Notebook: Turnovers Crush Missouri's Hopes of First SEC Win
It's been six weeks and the Missouri Tigers have yet to win either an SEC matchup or an away game. It looked like they had a chance against the Florida Gators, but turnovers and penalties were ultimately their undoing. Mizzou tried its best to claw back into the game, but just didn't have enough gas offensively in the end.
With a bye week coming up and a home game against Vanderbilt to follow, Mizzou has a big opportunity to clean things up over the next 14 days. Tigers coach Eli Drinkwitz will likely be focused on the offense, which was still only able to score two touchdowns despite four trips to the red zone.
The Tigers are desperately in need of their first conference win and Vandy in two weeks might be their best shot at that. Here's what Missouri needs to figure out between now and then.
Eliminate Turnovers
Quarterback Brady Cook looked pretty good against Florida, except when he didn't. Cook threw for 220 yards, completing 22-of-30 passes and leading a handful of long drives. The problem is that two of those eight incompletions were costly interceptions. The first resulted in a 50-yard return for a touchdown and the second came inside the Gators 10-yard line. The final turnover came via a failed fourth-down conversion on their last drive of the game.
When you add a red zone trip inside the 5-yard line that resulted in a field goal to those turnovers, it's easy to see how many points the Tigers left on the field. In fact, Missouri outgained Florida offensively, 370-297 yards The Mizzou offense is starting to find a rhythm, but that doesn't matter much without the points to match.
Penalties Are Drive Killers
If the Tigers didn't learn their lesson against Georgia, maybe they did against Florida. Time and again, penalties stopped the Tigers' momentum cold. They were penalized six times for 55 yards, compared to the Gators' one for five yards.
While there weren't any fouls quite as costly as that false start at the 1-yard line last week that ultimately cost the Tigers a touchdown, penalties halted and backed up several drives. Any one of those could have led to the touchdown that Missouri needed.
Time to Consider Sam Horn?
Every week, it seems the calls for freshman quarterback Sam Horn get louder and louder. Cook has this team on the verge of three conference wins, but it looked like the Tigers were in the game in spite of Cook, not because of him. With the offense still unable to find its rhythm, is it time for Drinkwitz to consider putting in the back up?
Putting in Horn certainly holds some merit. The freshman was a four-star prospect coming out of high school last year and has the most arm talent in the QB room. He may be inexperienced, but the Tigers needs a spark and some points offensively. They can't afford to go any longer trying to hold teams to two scores. If there's any indication in practice that Horn can light this fire, Drinkwitz needs to pull the trigger.
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