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Dan McLaughlin
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PICK-SIX OPINIONS
Let’s hit on six things about Mizzou’s 38-21 victory over Vanderbilt. With the win, the Tigers are 5-0 to start the season for the first time since 2013. And before I jump in, let’s get the usual qualifiers out of the way: it’s still relatively early, the Tigers have played only one SEC game, and the toughest portion of the schedule is ahead. That said, we can only judge this team by the games they’ve played so far. There’s no reason to downgrade Mizzou’s many positives.
1. Missouri is among the highest-graded Power 5 teams in the nation. And that’s based on offense, defense and special teams. Other respected metrics-based ratings systems may be less positive about Missouri. But my go-to most of the time are the metrics at Pro Football Focus. And with another weekend of games filed away, PFF ranks Mizzou No. 9 overall at the Power 5 level behind Miami (FL), Michigan, Washington, Oklahoma, Alabama, Oregon, USC and Ohio State. Subject to change, of course. Some difficult tests are coming, with the next four games coming against LSU, at Kentucky, South Carolina, and at Georgia. Mizzou will likely drop in the rankings. How much so? That’s the important question. But any way you parse it out, it’s still impressive to see Ol’ Mizzou elevated to such an exciting place. This just reaffirms something: Mizzou is off to a terrific start in 2023.
2. Missouri has one of the best offenses among the 133 teams at the FBS level. I expanded the sample size by going with all 133 FBS teams, and Mizzou is high on the list. Pro Football Focus has the Tigers rated No. 7 offensively behind Air Force, Washington, Miami (FL), USC, Michigan and Oregon. The Tigers are rated among the top 20 in the metrics for passing, pass blocking, and receiving. (And 45th in the rushing game.)
Praise to head coach Eli Drinkwitz for making the necessary – but correct – major move to hire offensive coordinator Kirby Moore. It didn’t take much time for the first-year OC to make a significant impact. This is a big, big change from the uninteresting and tedious offense we’ve seen in recent seasons.
3. The time has come to view quarterback Brady Cook in a different light. We can all agree on a few things here: (A) His right arm is much stronger this season in the aftermath of shoulder repairs; (B) He has an exciting unit of playmaking receivers; (C) Kirby Moore is putting Cook in better position to make plays and has opened the skies; (D) we didn’t believe that it could ever be this way again after Drew Lock moved onto the NFL.
But Cook has the athleticism, talent, physical and mental toughness and leadership. He now has the kind of coaching and cast that can bring out his best. Luther Burden III is preposterously good. And unlike last season, Cook is operating at full health. There’s no need to scale back the offense because of his physical limitations in throwing deep. It all came together – suddenly so, and to a surprising degree.
4. Cook’s performance through five games can hang there with the best we’ve seen at Mizzou. I’m referring to the Chase Daniel Era, which set the template for a procession of quarterbacks who provided so many thrills: Daniel, Blaine Gabbert, James Franklin, Maty Mauk (in 2014), and Drew Lock. This isn’t a career comparison. This isn’t even a full-season comparison. This is about the first five games of a season:
– Cook’s 187.7 passer rating through the first five games is second to Daniel, who had a 196.4 rating through five games in 2008.
– Cook’s 74.5 percent completion rate through five games is second to Daniel’s 76.3% after five games in 2008.
– Cook is the only Mizzou quarterback during this era who passed for at least 11 touchdowns without tossing an interception. That fits right in with Cook’s notable accomplishment: most consecutive passing attempts without being intercepted.
– With his 395 yards passing at Vandy, Cook now has three straight games of 300 yards-plus. And in Saturday’s win Cook established personal single-game highs in passing yards (395), touchdown passes (four) and completions (33). And his 80% completion percentage against Vanderbilt was Cook’s second-best in a game.
4a. Other notes from The Cook File:
– Cook ranks 5th nationally in Expected Points Added (EPA) by a quarterback. Ahead of him are Jayden Daniels (LSU), Dillion Gabriel (Oklahoma), Chandler Morris (TCU) and Michael Pennix Jr. (Washington.)
– He ranks 5th among Power 5 quarterbacks in adjusted yards passing per attempt, 12.0
– His 74.5 percent completion percentage is tied for eighth among Power 5 quarterbacks.
– Cook and Notre Dame’s Sam Hartman are the only Power 5 quarterbacks this season to have thrown 10+ touchdown passes without a single interception.
5. Luther Burden is a lightning bolt. Take shelter, defense. Following in the grand tradition of electrifying Mizzou wide receivers, Burden is bringing back fond memories of plays and days illuminated by (in no particular order) Jeremy Maclin, Danario Alexander, Victor Bailey, T.J. Moe, J’Mon Moore, Justin Gage and L’Damian Washington.
After scorching Vanderbilt, Burden has exceeded 100+ receiving yards in four consecutive games. He leads Power 5 wide receivers in catches (43), receiving yards (642), and yards after the catch (400.) He’s averaging 15 yards per reception. He’s caught five touchdown passes.
Pro Football Focus has Burden as its top-rated receiver in the nation among 133 FBS teams.
Through five games Burden is on pace for these numbers:
– 103 catches
– 1,545 yards receiving
– 960 yards gained after the catch
– 15 touchdowns
Mizzou can flood the field with fast, dangerous receivers in Burden, Theo Wease, Mookie Cooper, Marquis Johnson and Mekhi Miller.
Brady Cook has no problem finding open targets. And as I’ve noted many times, there’s a dramatic upturn in Cook’s performance this season passing attempts that travel 20+ yards in the air. Last season he hit on only 19 of 59 deep throws for a 32.2 percent completion percentage, 740 yards and three touchdowns. On attempts of 20+ air yards this season, Cook has completed 12 of 19 (63.2%) for 421 yards and five touchdowns.
This tells us all we need to know about Cook’s improvement as a deep passer: among Power 5 quarterbacks he ranks fifth in completion percentage and 8th in PFF’s QB rating on throws of 20+ yards.
6. LSU at Mizzou (11 a.m.) should be crazy. Points galore and all of that. LSU can overheat the scoreboard on offense, but this team’s defense is absolutely awful. If we needed confirmation of that, the defensive weaknesses were on full display Saturday in LSU’s 55-49 loss at Ole Miss. The Tigers couldn’t get out of Oxford with a victory despite rolling up 637 yards and leading by nine points with 8:34 left in the fourth quarter. LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels was sensational, passing for 414 yards and four touchdowns. But it wasn’t enough as Ole Miss tore up LSU for 389 passing yards and 317 rushing yards for 706 total yards. LSU’s defense had no sacks and applied little pressure.
Through five games LSU ranks 116th among 133 FBS teams in both average points (36.3) and average yards (456.8) allowed per game. According to PFF, coach Brian Kelly’s defense is rated 126th among 133 teams in pass coverage. The Mizzou defense has some issues, and the Tigers haven’t faced a quarterback that’s as good and dangerous as Jayden Daniels. But Pro Football Focus has Mizzou as the 23rd best overall defense in the FBS. And the Tigers have graded well in the pass rush (20th) and coverage (29th) and are solid (44th) in run defense. Mizzou should be able to score plenty of points but can MU slow Daniels and the LSU offense down to get the win?
6a. Missouri’s defense hasn’t been reliable in putting opponents away. Mizzou gave up 14 points in the fourth quarter at Vandy to allow the Commodores to twice cut the lead to 10 points. And in the week before that, a 24-10 lead over Memphis was reduced to a one-score margin on three separate occasions. In the 30-27 victory over Kansas State, Mizzou allowed the Wildcats to drive late for the tying field goal but saved the win on the record-setting 61-yard field goal by Harrison Mevis on the final play. (That said, K-State scored only three points in the fourth quarter.) And against Middle Tennessee State, MU opened a 23-10 lead and hung on to win 23-19. This type of thing can’t happen against LSU.
In their three games against FBS opponents Missouri has allowed a 44.4 percent conversion rate on third-and-fourth downs. Despite being a disappointing two-loss team, LSU is bringing a prolific offense to CoMo. The boys have to get Jayden Daniels off the field.
Saturday’s probable score-a-thon will match two Top 25 teams. In this week’s Coaches Poll, Missouri is ranked No. 22, one spot above No. 23 LSU. I can’t wait to watch this one.
Thanks for reading …
–Bernie
Bernie hosts an opinionated sports-talk show on 590 The Fan, KFNS. It airs 3-6 p.m. on Monday through Thursday and 4-6 p.m. on Friday. You can stream it live or access the show podcast on 590thefan.com or through the 590 The Fan St. Louis app.
Please follow Bernie on Twitter @miklasz
For weekly Cards talk, listen to the “Seeing Red” podcast with Will Leitch and Miklasz via 590thefan.com or through your preferred podcast platform. Follow @seeingredpod on Twitter for a direct link.
The post Bernie: Undefeated Mizzou, No Longer Boring, Has Opened The Skies To Fly On Offense. appeared first on Scoops Sports Network.
My Pick Six opinions on Missouri’s 34-27 victory over Memphis at the dome in St. Louis …
1. Missouri plays entertaining football. Enjoyable football. Now that the offense has been opened up, it’s bubbling like champagne. The Tigers are fun to watch. It’s been a while.
We saw it last week in the walk-off win over Kansas State, and the excitement continued against Memphis. The coaches kept the good stuff in storage during the team’s opening two victories over South Dakota and Middle Tennessee, and let the offense flow in the last two games. We like it. The volume of explosive plays stands out.
Combining Week 3 and Week 4, Missouri averaged 32 points, 486 yards, 8.03 yards per play and 348.5 yards passing. K-State has a good team and Memphis is respectable, so the numbers against them are legit.
According to the college football metrics at Pro Football Focus, Mizzou’s offensive rating ranks 6th among Power 5 teams so far – behind Washington, USC, Miami (FL), Kansas and Michigan and just ahead of Oregon. Last season the Tigers were rated 45th offensively by PFF among Power 5 programs.
2. Here’s why that matters: last season Missouri and their fans were frustrated by the narrow losses. That trend appears to be changing. The Tigers had a chance to beat Auburn, Georgia, Florida and Kentucky but lost those four games by an average of 4.5 points. A sluggish offense was the main culprit because MU scored an average of only 17.5 points in those close-call defeats. This 2023 Mizzou offense makes mistakes and has some head-scratching lapses. Here’s an example: despite the many positives, the MU offense turned only 3 of 21 third-down plays into first downs in the two games vs. K-State and Memphis. But when you have an explosive-play element that can overcome the inevitable malfunctions by striking for significant gains – well, that’s how you turn close losses into close wins.
3. Brady Cook is for real. His increased arm strength is obvious. I’ll use a baseball analogy. Playing with a torn labrum last season, Cook was like the physically compromised pitcher who throws 87 mph because of the limitations. This season, with his right shoulder strength intact, Cook can fire 95 mph fastballs.
In 13 games as the starter last season, Cook never put up a 300-yard passing game – and now he’s done it two weeks in a row, slinging for 356 yards vs. Kansas State and 341 against Memphis. In those two winners, Cook completed 41 of 60 passes (68.3%) for 697 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions.
And Cook is making more impact with his arm. Last season, in games against winning FBS teams, Cook averaged 6.9 yards per passing attempt. In defeating K-State and Memphis – two winning FBS teams – Cook averaged 11.6 yards per passing attempt. And Memphis entered the game ranked No. 2 in FBS against the pass.
For the season, Cook ranks 11th nationally in expected points added as a passer, which puts him right behind Caleb Williams (USC) and Drake Maye (North Carolina) and just ahead of Travis Jordan (Florida State.)
Per Pro Football Focus, Last season Cook ranked 44th among 68 Power 5 quarterbacks with a deep-ball passer rating of 82.0. And his completion percentage (33.2) on pass attempts that traveled 20+ yards ranked 55th among the 68 quarterbacks.
So far in 2023, Cook’s 93.4 passer rating on deep throws is No. 10 nationally among Power 5 quarterbacks. And his 60 percent completion rate on throws that travel 20+ yards is tied for 4th among P-5 QBs.
4. Cook’s resilience is something to behold. He probably shouldn’t have been on the field – at least not as much – while competing with a bum shoulder last season. But in making all of those impact throws over the last two wins, he has played with a sprained knee that gave him some trouble in both games. Not only that, Cook was flexing and rotating his shoulder after taking some hits from Memphis. The dude has the pain-tolerance level of a Tkachuk brother. But this also raises a concern: can he hold up all season? It figures to be a challenge. But mental strength may be Cook’s No. 1 attribute.
“That kid is the toughest kid that I’ve ever met,” Missouri running back Cody Schrader told reporters when speaking of Cook late Saturday night. “I think that he keeps showing it week in and week out and he keeps fighting for the team.”
5. Luther Burden III: Can’t cover him. And that helps Cook, the other receivers, everyone. After flying through the Kansas State defense for seven catches,114 receiving yards and two touchdowns, Burden shredded Memphis for 10 catches and 177 yards. That’s an average of 145.5 yards receiving over the last two weeks.
Last season Burden finished with 375 receiving yards in 13 games. Through only four games this season, he’s already amassed 504 receiving yards to sprint by his freshman-season total. Goodness.
After averaging a modest 8.3 yards per catch in 2022, Burden is soaring with an average of 15.8 yards per grab this season.
And Burden’s impact is causing all sorts of mayhem for concerned defenses. His presence creates play-making opportunities for other MU receivers including the running backs. Cook has completed passes to eight receivers that aren’t named Luther Burden, and the eight have combined for 43 catches, 505 yards, 11.7 yards per catch, and five touchdowns. With Burden clearing space, the skies are open.
On passing attempts of 20+ yards, here’s the difference between Cook-to-Burden last season compared to the first four games of Cook-to-Burden this season
2022: 17 targets, only 1 reception, 35 yards, 0 touchdowns, 35 yards per completion.
2023: 6 targets, 3 receptions, 121 yards, 1 touchdown and 40.3 yards per completion.
A huge difference, yes?
5a. Burden isn’t a one-man show. Other receivers are cooking. Cook has also connected with Marquis Johnson, Mekkhi Miller, Mookie Cooper and Theo Wease for a combined six completions on attempts of 20+ yards. Those six catches have produced 215 yards – an average of 35.8 yards per bomb – and two touchdowns.
Dominic Lovett was Mizzou’s most prolific receiver on deep throws last season before transferring to Georgia. But so far, Missouri has done a good job of spreading the ball around to fill the void. The receiving depth is impressive, and that applies to other areas of the roster. Missouri is getting hit by injuries – including the Memphis game – but has been able to cover for the absences. That’s key.
I’ll repeat something I said earlier: Instead of losing games by a few points, Mizzou is getting enough big plays to win the kind of down-to-the-wire thrillers that mostly went the other way in 2022. But the Tigers must sustain this new and improved trend that makes them more dangerous.
6. Missouri, 4-0, can’t let up now and slip at Vanderbilt. The fellas know that, so there’s no reason to expect a letdown when the Tigers travel to Nashville for Saturday’s matchup. It’s a game MU should win. It’s a game MU has to win. And if they get it done, Mizzou can go into the Oct. 7 home game against LSU with a 5-0 record.
As for the 4-0 start, it’s the first by Mizzou since winning the first four in 2013. And by beating Memphis, Missouri joined Georgia and Kentucky as the only three remaining undefeated teams in the SEC.
High on the list of things to do: the MU defense must tighten up on third and fourth downs. The Tigers had difficulty in trying to shoo an effective Memphis off the field. And the Mizzou offense must convert more third downs to maintain possession and put their opponents away.
Congrats to coach Eli Drinkwitz and his squad for cracking the Coaches Top 25 poll Sunday. The Tigers are ranked 22nd. It’s been a few years, and Missouri has something going, so under the circumstances a loss at Vandy would be a terrible misstep. The SEC opener for Mizzou qualifies as a must-win challenge. Period.
Thanks for reading …
–Bernie
Bernie hosts an opinionated sports-talk show on 590 The Fan, KFNS. It airs 3-6 p.m. on Monday through Thursday and 4-6 p.m. on Friday. You can stream it live or access the show podcast on 590thefan.com or through the 590 The Fan St. Louis app.
Please follow Bernie on Twitter @miklasz
For weekly Cards talk, listen to the “Seeing Red” podcast with Will Leitch and Miklasz via 590thefan.com or through your preferred podcast platform. Follow @seeingredpod on Twitter for a direct link.
The post Pick Six On Mizzou Football: The Tigers Offense Is Taking Flight With Brady Cook & Luther Burden. appeared first on Scoops Sports Network.
PICK SIX
A good Sunday to you. I’ve picked these six opinions to discuss Missouri’s uninspired 23-19 victory over Middle Tennessee State on Saturday night at Faurot Field …
1. Missouri was a 21-point favorite in this game and had to hold off a MTSU program that’s 4-17 against winning FBS winning teams since 2019. A win is a win and all of that, and the Tigers are 2-0 to open the season. But this was a tedious performance that increased apprehension over Mizzou’s phlegmatic offense and the skill of head coach Eli Drinkwitz.
2. Drinkwitz was hired for his reputation as a sharp and creative offensive mind. But we’re seeing nothing like that, and this already is his fourth season at MU. In this new college-football era of the NIL and transfer portal, ambitious and resourceful coaches need little time to resurrect fallen programs. In one sense, Drinkwitz is a good recruiter. The 247 Sports site – which tracks and analyzes personnel – rates Mizzou at No. 24 nationally in a listing of the most talented rosters. On the other hand (A) the Tigers are 10th among the 14 SEC programs and (B) the Drinkwitz offense remains stuck in mediocrity.
3. Before the 2023 season there was a lot of talk about Missouri’s improved offense, and Drinkwitz was praised for hiring an offensive coordinator (Kirby Moore) and turning over play-calling responsibility to his new OC. But does this offense look any different to you? It’s the same old playbook. The same overly conservative mindset. The non-threatening downfield passing game. An offense that plays it safe and is scared to open up and truly go on the attack. This is why Drinkwitz installed Brady Cook as his quarterback instead of going with the strong arm and higher upside of Sam Horn. If you’re going to run a cautious and confined offense and lean on the defense to win games, then Cook is the QB to handle the assignment. And there was no competition between Cook and Horn; Drinkwitz had his mind made up months ago.
Yes, I know … it’s only two games, and perhaps Drinkwitz-Moore will come out with something fresh and more exciting when Kansas State comes to CoMo on Saturday. But what we’ve seen early in 2023 is a yawn-inducing replay of most of the mundane offense that trudged along in 2022. Missouri fans turned out 57,000 strong on Saturday and deserved better.
4. Let’s take a look at the year-by-year stagnation of the Missouri offense:
– In the Covid-truncated 2020 season, Drink’s first year, Missouri averaged 26.7 points per game against Power 5 opponents, scoring 3.1 touchdowns per game.
– In 2021, the coach’s second season, MU’s scoring average against Power 5 teams dropped to 23.9 points and 2.6 touchdowns per game.
– Last season was No. 3 for Drinkwitz and his Tigers crawled to an average of 19.2 points and 2.0 touchdowns in games against Power 5s.
5. By now the trendline should be going in the opposite direction, right? Not a decrease in scoring – but an increase in scoring. In the fourth season of this purported offensive einstein, MU should be flying – dare I say soaring – under Drinkwitz. Or maybe the coach is just a slick-talking peddler who can overwhelm you with words – but not with points scored by his offense. On Saturday against MTSU, the Tigers ran the ball 46 times and attempted only 19 passes.
In Week One, Alabama smoked the same defense for 56 points – and this is hardly a vintage Bama offense. Missouri has played non-FBS South Dakota and non-P5 Middle Tennessee State so far. They averaged 29 points per game against those teams – which is actually kinda sad … that’s it? That’s all?
After scoring only seven points in the second half vs. South Dakota, Ol’ Mizzou had only 16 points through the first three quarters against Middle Tennessee.
Drinkwitz lost his nerve repeatedly on Saturday. He had a 4th and 3 from around midfield with less than 11 minutes to go in the first quarter and opted to punt.
There was a 4th and 2 from his own 41 with 30 seconds to go in the first quarter … punt.
There was a 4th and 1 from the opponent’s 44-yard line with Mizzou leading 23-10 with 10:27 remaining in the 4th quarter. Here’s a chance to put a pestering opponent away, for good. Nope. Let’s punt again!
Wait a minute. You’re an SEC head coach playing at home who’s afraid of a Conference USA team?
Really?
You have to let it rip, man. And if you don’t have the right quarterback to let it rip, then you better go find one. Either that, or you can continue to start a quarterback recruited by Barry Odom. And why would a big-time QB talent want any part of running such a humdrum, afraid-to-fail offense?
6. Missouri’s offensive line was a significant problem in this game, but the quarterback doesn’t get a free pass. Brady Cook missed on two connectable deep balls early. He was too shaky, too often. He held onto the ball and took sacks. He didn’t have verve or confidence as a runner. Late in the game he was tackled for a sack and fumbled the ball out of the end zone for a safety.
If Sam Horn did this stuff, Drinkwitz would be apoplectic, pointing fingers through the media, making snotty remarks to the media, and using Horn’s shakiness to justify Cook’s status as a starter. But if the more experienced Cook does it? Hey, nothing to see here, folks. That’s Eli’s guy. I don’t know if Cook can count on protection from his offensive line, but he’ll certainly be protected by the coach.
Next up, Kansas State. Missouri had best bring an offense to this conflict. And how about fixing the dreadful Missouri special teams?
BONUS CONTENT
Here are two views on Missouri’s win, written from beyond the state borders:
– Seth Emerson, The Athletic: “Not a resounding win over a team that got routed the week before at Alabama. Missouri didn’t take a two-score lead until the fourth quarter, then had to hold on. This was after a “meh” win over South Dakota. That seems to be the continual vibe with Mizzou these days: Meh.”
– Adam Spencer, Saturday Down South: “These were supposed to be the ‘easy” games.’ Instead, the Mizzou offense looked lackluster against both South Dakota and Middle Tennessee. As much as Drinkwitz likes to tout Cook’s leadership and toughness, eventually you have to throw the ball as a Power 5 quarterback. Too many of Luther Burden’s touches come at or behind the line of scrimmage. Opposing defenses pack the box to stymie the Tigers’ rushing attack. If Cook can’t develop a consistent downfield passing attack, it may be time to turn the reins over to someone else. Loyalty is fine when the wins are piling up, but the Tigers host No. 15 Kansas State next weekend.”
Thanks for reading …
–Bernie
Bernie hosts an opinionated sports-talk show on 590 The Fan, KFNS. It airs 3-6 p.m. on Monday through Thursday and 4-6 p.m. on Friday. You can stream it live or access the show podcast on 590thefan.com or through the 590 The Fan St. Louis app.
Please follow Bernie on Twitter @miklasz
For weekly Cards talk, listen to the “Seeing Red” podcast with Will Leitch and Miklasz via 590thefan.com or through your preferred podcast platform. Follow @seeingredpod on Twitter for a direct link.
The post Bernie’s Pick-Six Opinions On Mizzou: What The Heck Is Coach Eli Drinkwitz So Afraid Of? appeared first on Scoops.
Hello. Here are my “Pick Six” opinions on Missouri’s 35-10 victory over South Dakota on Thursday evening in CoMo. As expected the Tigers handled a FCS division team, and these Power 5 vs. Subdivision matchups aren’t ideal for finding true meaning in player/team performances. But college football is back, and this makes me very happy.
This Pick Six will be all about the quarterbacks. That was the biggest story coming out of Game 1. It was a story that delivered instant offense for message boards and social media.
1. Brady Cook is the starting QB. Period. Many of us believed head coach Eli Drinkwitz when he told us this would be a true quarterback competition between incumbent Brady Cook and the presumptive prime challenger Sam Horn. Nah. This was just Eliah doing his usual fast-talking, double-talking car-salesman thing. Cook was his guy all along. Which is fine. The coach is paid – overpaid? – to make these decisions. And Cook has some advantages over Horn including leadership, experience, and a breakaway-run capability. Coaches love quarterbacks that all but sleep with the playbook – and Cook is a playbook scholar consumed by details. It says a lot when Cook’s teammates voted to make him a team captain for 2023.
2. Drinkwitz ran a misdirection play. If you’re the coach and you know what you want to do at quarterback – and will do at quarterback – why spend months feeding a misleading narrative to fans and media? Just tell us the truth. Put it out there for the public – Cook is the guy – and get on with your business. There was no reason to turn the QB1 process into a charade. Drinkwitz the prankster strikes again.
2a. OK, I feel an obligation to be fair here. I’ll give it a try. Maybe Drinkwitz wanted to frame this as a legitimate competition to see how the other quarterbacks – especially Sam Horn – would respond to the challenge. If that was Coach Drink’s motive, then at least he had a purpose. But Cook was MU’s quarterback last season, and the coach clearly adores him, and it would take an injury or some drastic and unforeseen development to change the inevitable reality: Cook is QB1 in the coach’s heart.
3. Horn didn’t receive a fair opportunity in Thursday’s exercise. That wouldn’t occur in a legitimate QB competition … and this isn’t a legitimate QB competition. With Cook playing the entire first half, Missouri was a helluva lot more ambitious on offense. Cook completed 17 of 21 passes for 172 yards and a touchdown (plus a rushing TD.) Mizzou led 28-3 at halftime and faced no threat from the scrappy visitors, and the comfortable 25-point margin set up a flat second half; some of the competitive edge had dulled.
Horn attempted only five passes, one that went for a touchdown on the wonderful Luther Burden’s catch-and-run. MU’s second-half objective was to drain the clock, and the Tigers ran the ball 17 times. Horn got plenty of reps to work on his hand-offs. South Dakota opened the second half with an extensive 17-play drive that devoured 8 minutes and 19 seconds, so Horn’s showcase was limited to only four second-half possessions.
Cook is a mature, fully acclimated junior. Horn is a redshirt freshman. He doesn’t have Cook’s wordly-wise ways and equity with teammates and coaches. Cook is mentally strong. And we know that he’s physically tough because he competed with a torn labrum in his throwing shoulder last season – an injury that required offseason surgery.
“That guy has so much character, so much grit, so much determination,” Drinkwitz told the media late Thursday night. “He put his butt on the line for everybody in this organization, every fan, every single game last year with a torn shoulder. We asked him, hey, do you want to take (some down time), and he said, the doctors say I’m good, I can’t injure it any worse, so I’m fighting my butt off for this team. So I’ve got no question about his determination or him putting Mizzou first.”
The coach has made up his mind. I’m not sure how Horn can improve his stock if he isn’t given the benefit of time and patience and a real opportunity. Drink’s defenders would say something like this: what about all of those Mizzou practices? What about Drinkwitz and offensive coordinator Kirby Moore studying hours of digital video to make a full accounting of each quarterback?
Doesn’t that matter? My answer: yes, it does. But Horn can’t possibly catch up to Cook unless he’s given the chance to drive the car in games. And when I say drive the car, I’m talking about utilizing Horn’s high-velocity arm in a wide-open offense that can strike for big plays downfield. Or drive the car in a close game with the outcome on the line. That’s how you often find out about a quarterback’s strengths, intangibles, and weaknesses.
Entering a 28-3 game that’s already over (competitively) does nothing to enhance Horn’s development or give a coaching staff a more relevant read on his play. Horn will likely get another chance next week against Middle Tennessee.
When the SEC Network asked Drinkwitz to assess the play of his quarterbacks, the coach simplified it to a grade-school level by going to a scoreboard count: 28 points for Cook, 7 for Horn. That’s it? Third grade math class?
Coach made no attempt whatsoever to put those numbers in context based on substantially different game situations. On Thursday Cook took 62.3 percent of the snaps and attempted 80.7 percent of the team’s passes.
In the postgame Drinkwitz made sure to let everyone know that he doesn’t care about outside opinions on the quarterback. Doesn’t pay attention to them. And after telling the media that he has no interest in their commentaries, Drink heaped more praise on his chosen quarterback. So much bravado, so many Cook tributes, all coming after a glorious triumph over the mighty and intimidating Coyotes from South Dakota.
Excessive? Absolutely. But Drinkwitz loves to talk and can’t resist drawing attention to himself. He’s a triple threat: coach-comedian-salesman with some clever telemarketer slickness mixed in. Y’all are too busy worrying about wins and program progress to fully appreciate this versatile showman. (Sarcasm alert.) If anyone still had questions about Drink’s obvious fondness for Cook, he offered this personal testimonial in the postgame performance. I think he was joking.
“He’s got a girlfriend,” the coach said. “Otherwise, I’d be trying to get him hooked up with one of my daughters when they turn 18. He’s a lovely young man.”
4. I keep thinking about this: former Mizzou head coach Barry Odom recruited Cook out of Chaminade Prep in St. Louis. That was a long time ago. Drinkwitz is in his fourth season as Odom’s replacement, and Drink still hasn’t come up with a quarterback who can dislodge Cook from the starting job. And MU hired Drinkwitz for his reputation as a rising-star offensive mind. In that context, the quarterback is the most important asset Drinkwitz can have. And the coach is still starting Barry Odom’s quarterback.
This is an important season for Drinkwitz. If Mizzou fails to break through the six-win ceiling for a third consecutive season, the coach could be in trouble. Then again, the MU administration evidently thinks he’s the next Kirby Smart and gave Drinkwitz a massive contract extension after his second straight 6-7 campaign.
There are two ways to look at this:
A) Cook is the more efficient, disciplined and reliable choice. You know what Cook can do at minimum: help lead a team to six wins. Given Missouri’s narrow losses to Auburn, Georgia, Kentucky and Florida last season, it’s hardly a stretch to believe that a healthier Cook can increase the standard six-win total by one or two this season. And Moore, the new offensive coordinator, should juice up this offense. If he doesn’t then what’s the point of bringing him here? Ride that good and nasty MU defense and come up with a few more game-changing plays through the air. That’s the formula. Oh, and this too: Harrison Mevis needs to pull himself together because Missouri can’t afford to miss many field goals this season. What the heck was that Thursday night?
B) By playing it safe with Cook, arguably Drinkwitz theoretically puts his job security at greater risk. If Drink’s favorite quarterback can’t lead the offense to more points and a higher win total, then all of the blame will fall on the head coach. Horn is more of a wild-card. He’s more unpredictable. That big arm could hit on more big plays – but also lead to a bunch of costly, untimely interceptions. If Drinkwitz is going to flunk in 2023, he’ll do it with the quarterback he trusts. Never mind that this raises questions about the coach’s aptitude in recruiting and developing quarterbacks. Remember when Sam Horn was a 4-Star recruit?
5. I’ve said a lot about Horn. Now let’s talk about Cook. He looked good in the opener. (I know. He looked good against South Dakota. Which isn’t like looking good against an SEC dragoon.) But I believe Cook deserves our respect. No one questions his competitiveness or toughness or the commitment to knowing every aspect of Missouri’s offense. He can gallop through and around defenses with a running talent that averaged 5.9 yards per rushing attempt and zig-zagged his way to 29 missed tackles last season. (Those stats from The Athletic.) If Drinkwitz is right in his unwavering backing of Cook, then we will praise the coach accordingly.
Mizzou QB legend Chase Daniel spent time in the team’s training camp this summer.
“When I was there, he was, without a doubt, ‘The Guy’ and it was impressive,” Daniel told the SEC Network. “He’s a great young man and his teammates follow his leadership.”
Going into the 2023 season, Cook’s deep-ball accuracy must improve or the MU passing game will have limited upside and capability. In 2022, Cook completed only 19 of 59 passes that traveled 20+ yards in the air. That 32.2 percent completion percentage ranked 22nd among the 28 Power 5 quarterbacks that attempted at least 50 deep throws.
If Cook’s right shoulder is healed and fully functional, he could expand the dimensions of a Mizzou offense that averaged a disappointing 19.2 points in their 10 games against SEC opponents plus Kansas State and Wake Forest. But there are no guarantees of that. Look at it this way: if Drinkwitz has to go to the bullpen, at least he’ll have Horn warming up. The coach would be smart to have Horn play a lot of ball against Middle Tennessee. It will help prepare him for a starting role if MU needs to bring in a hard-throwing reliever.
6. In the 35-10 warmup against South Dakota, Missouri’s 2023 offense looked a lot like the 2022 offense. Short passes. Screens. Checkdowns. The longest completion of the night was Horn’s perfect 31-yard strike to Mekhi Miller. But Horn and Miller couldn’t connect on another throw that caromed off the receiver for an interception. I assume that Drinkwitz kept it bland and excluded the more exciting material to keep the fun stuff out of view for upcoming opponents Kansas State and Memphis.
That’s it for now. I plan to do a Pick Six opinion column after each Mizzou football game this season.
Thanks for reading …
Have the best weekend!
–Bernie
Bernie hosts an opinionated sports-talk show on 590 The Fan, KFNS. It airs 3-6 p.m. on Monday through Thursday and 4-6 p.m. on Friday. You can stream it live or access the show podcast on 590thefan.com or through the 590 The Fan St. Louis app.
Please follow Bernie on Twitter @miklasz
All stats used in this column were sourced from Sports Reference and Pro Football Focus.
The post Bernie On Mizzou Football: Quarterback Competition? No, Just Another Prank From Coach Drinkwitz. appeared first on Scoops.
We talk about the Cardinals struggles this morning with Ben Frederickson of the St. Louis Post Dispatch. We look at the outfield situation, and how they potentially misread the central division. We also talk about Adam Wainwright’s return and his fiery determination. We get Ben’s thoughts on Mizzou’s upcoming football season and Coach Drinkwitz. Are the off-season moves enough of a booster? We talk a bit about Battlehawks and how TV ratings are the biggest teller of the leagues future. Will they be back next year? Listen here:
The post Ben Fred Friday – April 28, 2023 appeared first on Scoops.
In case you missed the national college football championship pitting No. 1 Georgia against No. 3 TCU and would like to get up to speed on the details, here’s all you need to know.
Georgia’s offensive possessions, in order:
1-Touchdown
2-Field goal
3-Touchdown
4-Touchdown
5-Touchdown
6-Touchdown
7-Punt
8-Touchdown
9-Touchdown
10-Touchdown
11-Touchdown
As you can probably figure out, it was a horrifying Monday night for the TCU Horned Frogs.
The final score was 65-7.
And then I found out that a Horned Frog is no frog at all. A Horned Frog doesn’t make the cut as an amphibian, either.
“They look like souped-up toads, but they are actually lizards,” says Diane Barber, the project coordinator of the Texas horned lizard program at the Fort Worth Zoo, in an interview with Garden & Gun magazine.
And as it turns out the actual horned lizards housed at the Fort Worth Zoo were in hibernation – and sound asleep — during Georgia’s brutal flogging of TCU. Given TCU’s traumatic trouncing by the Bulldogs, we can expect to see the real horned lizards enter the transfer protocol to find a roster spot at another U.S. Zoo.
OK, enough with my sorry attempts at humor. And of course I realize that you already knew the score of Monday’s cudgeling. I was just trying to lighten things up a little. If you’ve made it this far in the column, thank you.
Quick-hit takeaways:
1. By now it’s established – and reaffirmed – that Georgia has supplanted Alabama as the top program in college football. The Dawgs have a solid chance to win a third national title at the end of the 2023 campaign. Minnesota is the only team to win three in a row straight-up; the Golden Gophers were declared the national champions in 1934, 1935, and 1936. If Georgia can pull off the hat-trick next season, they’ll get it done on the field instead of being crowned by media voters.
2. Georgia coach Kirby Smart is 47 years old. He’s won back-to-back national championships. His Georgia teams have won 29 of their last 30 games … and 33 of their last 34 games. In his first seven seasons at Georgia, Smart is 81-15 with two national titles. In his first seven seasons as Alabama’s coach Nick Saban went 79-15 with three national titles. You can see the similar track. But considering Smart’s relatively young age, he’s capable of having a coaching career that puts him in close proximity to Saban’s career success. But will Smart want to coach into his 70s, as Saban (71) has done? The head-coaching job is so much more demanding and complicated now.
3. In the nine seasons of the college-football playoff format, the SEC has won six of the nine championships including the last four. As ESPN noted, the SEC is 14-3 vs. non-SEC teams in nine seasons of playoff action. And the SEC is the only conference in the land that has a winning record in the playoffs.
4. Georgia went 15-0 this season and seven of their opponents were ranked in the final AP Top 25: Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi State, LSU, Ohio State and TCU. Average margin of victory for Georgia in those games: 30.8 points.
“It seems like for the past three or four months we’ve been looking to see if somebody could beat us,” Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett told reporters late Monday night. “And we just ran out of games.”
5. Stetson Bennett is one of the best stories – ever – in college football history. Walk-on at Georgia. Left Georgia to go to the junior-college level for a season just so he could play and improve. Returned to Georgia for a second try. As recently as 2020 he was buried on the depth chart. He got the starting job – essentially by default, because of injuries to other quarterbacks – and never let go. For much of 2021, Kirby Smart was told he was making a big mistake by continuing to start Bennett … the undersized quarterback with a short-pass kind of arm who couldn’t propel the Dawgs offense to a national title – until he did.
Bennett overcame the mediocre-quarterback perception and the limitations that others put on him. And in nearly two full seasons with Bennett as the starter, Georgia had more national-championship wins (2) than overall losses (1.)
Bennett closed his remarkable career with a 4-0 record in the playoffs. In his run to consecutive titles, this is what Bennett did to Michigan, Alabama, Ohio State and TCU: completed 78 of 115 passes (68%) for 1,239 yards, 12 touchdowns, one interception and three rushing TDs. He had a passer-efficiency rating of 191.02 in the four playoff wins. Awesome.
6. In Monday’s rout Bennett accounted for six of Georgia’s touchdowns with four TD throws and two TD runs. He moved Georgia to points on the team’s first six possessions to put TCU away early. Bennett is more than just the best quarterback in Georgia football history; because of the multiple national titles and his excellence in the four playoff wins, a case can be made that he’s the best player in Georgia football history. (With apologies to Herschel Walker.) In leading Georgia to four straight wins (over two seasons) in the CFB playoffs, Bennett was named offensive MVP in all four games.
7. The lesson? “If you are an under-recruited guy, soak that up, but you’ve still got to be the best,” Bennett told reporters late Monday. “Go be spiteful out there. Be a dog. You’ve got to. But hopefully in 15 years, there’s some kid out there who is being a stud and he remembers watching us play.”
8) The TCU coaches should have put in a call to Mizzou head coach Eli Drinkwitz to get some tips on how to go toe-to-toe with Georgia. On Oct. 1 at Faurot Field, the Tigers led the Bulldogs by 13 points in the second quarter and were up 22-12 early in the fourth quarter. No. 1 Georgia rallied for a 26-22 victory. Ol’ Mizzou put up the toughest test faced by Georgia all season until Dec. 31, when Dawgs had to erase a 14-point deficit to claw for a one-point victory over Ohio State in the national semifinals. Georgia got payback for Mizzou’s scary threat by going into the transfer portal to recruit MU’s top receiver, Dominic Lovett. So there.
9. Monday’s title bout was the equivalent of Mike Tyson clubbing St. Louis native Michael Spinks to a knockout only 91 seconds into their world heavyweight championship matchup on June 27, 1988. I covered that fight. Sitting three rows from the ring, I could see the fear in Spinks’ eyes. TCU had that same type of wide-eyed, frightened look when getting punched repeatedly by Georgia. After TCU scored its only touchdown to cut UGA’s lead to 10-7, the Dawgs outscored their victims 55-0 over the remainder of the competition. I felt sorry for TCU quarterback Max Duggan, a tough kid and aggressive competitor who absorbed a merciless beating in this one.
10. A note from our friend Dennis Dodd at CBS Sports: at one point of the third quarter Georgia ran its 45th play of the game – and already had 45 points. Oh, my.
11. I picked Georgia to win by 11 points, which means I believed TCU would offer enough resistance to cover the 13.5-point spread. Well, not quite. The lizards lost by 58. I didn’t underestimate Georgia; I overestimated TCU.
12. Sure, TCU defeated Michigan 51–45 in the playoff semifinals. But five things: (A) Michigan isn’t Georgia; (B) the Big Ten isn’t the SEC; (C) Michigan barfed all over itself to make the TCU win possible; (D) the Big 12 isn’t the SEC; and (E) Kirby Smart has built a powerhouse that is unbeatable if it plays at it’s best or close to it. That’s what we witnessed Monday, and TCU didn’t stand a chance.
13. Georgia outgained TCU 589 yards to 188, had 32 first downs to TCU’s nine, and controlled the ball for 37 minutes of the game’s 60 minutes. These are among the reasons why this was the most severe beatdown in a CFB national championship. The 58-point margin of victory was the biggest in any bowl game in CFB history.
14. More on Stetson Bennett. This story has been well circulated since Georgia began its postgame celebration Monday at So-Fi Stadium. But let’s tell it again:
Smart noticed his 10-year old son Andrew near the Georgia locker room after the game. The boy was upset, and the tears were flowing.
“Why are you crying?” Smart asked. “You are going to ruin my moment.”
“He told me, ‘Stetson’s leaving. Stetson’s gone.’
I said, ‘He’s 25 years old, he’s gotta go.’ ”
15. Georgia is expected to return 15 starters for the 2023 season. There’s going to be a whole lot of crying going on around the SEC next season.
Thanks for reading …
Pardon my typos …
–Bernie
Bernie invites you to listen to his opinionated and analytical sports-talk show on 590 The Fan, KFNS-AM. It airs Monday through Thursday from 3-6 p.m. and Friday from 4-6 p.m. You can listen by streaming online or by downloading the show podcast at 590thefan.com or the 590 app.
Follow Bernie on Twitter @miklasz
The post Bernie: Ruthless Georgia Reminds Everyone Why The SEC Is Still The Boss. appeared first on Scoops.
The college football postseason isn’t over. There’s one more game to go, the appealing championship bout matching No. 1 Georgia vs. No. 4 TCU. The Horned Frogs are 12.5-point underdogs … just how they like it. In the betting markets, TCU is 9-3-1 against the spread this season. So this one sets up as another chance for TCU to jolt the college football universe. But this time around, the Frogs won’t be overlooked by their opponent.
While waiting for Monday night’s showdown and Georgia’s attempt to bag a second consecutive national title, let’s review the Winners and Losers of the action through Jan. 2.
WINNER: The national college football semifinals. After too many blowouts from the 2014 season through the 2021 season, we finally were entertained with two thrilling, entertaining, and down-to-the-wire drama on New Year’s Eve.
No. 3 TCU upset No. 2 Michigan 51-45 in the opener. Georgia held its breath on a missed 50-yard field goal to survive Ohio State in the second shootout of the day. All four fan bases – and a record number of TV viewers – were taken on exhilarating adventure rides that ended in extreme joy or despair depending on your rooting interest. Or the gambling interest.
And this was all made possible mostly for two reasons: Alabama lost two games during the regular season and didn’t make the playoff – and Utah upset playoff-bound USC in the Pac 12 title game, which opened the gates for Ohio State.
In the first eight years of the Playoff, the average margin of win in the 16 semifinal tilts was a ridiculous and boring 19.5 points. And only four of the 16 games were settled by fewer than 17 points.
On Saturday the two semifinal games were decided by only seven points … total.
If you were immersed in happiness on New Years because of college football instead of champagne, get ready for more games like this two years from now when the CFP format expands to 12 teams.
As Matt Hayes pointed out at Saturday Down South: “Yes, there will be blowouts in the new system, too. But the clustering of teams ranked No. 5 through No. 12 — where the talent gaps usually won’t be as big — will produce more games like the two we saw Saturday. And the win-or-go-home stakes will make the close ones as dramatic as these two were … The fact that it took so long to get a semifinal Saturday like this one only reinforces why the change had to be made.”
WINNER: TCU HORNED FROGS. Before the season, TCU was a 200-to-1 bet to reach the national playoff, and were picked to finish in seventh place in the Big 12. Too many of us underestimated the impact of Sonny Dykes, an underrated and overlooked coaching master who was stuck in bad gigs (especially Cal) before TCU hired him to replace program legend Gary Patterson at the end of the 2021 season.
A program that doesn’t have much of a chance at bringing in five-star recruits had the great equalizer in Dykes, a Mike Leach mentee who added a physical running game to the Air Raid passing frenzy. TCU went 5-7 last season and had a losing record over the three previous seasons. Dykes moved over from SMU and is 13-1 in his first go-round. Incredible.
I can’t go along with a new narrative – TCU inspires hope for mediocre programs! – because it simply isn’t true … not unless those mediocre programs have Sonny Dykes as their head coach. And they do not. Having toppled Michigan and Jim Harbaugh – never trailing at any point in the game – Dykes moves onto the biggest stage of collegiate football to take a shot against Georgia. It was stunning to see TCU outmuscle a bigger, stronger Michigan side … which they did … and we shouldn’t count them out on Monday, even as a heavy underdog.
LOSER: Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh. He’s 1-6 in postseason games – including six straight defeats – as Michigan’s HC. Harbaugh didn’t have the Wolverines ready to play and made some goofy decisions including the pathetic and botched “Philly Special” trick play on a 4th and 2 on Michigan’s opening drive.
Michigan had two passes intercepted and returned for touchdowns and scored only three total points when having the ball inside TCU’s five–yard line on three occasions.
It was a bad look for the overconfident Wolverines to get overpowered by TCU on the ground. To their credit, Harbaugh’s team Wolverines battled – but then again, what were they supposed to do, quit?
Harbaugh was thoroughly outcoached by Sonny Dykes. In his two straight appearances in the football playoffs, Harbaugh’s Michiganders were bullied for an average of 42.5 points, 525 yards and three turnovers per game.
Harbaugh may be heading back to the NFL.
WINNER: Tulane. Quarterback Michael Pratt didn’t back down in a duel with USC’s Heisman Trophy winning quarterback, Caleb Williams, in the Cotton Bowl. Pratt made several big plays in the final minutes as the Green Wave stunned USC with the winning TD pass on the final play to run off with a 46-45 victory. The Green Wave won after trailing by 15 points with 4:10 left to play.
In 2021, Tulane tumbled to 2-10 in a rebuilding season. But in 2022 the Green Wave came back to go 12-2, capture the American Athletic Conference title, and post a remarkable comeback win over a top-10 USC team. Tulane hadn’t played in the equivalent of a “New Year’s Six” game since 1939.
What a magical day for New Orleans-based Tulane.
Oh, yeah, there’s this: Willie Fritz is a helluva coach. Hopefully this will get him the recognition he deserves.
LOSER: USC head coach Lincoln Riley. Let us be blunt: Coach, you gotta go buy a defense that can make stops during the 2023 season. And you have to start caring about defense and understanding the importance of having a defense that can support your high-flying offenses.
What a travesty, losing to Tulane on a day when your quarterback (Caleb Williams) passed for 462 yards and five touchdowns.
I don’t know if any CFB coach has ever squandered as much elite quarterback talent as Riley. As the coach of Oklahoma and USC, Riley is now 0-3 in postseason games with a Heisman-winning QB running the offense. He’s 1-4 in a postseason bowl or playoff games, and the one victory came against Florida in the Cotton Bowl to cap the 2020 season. But even then, Oklahoma faced a Gators team that competed without 17 players who either opted out or missed the game for other reasons including injury.
In three college football playoff appearances as coach of the Sooners, Riley went 0-3 with his defense plundered for an average of 53.3 points per game. That’s absurd, but nothing has changed.
This season Williams passed for 4,537 and a USC-record 42 touchdowns – and rushed for 382 yards and 10 touchdowns. But the Trojans’ porous defense ruined USC’s chance to secure a Pac 12 championship, a selection to the CFB playoff, and a win in the prestigious Cotton Bowl.
In the final eight games of the 2022 season the USC defense was overrun for an average of 37.1 points per contest and gave up 43 or more points four times.
Facing Tulane, USC couldn’t put the game away despite its offense piling up 594 yards and 45 points. USC’s defense allowed 32 second-half points and failed to make stops on two huge fourth-down plays on Tulane’s game-winning touchdown march. For the day, Tulane’s offense averaged an astonishing 10.4 yards per play from scrimmage.
Since becoming a head coach at Oklahoma in 2017, Riley has lost six times after his teams opened a lead of 14 points or more – the most in the FBS over that time.
WINNER: Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark has reason to celebrate. TCU became the first Big 12 team to win a playoff or BCS game other than Oklahoma or Texas. And Oklahoma and Texas – both overrated and living on the past – are leaving for the SEC. With the sudden rise of TCU, the Big 12 is pumped up with credibility and will receive more respect.
WINNER: Georgia Bulldogs. The Peach Bowl was a doozy. The defending national champs had to sweat it out during a grand battle royale with Ohio State that lasted until midnight Atlanta time. But the Dawgs defense put its teeth into the fourth quarter, holding Ohio State to three points to make the win possible. And with the season on the line, the irrepressible Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett had a sensational fourth quarter, going 10 for 12 with two touchdowns including the perfect touchdown strike to cap the winning drive. The Dawgs are 28-1 over the last two seasons and 32-1 in their last 33 games. Good gracious …
WINNER: Georgia coach Kirby Smart. He’s rightfully being hailed for his alert decision to call a fourth-quarter timeout when he correctly detected an odd Ohio State formation that was set to run a fake punt. With 8:58 remaining, Smart raced to the official to call a timeout that terminated Ohio State’s surprise play. The Buckeyes led 38-27 at the time, and a successful fake punt could have eaten more time off the clock, set up another score, and put the Dawgs on the edge of defeat. That said, Ohio State appeared to have 12 men on the field – so the fake punt could have been wiped out by penalty. But Smart didn’t know that at the time, and there was no guarantee that the officials (including the review booth) would have caught the too-many-men infraction.
LOSER: Clemson coach Dabo Swinney. After controlling the ball and living in Tennessee’s back yard for much of the game, Clemson somehow lost the Orange Bowl 31-14 to the Vols and backup quarterback Joe Milton. Despite playing in the chronically weak ACC, Clemson has failed to make the playoffs for two consecutive seasons, losing six of 27 games. Going back to the 2019 national championship game against LSU, the Tigers are 1-5 vs. SEC teams and Ohio State. The stubborn and sanctimonious Swinney has to take a hard look at his coaching staff and his own outdated policy of refusing to take in transfers.
WINNER: Coach Josh Heupel and Tennessee. The win over Clemson gave Heupel an 11-2 season despite losing Heisman-contending quarterback Hendon Hooker to a season-ending knee injury on Nov. 19. Heupel has won 18 games in his two seasons at Tennessee; before he got there the Volunteers had won just 20 games over a four-season stretch. This season Tennessee won 11 games in a season for the first time since 2001.
LOSER: Ohio State coach Ryan Day. He’s 45-6 as the leader of the Buckeyes … but has a problem in big games. There was a 45-23 loss to Clemson in the 2020 season national playoffs … losses to Michigan by 15 points in 2021 and by 22 points this season. And on Saturday, despite playing a superb game on offense, the Buckeyes couldn’t close Georgia out after twice leading this game by 14 points. Ohio State carried a two-touchdown lead into the fourth quarter, only to get outscored 18-3 down the stretch.
After Bennett’s touchdown pass and ensuing extra point gave GA a one-point lead, the Buckeyes had the ball and plenty of time to come back and win. But Day turned conservative, playing it safe in his plan to kick a field goal to secure the win. That would be fine as long as the Buckeyes could set up a high-probability field goal attempt. But that didn’t happen; Ohio State’s season came down to a 50-yard try that went way wide. With the game on the line, Day turned overly cautious and that cost his team a win.
WINNER: Mississippi State. In a game dedicated to late head coach Mike Leach, quarterback Will Rogers gutted it out in an emotionally challenging day to win one for the Pirate. Mississippi State had to fight hard and overcome an Illinois lead to score a 19-10 victory. It was uplifting to see the Bulldogs have reasons to smile, savor joy and feel deep satisfaction by honoring their fallen leader with a triumph that hopefully eased their anguish.
WINNER: Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud. I didn’t believe he’d be capable of slaying the Georgia defense; we’ve seen Stroud turn small in big games. But he played a great game against the best defense in the land, completing 23 of 34 passes for 348 yards and four touchdowns. By engineering an offense that scored 41 points on Georgia, Stroud did more than enough to win this game for Ohio State. The NFL scouts had to love what they saw from Stroud in this one. He was brilliant.
WINNER: Alabama and coach Nick Saban. When Alabama slips, even by just a little, the haters come out of the background shade to declare the beginning of the end of Crimson Tide football as we know it … because King Saban is fading.
Idiots. I laugh at this nonsense every time, and it amuses me to no end to see the big mouths turn silent again. This season was uncharacteristically sloppy, but Bama’s two losses came by a field goal in the final seconds.
After clobbering Kansas State 45-20 in the Sugar Bowl, the Crimson Tide finished 11-2. Quarterback Bryce concluded an exceptional collegiate career in style, throwing for 321 yards and five touchdowns on only 21 passing attempts.
With the victory over K-State, Saban’s team has now won at least 11 games for 15 CONSECUTIVE SEASONS. Saban has a .878 winning percentage at Alabama – and is 187-21 (.899) since the start of his second season (2008) in Tuscaloosa. Alabama has competed in six of the last eight national championships, winning three more to give him seven for his career. (Six at ‘Bama, one at LSU.) He’s 103-10 with three national titles since the start of the 2015 season.
Saban recently completed the nation’s No. recruiting class for 2023. But he’s worn out and staggering, right? For the love of Mike Shula, how does Saban keep his job? (I can’t help myself. I love sarcasm.)
LOSER: Kentucky and coach Mark Stoops. Only 185 yards of offense in a 21-0 loss to Iowa in the Music City Bowl? How embarrassing. And I don’t care that QB Will Levis opted out of the game. He’s overrated, anyway. The Wildcats finished 7–6 in a season of slowed momentum.
LOSER: Big Ten Conference. I’m sorry but when both of your teams get knocked out of the national semifinals within hours of each other, it’s a bad day … even if Michigan and Ohio State lost by a combined seven points. The Wolverines and Buckeyes each flubbed excellent opportunities to win, leaving B1G with a 1-7 record in college football playoff games since 2015.
WINNER, Penn State: The Nittany Lions salvaged some Big Ten pride with a dominant 35-21 win over Utah in the Rose Bowl. QB Sean Clifford and running back Nicholas Singleton were outstanding, and Penn State outgaining Utah by nearly 150 yards. After going 11-11 over the previous two seasons, coach James Franklin got Penn State back on track with a 10-2 mark.
WINNER: Washington, which beat Texas 27-20 in the Alamo Bowl. Let’s hear it for Washington coach Kalen DeBoer, who lifted the Huskies to an impressive 11-2 record in his first season. That’s a seven-win improvement from last season. DeBoer got the most out of transfer QB Michael Penix, who emerged as one of the nation’s most prolific passers in 2022. Washington was one of the most improved teams in the nation – and with Penix back in 2023 the Huskies should contend for the Pac 12 title.
LOSER: Texas and coach Steve Sarkisian. The wheels on the mediocre bus go round and round. Under Sarkisian, the Longhorns are 13-12 in two seasons. Before the Alamo Bowl he was caught in the tunnel on video screaming vile obscenities at an off-field official who was in charge of sending the Longhorns out to take the field as scheduled. Imagine what Texas could do with Sonny Dykes as head coach. But as usual the Longhorns can’t get it right with coaching hires. In three head-coaching jobs at three prominent Power 5 programs – Washington, USC and Texas – Sarkisian is 59-47 for a .557 winning percentage. He’s never lost fewer than four games in a full season.
WINNER: LSU coach Brian Kelly. With his team smacking Purdue around for a 63-7 rout in the Citrus Bowl, the Notre Dame expatriate finished his first season on the Bayou with a 10-4 record that included the SEC West title. There were a few disappointments along the way – especially a horrible loss to Texas A&M – but Kelly clearly exceeded expectations. LSU’s win over Alabama knocked the Crimson Tide out of playoff contention and gave Kelly his first signature victory in the SEC.
It became a sport down south to ridicule the northerner coach when he took command of the Tigers, with the lazy “terrible cultural fit” narrative taking hold. Wrong. LSU went 11-12 over its two previous seasons. Kelly got 10 wins in his first season, has reeled in an impressive recruiting class for 2023, and is way ahead of the schedule in the quest to make LSU great again.
WINNER: Air Force. The Falcons doubled up Baylor with a 30-15 triumph in the Armed Forces Bowl. Air Force out-rushed Baylor 276-42 while posting another double-digit victory total – which makes it three in a row excluding the pandemic-shortened 2020. Coach Troy Calhoun has an exceptional .608 winning percentage in his 16 seasons at Air Force. That includes a .755 win percentage over the last four seasons.
LOSER: Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin. The Rebels opened the season with seven straight wins, rising to No. 7 in the AP Top 25 poll. But in a collapse that hasn’t gotten as much attention as it should have, Ole Miss went 1-5 in its final six games including a 42-25 drubbing by Texas Tech in the Texas Bowl. Mississippi committed five turnovers to set up Texas Tech for an easy win.
WINNER: New Mexico State coach Jerry Kill. The former Southern Illinois coach did a heck of a job in his first year at NMSU. After a 1-5 start the Aggies won six of their final seven including a 24-19 victory over Bowling Green in Quick Lane Bowl. It was only the second bowl-game win for NMSU since 1960. Kill took over a program that had won only eight games (combined) over the previous four seasons. But the highly respected Kill turned the Aggies around immediately with a 7-6 season in 2022.
WINNER: Oregon State and coach Jonathan Smith. The Beavers completed a 10-3 season with a 30-3 drubbing of SEC representative Florida in the Las Vegas Bowl. Oregon State hadn’t won 10 games in a season since 2006. Smith had a massive rebuild on his hands when taking over the Oregon State program in 2018, and he needed time to get things moving in a better direction. It’s happened, with the Beavers going 17-9 over the last two seasons. Clemson transfer quarterback DJ Uiagalelei will join the program for the 2023 season.
LOSER: Oklahoma State and coach Mike Gundy. A 24-17 loss to Wisconsin in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl was the final defeat in a 1-5 free-fall that ruined a 5-0 start to a season that had them ranked No. 7 in the AP poll in the second week in October. Final record: 7-6.
WINNER: Florida State. A 35-32 victory over Oklahoma in the Cheez-It Bowl gave the Seminoles their first 10-win season since 2016. Coach Mike Norvell’s squad closed the 2022 season with a flourish, winning its last six games. It took awhile, but Norvell has Florida State on the move.
WINNER: Fresno State. Nine straight wins after a 1-4 start, culminating with a win over Boise State in the Mountain West title game, and a 29-6 whupping of Washington State 29-6 in the LA Bowl. Fresno State became the first team in FBS history to notch a 10-win season after losing four of its first five games.
WINNER: Duke. Yes, Duke. The Blue Devils didn’t win a single ACC game in 2021, but swiftly improved to 9-4 overall and 5-3 in league play in 2022. The comeback season was capped by a 30-13 demolition of UCF in the Military Bowl. It was Duke’s first win in a bowl game since the 2018 season. Head coach Mike Elko had a superb season in his first year at Duke, and he’ll soon be a target for larger programs that will be looking for a new coach. The 5-3 mark in ACC play is a big deal when we consider that previous coach David Cutliffe had a 1-17 conference record during his final two seasons.
LOSER: UCLA. The Bruins yakked up a 14-point lead in a 37-35 loss to Pittsburgh. UCLA quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson gave the Panthers three interceptions to make the comeback possible. UCLA hasn’t won a bowl game since the 2014 season. And Bruins coach Chip Kelly has led his team to only one bowl appearance in five seasons. Good luck in the Big Ten.
Thanks for reading …
–Bernie
Bernie invites you to listen to his opinionated and analytical sports-talk show on 590 The Fan, KFNS-AM. It airs Monday through Thursday from 3-6 p.m. and Friday from 4-6 p.m. You can listen by streaming online or by downloading the show podcast at 590thefan.com or the 590 app.
Follow Bernie on Twitter @miklasz
The post Bernie: The Winners and Losers Of a Wild College Football Bowl Season. appeared first on Scoops.
The pressure is on Mizzou football at homecoming this weekend against Vanderbilt. Is Drinkwitz on the hotseat if they don’t win this one? We talk it over with Ben Frederickson. We also get into the playoff format for MLB. Is the first-round bye a blessing or a curse? If you’re the Dodgers and Braves, what could you have done differently to avoid the rust? We look at the 2006 Cardinals team as an example. Albert Pujols will receive the Stan Musial Lifetime Achievement award this year for the Missouri Sports Commission. We talk about this very special award and the culmination of this past year. Thoughts on Kroenke’s big check to St. Louis and NFL owner drama too. Listen here:
The post Ben Fred Friday – October 21, 2022 appeared first on Scoops.
What does it means that Jordan walker is the “priority player” in the Arizona Fall League? A look at Connor Thomas (the Cardinals AFL starter), Pedro Pages’ future, Mike Antico’s role with the Salt River Rafters and more with Brian Walton of thecardinalnation.com. We also talk about Pujols’ incredible season, the Cardinals players headed to […]
The post Wednesday with Walton – October 5, 2022 appeared first on Scoops with Danny Mac.
Georgia 33, Alabama 18. Here’s a sack of takeout opinions — no waiting, served warm: 1) It was a herculean victory for Georgia, which won the program’s first national football championship since the 1980 season. The Bulldogs got it done by answering all of the questions that were sharpened and pointed at the Dawgs since […]
The post Bernie: Georgia Beats Alabama And Wins The National Championship As The SEC’s Domination Continues. appeared first on Scoops with Danny Mac.
BERNIE BITS Great news for retired Missouri football coach Gary Pinkel, who will be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame class of 2022. The honor is well deserved and serves an important purpose: to remind MU fans of Pinkel’s historically prominent impact on Mizzou football. Pinkel retired after the 2015 season to fight […]
The post Bernie Bits: Congrats To Gary Pinkel, Hall of Famer. Plus Many Notes At The Start Of The Weekend. appeared first on Scoops with Danny Mac.
In a shocking development, the SEC will have a team in the national college football championship. Wait. Correction: make that two teams, Alabama and Georgia. They’ll have a rematch of the SEC title game next Monday night in Indianapolis. Bama won the first showdown, 41-17. That was an upset, and a convincing beatdown by Alabama. […]
The post Bernie: The College Football Playoff Is Boring And Disappointing, But Don’t Hate On The SEC. appeared first on Scoops with Danny Mac.
On New Year’s Eve, the parties can wait. Thanks for not inviting me, because I’d be rude and antisocial and decline. Because the only thing that matters to me is Alabama vs. Cincinnati, followed by Michigan vs. Georgia. The College Football Playoff is worthy of a party hat – and, depending on how my investments […]
The post Bernie on College Football: The Playoffs are The Best Way to Ring in the New Year appeared first on Scoops with Danny Mac.
It’s exciting to see Missouri show up with some of the big boys in college football recruiting for 2022. When you’re looking for reasons to believe in coach Eli Drinkwitz and the future of the MU program, the recruiting inspires hope and raises the collective confidence level. It isn’t everything … but it means a […]
The post Mizzou Coach Eli Drinkwitz Is A Recruiting Maniac. That’s The Only Way To Build A Winner In The SEC. appeared first on Scoops with Danny Mac.
BERNIE BITS After the lockout and a new collective bargaining agreement, the MLB teams and the player agents will resume their pairing ritual. The available athletes will find homes. The teams will find solutions – maybe. Fans and the media hot take industrial complex will sound off after every signing, declaring that the team (A) […]
The post Bernie Bits: The Cardinals, Joe Kelly, Jayson Tatum, Jameson Williams, Dick Allen, Belichick + More appeared first on Scoops with Danny Mac.
BERNIE BITS 1) Is Mizzou still an SEC team? Of course. But the stature of the MU program inside the conference was revealed Sunday during the posting of the conference’s bowl-game lineup. With a conference-record 13 SEC teams qualifying for a bowl game, Mizzou became the only SEC representative scratched from an SEC-affiliated bowl. Two […]
The post Bernie Bits: It’s Greg Sankey’s and The SEC’s World. Same As Always. appeared first on Scoops with Danny Mac.
BERNIE BITS: THE SUPER-SIZED EDITION! Mizzou coach Eli Drinkwitz can recruit, he can talk, he can sell, he’s properly ambitious, and he’s highly capable of spinning the media. As Mizzou winds down its second season under new leadership, I have only one question: can Drink coach? I’m mostly talking about game days. As the season […]
The post Bernie Bits: CFB Coaching Craziness, Mizzou, Drinkwitz, Cardinals, Blues, Free Agency + Much More appeared first on Scoops with Danny Mac.
BERNIE BITS Good afternoon. How are ya? 1) The Blues are 2-5-1 in their last eight games. And if you want to roll it back to Oct. 28, they’ve gone 4-6-2. Vegas is in town for Monday night’s game, and so it’s welcome back to Alex Pietrangelo in front of a packed-house audience — as […]
The post Bernie Bits: Blues Need To Get Rolling + Jayson Tatum, Eli Drinkwitz, Steve Spagnuolo, And A Name From The Past. appeared first on Scoops with Danny Mac.
My favorite seasonal TV show returned on Tuesday night for another limited run. No, not one of those sappy holiday movies that flood the Hallmark Channel with their happy, warm, nice-looking people that find their way to true love and a very Merry Christmas while standing under fake flakes of snow on a film set […]
The post Bernie: What’s A Holiday Season Without Arguments? The College Football Playoff Ranking Show Is Back! appeared first on Scoops with Danny Mac.
A year ago today was, what Ben Frederickson says, the weirdest game he’s ever covered. We look back at this past year trying to pair sports and a pandemic. What issues have held over to this season? Pitching schedules, safety precautions, Miles Mikolas and more. Ben talks about who has surprised him in camp thus […]
The post Ben Fred Friday – March 12, 2021 appeared first on Scoops with Danny Mac.
Ben Frederickson is with us from Jupiter FL where he’s seeing some interesting storylines develop. In his opinion, the competition for the outfield is still more undefined than the Cardinals let on. He wants to see more from Lane Thomas and the younger guys. Also, the woes of C Mart continue. His start last night […]
The post Ben Fred Friday – March 5, 2021 appeared first on Scoops with Danny Mac.
Nick Saban didn’t need a victory to validate his place as the greatest head coach in college football history. But if anyone out there had doubts — and I don’t know why they would — Alabama’s 52-24 demolition of Ohio State in Monday’s championship reaffirmed Saban’s unofficial No. 1 all-time ranking. I have to agree […]
The post Bernie: Nick Saban Is The Greatest Coach In College Football History. Case Closed. appeared first on Scoops with Danny Mac.
RANDOM RANT! According to Yahoo Sports’ Pete Thamel, the Big Ten conference will take the scissors to its impractical (read: asinine) six-game minimum policy to assure a spot in the conference championship game for B1G behemoth Ohio State. The Buckeyes, ranked No. 4 nationally, were facing a freeze-out. But if the vote of conference athletic […]
The post Bernie: Even The Covid Can’t Stop College Football From Following The Money appeared first on Scoops with Danny Mac.