No. 9 Mizzou football prepares for first road test of the season, following the bye
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
What a way to kickoff the SEC road slate, right?
The No. 9 Mizzou football team will hit the road for the first time this 2024 season to play in front of more than 102,000 fans at Kyle Field in College Station, Texas. Tiger coach Eli Drinkwitz noted that, with 46 new players on the roster, it will be the first time a lot of these guys have ever traveled together.
You can watch extended highlights from Mizzou's Tuesday practice in the video player below.
He's telling his team to focus on the things that they can control, but also knows that the environment and crowd, known as the 12th man, will be something his team will have to adjust to.
"It's gonna be hot. It's supposed to be 92 degrees on Saturday, which will be the hottest game we've playing all year, which is, again, October...holy cow, but. Then, you know, you're gonna have to combine that 105,000 people who, you know, are joined forces and trying to, you know, create distractions for your team," Drinkwitz said. "Communication is gonna be at a premium. You know, you watch back the Alabama/A&M game last year, I mean, it's first and second down and their center and quarterback are having trouble on exchanges."
You can watch the full press conference with Coach Drinkwitz in the video player below.
When asked about the environment during Tuesday's weekly press conferences, players said that if they got out and execute, they will be able to quiet that crowd down.
In addition to a lively crowd, Mizzou will have to contend with, yet another, mobile quarterback on Saturday. Although the Aggies have sophomore Conner Weigman listed as the starter, Drinkwitz said he thinks that's just semantics, at this point. He fully expects to meet true freshman quarterback Marcel Reed on Saturday, who's 3-0 in his starts for A&M.
"They clearly have a different offensive identity with this guy as the quarterback and they've developed an offense that fits around his system. It's a lot different than the first game of the year," Drinkwitz said. "If they go with the other one, they go with the other one, but they've kind of already built the offense towards Marcel."
Defensive end Johnny Walker Jr. said, at this point, his defense is getting used to facing pretty mobile quarterbacks, as Saturday's game will mark the third-straight matchup with a runner.
"I think [Marcel Reed] is a very agile runner," Walker Jr. said. "He doesn't run as often as the last guys did, but we're gonna have to limit him."
You can watch the full press conference with Walker Jr. in the video player below.
Offensively, Coach Drinkwitz said the focus of the bye week was third downs and efficiency in the red zone.
The Tigers are in a four-way tie for 10th in the nation in red zone offense, as Mizzou has scored a touchdown on 13 of the unit's 20 trips to the red area in 2024. However, quarterback Brady Cook said simply: they have to score even more touchdowns. They can't be settling for field goals, once they get deeper in conference action.
"If you look at the numbers...maybe 3/10 in like the last two or three games in the red zone scoring touchdowns. It's hard to win games like that. Luckily, we did," Cook said. "You know, we've practiced it last Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday a ton. Red zone plays, red zone versus the defense, a red zone lockout period where it's basically offense versus defense for three or four rounds, just in the red zone. So, we've repped it a ton. I think we're feeling a lot more confident."
You can watch the full press conference with Cook in the video player below.
Cook emphasized that the team's energy and mindset, following the bye week, is really strong, as players got a break from the grind to be 'normal' for a weekend.
"It was fun just watching college football and seeing the excitement from it," wide receiver Theo Wease Jr. said.
You can watch the full press conference with Wease Jr. in the video player below.
Coach Drinkwitz said there were lots of advantages to having a bye week just four weeks into the season. He said he and his staff got to analyze what the glaring weaknesses that they needed to sure up are, what their strengths are and maybe what strengths surprised them.
The opportunity to also get healthy was big for Mizzou, following week four. Coach Drink said, so far, he expects all of his players to be ready to roll, other than wide receiver Marquis Johnson.
Mizzou and Texas A&M will kickoff against Texas A&M at 11 a.m. at Kyle Field. The game will air on KMIZ.
