It’s Time For The Tiger Offense To Right The Ship

(Photo by Dale Zanine/USA Today Sports)

Nine points, zero touchdowns. That’s all the Missouri Tigers’ offense has generated in back-to-back losses to Florida and Georgia. In fairness they were going up against two of the more tenacious defenses in the conference, but this weekend’s test against Vanderbilt won’t come easy, despite the Commodores’ 2-4 record.

Vanderbilt’s defense has done a pretty good job of keeping offenses in check. They were in the game with Georgia until the 3rd quarter before the Bulldogs pulled away, they lost 26-17 to then No. 3 Ole Miss, and lost a hard fought game against South Carolina 19-10.

Despite that, there is no excuse for this Missouri offense for not generating some points this week. This has to be the week that they come together, or the rest of this season could turn ugly really quick. The Tiger defense has more than held up their end of the bargain so far this season, and it’s reasonable to expect that to continue as the Commodore offense has been just as bad as Missouri’s has been.

The key to generating points starts up front, and it’s fair to say the offensive line has been overmatched these past two weeks. It’s been bad enough that offensive line coach A.J. Ricker alluded to some changes coming on the line during media day on Monday.

The obvious change to a lot of fans would be to move LT Connor McGovern to his natural position at guard. Another idea thrown around is to move C Evan Boehm to the other guard spot and have LG Alec Abeln to his natural spot at center.

The problem is that the coaches should have been playing musical chairs with the o-line weeks ago, when the SEC East title was still on the table. Better late than never I guess.

It’s not like all the offensive issues are because of the line, they’re a big part of it, but every position group needs to step up.

Drew Lock has looked like a freshman these past two weeks. 27-65 for 294 yards and zero scores is not going to cut it in the SEC. We’ve seen the arm talent he has, but he has looked rattled.

Though the offensive line hasn’t been getting a push, the running backs haven’t looked impressive. The Tigers RB’s only generated 37 yards on the ground last week at Georgia. Russell Hansbrough still isn’t 100 % healthyand Ish Witter shouldn’t be the workhorse back. He will eventually be a good change of pace back but he has been taking way too much punishment this season.

I look for Chase Abbington and Tyler Hunt, who did not line up in the backfield last week, to get a couple carries to spread the workload among the four. Hunt owns the two most (and probably only) explosive plays this season and Abbington has looked impressive in the limited amount of carries he’s received.

There are way too many drops from the receivers, and there already has been a shake-up on the depth chart. Freshman Emanuel Hall is now listed as an “OR” starter with J’Mon Moore, who was held without a catch last week.

Freshman Cam Hilton after converting from safety a couple weeks ago has been the most explosive receiver since, and likely will only get better as he continues to learn the position. He needs to be thrown more balls. Nate Brown has been good, but needs to sure up his hands to be the bonafide No. 1 receiver in this offense.

As a potential wrinkle for this offense I’d like to see redshirt freshman Raymond Wingo to get the ball in space. He mysteriously has been absent in the receiver rotation these past few weeks. Being that he’s the fastest player on the team he would make some plays if he got the ball on a jet sweep or a receiver screen.

This offense doesn’t need to do a whole lot to win ball games but they need to do more than nine points in two weeks. They won’t face a defense like Florida or Georgia for the rest of the year, so now is a good time to experiment with the other personnel that’s on the sidelines and see if that can make a difference.

Vanderbilt isn’t good, but if the Tigers can score some points and slowly build some confidence, it won’t only bode well for the future as this team is very young, but for the rest of this year as well. There’s still a lot to play for and the mindset should just be to get to the best bowl game possible.