The strong finish to the Mizzou football team’s regular season seems a distant memory after last night. The Tigers were wholly outplayed by the Longhorns in the Texas Bowl.
There were a lot of reasons for fans to be confident in the Mizzou football team moving forward. However, that confidence might be a little shaken after seeing the poor effort in last night’s Texas Bowl. That is especially true of the highly touted Tigers offense that was a complete no-show for most of the night.
With a first-time play caller, the Mizzou offense looked nothing like what we had seen over the final six weeks of the regular season. Despite the loss of offensive coordinator Josh Heupel, most people still expected this group of playmakers to make some noise. It never happened though, and now the Tigers clearly need a coaching hire.
With their draft stock being closely monitored this time of year, the trio of Drew Lock, J’mon Moore, and Ish Witter were unable to get the job done. While the Texas Bowl isn’t a premier bowl game, it’s still a national spotlight moment. This was an opportunity for them to really make a mark.
Tigers fail to be the 2nd team in college football history to start 1-5 and end with 8 wins. Still, good chance they’re preseason ranked if Lock comes back next year. #Mizzou
— Andrew Carter (@LetItFlyAndrew) December 28, 2017
Drew Lock Not Ready For NFL
Earlier in the week, Mizzou football star quarterback Drew Lock got his grade back from the NFL Draft Advisory Board. They informed Lock that he would be best served by returning to school for his senior year. Despite that, there were apparently still some teams that considered him a top prospect. That opinion is likely changed.
Drew Lock was borderline awful for Mizzou last night. Outside of a couple of throws, and a late drive, Lock struggled to move the ball at all. A late interception that led to Texas points put an exclamation point on the night. It was just flat out bad.
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Scouts will definitely look at how Drew Lock played in this game, and lower their grades on him. There were issues with accuracy and decision making all night. While Lock didn’t get much help from the running game, we all know that he is supposed to be the driving force of this offense.
Get Focused For 2018
This is a tough end to the season for Mizzou football, but Barry Odom and his guys need to be looking ahead now to 2018. Recruiting is the big task immediately ahead of Odom, and he needs to get on the ball there. He will have some work to do with such a poor showing in Missouri’s last game of the year.
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The Tigers also need to be looking for their new offensive coordinator. This is a move that needs to happen as quickly as possible, and it needs to be a good one. Mizzou’s offense is clearly the strength of the team right now, and they should be playing towards that. A solid offensive coordinator can help build on that.
While it was great to get excited about Missouri this year, the truth is that they didn’t beat a single team with a winning record in 2017. The Tigers end-of-season streak had a lot to do with playing a weak schedule. They weren’t that good of a team this year, but that’s ok. Mizzou has set a bar for their 2018.
It was definitely a disappointing night for the Mizzou football program. The Tigers can’t be happy with their performance or efforts last night. However, all you can do from here is move on. You can bet that Barry Odom and his staff will be preaching that to the players, and preparing to make it happen.