Breaking Down the Missouri Offense and the Challenges it Presents to LSU Football’s Defense
As LSU prepares to travel and take on Missouri, the defense must be ready to play against a unique offense with two really talented running backs for Mizzou.
Despite the Missouri offense’s early season struggles, the Tigers possess a very talented offensive-minded coach in Eliah Drinkwitz with two quality running backs that can gash a defense at his disposal. Larry Rountree III and Tyler Badie can be threats in many ways. A three-year contributor that’s now a senior, Roundtree takes the lions’ share of carries as he’s a future NFL running back. Badie, meanwhile, is a junior with an explosive first step that can take it to the house. It’s a great one-two punch.
With those two players leading the way, Missouri’s offense will likely be a threat to any team it faces. Yes, the Tigers struggled versus Alabama and Tennessee to average a measly 15.5 points per game during the first two contests. Keep in mind, the Tigers shot themselves in the foot several times leading to stalled drives and field goal attempts. Missouri should be getting closer to being a consistent offense, and it starts with these two talented running backs. As a team, there’s something else to consider as well.
Missouri will be desperate for a win after starting the season 0-2. The Missouri coaches and players will not only coach and play with high energy, but look for the Tigers to collectively come up with new formations and shifts to confuse the LSU defense and get the two running backs loose in space.
Both running backs possess the ability to make defenders miss. For Missouri to possess any chance against LSU, it must be able to run the football. Starting with a look at Drinkwitz, everything LSU does to win Saturday stems from the running game and formations.
In part one of this piece, we break down Drinkwitz’s coaching style and why the running backs will be most important in Saturday’s matchup.
A Creative Offensive Mind
Drinkwitz comes from a very impressive offensive coaching pedigree. He’s coached with Gus Malzahn while at Auburn when Cam Newton played in the SEC (2010-2011), went out West to coach with the Boise State staff (2014-2015). Before taking over as the head coach of Appalachian State for just one season (2019), Drinkwitz was the offensive coordinator for North Carolina State (2016-2018).
Drinkwitz has been around some of the most creative pre-snap offensive concepts in football. LSU fans are obviously mindful of Malzahn’s unique (and sometimes crazy?) shifts and play designs. More importantly, Drinkwitz’s experience with the Wolfpack proves unique.
It’s not an easy offense to suddenly pick up, and that’s part of the reason why Missouri’s passing game is probably not clicking right away. Do note, however, that North Carolina State head coach Dave Doeren is a really creative mind.
Much like Malzahn, Doeren will shift and motion in an attempt to gain leverage for running and passing plays. It’s a concept more often seen at the NFL level because it does take more mental preparation as well as practice time. That impacts the running game to a certain degree as well.
Being a balanced offense is what Doeren attempts to do when possible, and that probably best describes Drinkwitz as well. Last season for Appalachian State, the offense averaged 38.8 points per contest. This is impressive because the Mountaineers averaged 231.4 yards rushing and 201.7 yards passing. In short, Drinkwitz’s offense was a balanced unit. The run game, however, led the way.
Three different Appalachian State players attempted over 100 carries on the season. Most notably, running back Darrynton Evans gained 1,484 yards and 18 touchdowns during 14 games. That’s where the two Missouri running backs come into play.
Drinkwitz wants to run the football to set up big passing plays. Thus far, his offense simply made too many mistakes to gain a consistent rhythm. LSU presents the next challenge to get the offense rolling. Let’s meet the running backs.
Rountree III & Badie
Through three seasons, Rountree III gained 2,748 yards rushing. He’s amassed 151 yards and one touchdown so far in 2020. That’s not up to his standards, and he will be motivated to make a name for himself against LSU. Rountree will challenge LSU between the tackles. Make no mistake about that. He’s a powerful runner. While capable of breaking towards the sideline, Rountree III should first be considered a power runner. His counterpart is somewhat different.
Badie is more ‘twitchy.’ He can place his foot in the ground and cut back, or he can accelerate with the best of them. He’s capable of taking a simple check down pass and making two defenders miss and racing down the sideline. While he only gained 457 yards and three rushing touchdowns last year, Badie also accounted for 32 receptions and five receiving touchdowns for Missouri in 2019. He’s a threat to score anytime he touches the football. How the two players are used together could be interesting as well.
Rountree III will be the primary ball carrier. Maybe Missouri utilizes more two running back formations with cross action, or some other variation(s) that LSU did not yet see. Something to think about, anyway.
Check back Friday for part two, when we dive into the motions and why staying gap sound is the key for LSU this weekend.
