Mizzou football prepares for Buffalo, as the Tigers jump to No. 9 in AP Top-25
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
After a week one routing of Murray State, the Mizzou football team jumped up to No. 9 in the AP Top-25, on Tuesday. However, the MU's minds are set on preparing for game two against the Buffalo Bulls.
You can watch extended highlights of Tuesday's practice in the video player below.
Head coach Eli Drinkwitz said his Tigers will play a team that is led by some of the great program builders and re-builders in college football: head coach Pete Lembo.
"He does just an excellent job of building culture, evaluating talent and getting the most out of his players," he said.
You can watch the full press conference with Coach Drink in the video player below.
The Tigers will see a familiar face on the Buffalo sideline on Saturday. Quarterback C.J. Ogbonna played at Faurot Field in 2021 when he was at Southeast Missouri State University. Although the Redhawks lost that game by 31 points, Ogbonna still managed to do some damage, as his team put up 28 points on the Tigers. In that outing, the quarterback was the leading rusher for SEMO, running for 99 yards, while going 7/14 through the air for 53 yards.
Drinkwitz said containing him on the ground will be one of the keys to the game.
Coming out of week one, the Mizzou defense is ranked No. 1 in the nation. In the debut of first-year defensive coordinator Corey Batoon, MU was the only team in the nation to allow less than 100 yards in week one. The Tigers also only allowed Murray State about two yards per play.
Tiger cornerback Toriano Pride Jr. said stopping the quarterback is one of the biggest keys to the game for week two, in addition to stopping the run and not letting Buffalo throw the easy-access throws.
During Tuesday's weekly press conference, Pride Jr., a transfer from Clemson, was asked about one of the plays of the night in his debut as a Tiger: a pick-six in the first quarter. Pride Jr. showed some athleticism, as leaped up to steal that one away from the Murray State wide receiver. He said MU's receivers prepared him for a moment like that.
"I'm going against Luther [Burden], Theo [Wease Jr.] and all the other receivers. I have no choice but to play fast," he said. "I'm 100 percent positive I'm not playing nobody on our schedule better than our receiver corps...Really just practice, going against the best, giving it all so I can make those types of plays."
You can watch the full press conference with Pride Jr. in the video player below.
When Mizzou kicks off against the Bulls, there are some specific areas that Coach Drinkwitz wants to see improvement in. He said more consistency in the passing game and on third downs is needed to go far in this league. The Tigers will attack that in practice this week.
"It starts with fundamentals. Route depth, timing, the quarterback setting his feet when he makes throws, you know not drifting when he throws the ball to get ready to go do a celebration. Finish the throw, have your feet set in the pocket," Drinkwitz said. "Wide receivers got to run their routes at the correct depths. They got to explode out of them. Quarterback's got to make the throws...It's just back to the basics of execution and kind of pushing the limits in practice. Don't practice just to practice, practice to improve."
Veteran wide receiver Mookie Cooper said he knows the offense can get better and that's exactly what they are going to do in the Buffalo game. It helps that this wide receiver corps, comprised of Burden, Wease Jr. Cooper, Mekhi Miller and others, is now entering year two as a unit. The chemistry they have built can't be matched.
"I think the biggest thing is that we're able to communicate better with each other with things that we're seeing on the field and things we need to get better at," Cooper said. "We all take coaching well from each other, so I feel like that's been the biggest improvement from year one to year two."
You can watch the full press conference with Cooper, as well as center Connor Tollison in the video players below.
Up next - No. 9 Mizzou will look to improve to 2-0 in 2024 with a matchup against Buffalo. The Tigers and the Bulls will kickoff at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 7.
