Questions Remain Following Missouri's Win Over Abilene Christian
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It seems that purple teams with Wildcats as their mascot are destined to give the Missouri Tigers trouble this season.
A week after a 40-12 blowout loss to the Kansas State Wildcats, the Missouri Tigers struggled at times at home against the Abilene Christian Wildcats. Despite a 34-17 victory for the Tigers, they seemingly struggled to put the game away for good.
Offensively, the Tigers looked much better from Week 2 to Week 3, as quarterback Brady Cook seemed poised and ready to deliver. He completed 21 of 30 passes for 294 yards and three touchdowns.
Cook connected with receiver Dominic Lovett for 132 receiving yards and a pair of touchdowns on seven receptions. Meanwhile, freshman receiver Luther Burden III showed why he was such a coveted recruit for coach Eliah Drinkwitz and his staff.
The freshman caught six passes for 58 yards while returning four punts for 111 total yards, including a 78-yard touchdown return to open the scoring for the Tigers in the first quarter.
However, while the passing game was firing on all cylinders, the same can not be said for the rushing attack. The Tigers finished the game with 193 yards rushing, which doesn't seem bad on paper. However, outside of three runs that gained 77 yards, they only averaged 3.0 yards per carry and struggled to move the ball on the ground.
No opponent should be taken lightly, of course, but there is no reason the Tigers should struggle this much against the Wildcats. If they can't get the run game going in a game like this, there's no telling how they expect to get it going when they get into SEC play against much better defenses.
While there were definitely bright spots on offense, the same can't exactly be seen for the defensive effort the Tigers put forth. Yes, they held the Wildcats to 17 points and won by 17, but the defense still left much to be desired ahead of conference play.
They allowed the Wildcats to gain 309 yards of total offense, struggling mightily at times to get off the field, with the Wildcats running 59 plays to the Tigers' offense running 71.
Again, while an opponent should be taken lightly if this is how the Missouri defense performs against Abilene Christian, there is no telling how it will perform against much tougher SEC opponents.
Don't be mistaken, there are aspects to be proud of for the Tigers after this game. Cook looked much better, and the receiver duo of Burden and Lovett provide a spark on offense that makes the passing game lethal when they're clicking.
However, there are simply too many questions surrounding this Missouri team as they stare down SEC play next week. The run game struggles to get going while the defense cannot get off the field at times. When they play teams like Georgia, if those issues aren't fixed, it could be ugly.
After three weeks of the season and with a 2-1 record, Missouri still has plenty of questions to answer. If they don't answer those questions in a hurry, though, there's no telling how this season will look for the Tigers.
You can find Connor Zimmerlee on Twitter @Connorjz98
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