked sharper and more reliable, but the bigger message from the sideline was that Missouri still has to keep improving across the board if it wants better results ahead. [Read more 🡒]
Mizzou's Win Over Troy Made One Trust Issue Hard To Ignore
Missouris 27-17 win over Troy did what it needed to do, but it also offered a pretty clear snapshot of how Eli Drinkwitz is viewing this roster right now. The Tigers used a concise lineup of 42 players, leaned on a handful of sophomores who brought energy to the game, and got just enough from Connor Bazelak, who finished 10 of 19 for 91 yards and a touchdown. Elijah Dotson and Daeden Hopkins were among the younger players who helped make the rotation feel more productive than decorative.
What stood out, though, was the trust issue underneath the result. Drinkwitz said the rotation came down to confidence in the players who gave Missouri the best chance to win, which is fine in theory and revealing in practice. When a coach keeps narrowing the circle that way, it usually says as much about who he still believes in as it does about who is merely getting reps, and that remains one of the more interesting threads to watch as the Tigers move forward. [Read more 🡒]