Mizzou\u2019s sterling first half defensive performance wasn\u2019t enough to hold off the Texas A&M Aggies, who broke through in the second half and left the offensively-challenged Tigers in the dust.<\/p>\n
Here are your five takeaways from Mizzou\u2019s third loss of the year.<\/p>\n
1. Knowing what to expect<\/p>\n
Call it boundless optimism \u2014 is that allowed in Columbia? \u2014 but in the lead up to this game, there were some questions about whether or not Mizzou was really as down-and-out as we thought. After all, remember how Zollers looked in his brief cameo against Vanderbilt? And this defense! With them, we can win any game. Right?<\/p>\n
Well, time to take a cold bath in reality, folks. The College Football Playoff dream is officially officially dead. A nice season with nine or 10 wins isn\u2019t off the table, but the ceiling won\u2019t be reached for this team. Mizzou\u2019s offensive struggles against an elite A&M defense made sure of that and have officially put a cap on what this team can achieve.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s pretty disappointing, but it also helps fans level set for the rest of the year. Mizzou will be a team that has to win on defense and score just enough. That\u2019s not the most fun place to be, but it\u2019s not unfamiliar territory for Mizzou fans.<\/p>\n
2. A cold welcome for Matt Zollers<\/p>\n
Mizzou fans have seen their fair share of true freshman starts in their day. And while his future is bright, Zollers\u2019 official debut is certainly one he\u2019ll want to put behind him.<\/p>\n
Seven-for-twenty-two in the passing game. Seventy-seven yards passing. Two fumbles. Two sacks. Constant pressure from an elite pass rush. The true freshman was under duress all night and failed to display much of the poise he demonstrated when stepping in for Beau Pribula two weeks ago.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t all bad for Zollers. He was able to hit some of his receivers on deep balls and looked to grow into the game as it developed, at least from a confidence perspective. But going up against Mike Elko\u2019s defense was always a tough draw, and the former blue-chipper certainly looked like a player without much game time over the past two calendar years. Nowhere to go but up!<\/p>\n
3. A nice night for the run game<\/p>\n
After a few weeks of disappointment, Mizzou\u2019s run game finally woke up against the Aggies with both Ahmad Hardy and Jamal Roberts going for more than 100 yards and a score. It wasn\u2019t enough to lift the team to a win, but it bodes well for the rest of the season.<\/p>\n
Jamal Roberts proved the more consistent of the backs, gashing the Aggies front seven from quarter-to-quarter and giving Matt Zollers an extra layer of protection in the backfield. His fumble in the fourth quarter sullied what was otherwise another strong night from the sophomore.<\/p>\n
Not to be outdone, Ahmad Hardy busted two 45-yard runs and provided some explosive play threat against an Aggie front that terrorized Zollers. He hasn\u2019t been his terrifying best in about a month, but his ability to bust big runs should give Mizzou some hope that the run game can carry them moving forward.<\/p>\n
4. Extension for Batoon\u2026 and Drinkwitz?<\/p>\n
The coaching carousel continues to spin, and Drinkwitz\u2019s name will be included until he either (a) signs an extension with Mizzou or (b) packs his bags for other pastures. But should Mizzou fans be just as worried about defensive coordinator Corey Batoon getting poached?<\/p>\n
Before the dam broke in the second half, the Tigers defense was making life a nightmare for Marcel Reed, who constantly found himself under pressure. The pass rush was frenetic, the linebackers were great on clean up duty, and the secondary continued its upward trajectory. If not for the offense\u2019s continued struggles, Batoon\u2019s unit may have had some extra time to breathe and might have been able to hold off the Aggies deeper into the game.<\/p>\n
Despite the fact that Mizzou won\u2019t be playing on a national scale at the end of the year, this defense is CFP-quality. That has a lot to do with how Batoon has both recruited and developed the talent up and down the depth chart. That won\u2019t go unnoticed by coaches settling into their new roles at bigger schools, and Mizzou should do its due diligence and lock him up before someone else comes calling.<\/p>\n
Mizzou could upset Oklahoma in two weeks, win out the regular season and win their bowl game. Boom. Ten wins for a third straight year.<\/p>\n
Mizzou could lay an egg against Mississippi State and drop their final two games to Oklahoma and Arkansas. They could lose their bowl game. Boom. Losing record.<\/p>\n
Honestly? If you\u2019re asking me at this point, there\u2019s not too much difference between the two. Because this season is now all about the future. It\u2019s about getting Matt Zollers lots of reps. It\u2019s about finding out which underclassmen are willing to grind the rest of the season and earn their playing time. It\u2019s about locking up the coaches you want to bring back. It\u2019s about laying the foundations for 2026 and beyond.<\/p>\n
Is that where we wanted to be when Mizzou was 6-0 and welcoming Alabama to town. Of course not. But the breaks have gone how they\u2019ve gone and now all Mizzou can do is make sure things don\u2019t spiral. There\u2019s still a lot of talent and a lot of pride on this team. Time to finish strong and look to the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mizzou\u2019s sterling first half defensive performance wasn\u2019t enough to hold off the Texas A&M Aggies, who broke through…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42011,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[25272,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-42010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-mizzou-football","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42010\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}