Competition gets stiffer: No. 19 Mizzou set for SEC opener against No. 24 Mississippi State

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

No. 19 Mizzou football will begin its nine-game SEC journey, this week.

On Saturday, the Tigers will make the trip to Davis Wade Stadium for a night-game against No. 24 Mississippi State. And, in that game, head coach Eli Drinkwitz and company will be present for a world record attempt, as Bulldog Athletics is trying to set the record for the most cowbells ringing simultaneously during Saturday's game.

"Just like every other game, walking into a hostile environment," linebacker Nicholas Rodriguez said. "I mean, we have loudspeakers behind us at practice, we people walking around with cow bells, ringing in our ears. I mean, the whole staff is really helping with that, and it's really just a great opportunity to go in there and and, you know, just have fun with the game."

You can watch the full press conference with Rodriguez in the video player below.

In addition to the noise, Mizzou will also have to contend with one of the best quarterbacks in the Southeastern Conference, so far. Through three games, sophomore Kamario Taylor ranks second in the conference with an average of about 277 passing yards per game and also leads the league with 11 touchdown throws on the season.

Head coach Eli Drinkwitz said he's the kind of dual-threat quarterback that can put a strain on his entire defense, from the line to the secondary.

"I mean, defense is all about 11 guys acting as one and the dilemma is if you try to add extra people to the rush, you're leaving your secondary exposed in one-on-one coverage, which with those guys is a tremendous challenge because of the speed that those wide receivers possess and the route running ability," Drinkwitz said. "If you play deep, then they can hand the ball off to [Fluff Bothwell] and really turn up the yardage, and the quarterback can sit there. I think one of the most impressive thing about [Kamario's] game is when he's scrambling, he has his eyes up. You know, the touchdown to Marquis Johnson was really a force scramble slide to the left, eyes downfield which is really tough on a quarterback. But he's seeing it really well, so I think all of everybody's got stressed this week."

You can watch the full press conference with Coach Eli in the video player below.

After Coach Drinkwitz took a look back at the tape from the narrow win against Troy, he said he was thoroughly impressed with how the special teams unit looked, especially returner DaMarion Fowlkes. He added that the defense forcing two takeaways for the second week in a row was huge for his team, but that unit will need to work on limiting explosive plays, which Troy gashed them on in their two big touchdowns.

The leader of the Tigers was asked about the coaching points that he took away from watching the Trojans' 76-yard and 55-yard touchdowns in Saturday's game.

"There's two big plays that occur. We have a leverage issue on play number two, we have a free safety that's got to tackle the ball, we have a man-to-man defender who tries to strike the ball instead of getting it on the ground. So, you know that one is one you can take off the tape or hopefully take off the tape. We're going to get put in wide stacks again, that's what Mississippi State's offense does and RPO it, so we'll have that challenge again and figure out if we fixed it. The second one was we got to get our head around and we got to be in a better call. You know, it wasn't like they were...I think we had seven PPU's the game, we were playing deny the ball coverage and thought we did pretty good at it. We just had two plays that went for touchdowns. You know, you got to get those on the ground. That's why we got to be in a better call, if we want to be in man there. We need to be in two man or we have to be in a deeper free safety ability so he can make sure that tackle gets to the ground."

"Just be on the same page communication-wise and everything will be fine," cornerback Chris Graves Jr. said, when asked about limiting those explosives against a team like Mississippi State.

You can watch the full press conference with Graves Jr. in the video player below.

As the secondary looks to bounce back from a performance where they let a couple of big plays go, Mizzou quarterback Austin Simmons is looking to get his big-play ability back. After averaged 272 yards per game through the first two outings, Simmons threw for his lowest numbers of the season against the Trojans, completing 52.6 percent of his passes for 91 yards and one touchdown.

Coach Drinkwitz said, from his assessment watching the tape, that the offense's timing was just off. He didn't see any pocket issues that would be cause for concern with Simmons, but instead felt like the quarterback got the ball out too quickly and the receivers just weren't open yet. At the end of the day, Drink emphasized it's all a part of the learning process.

For Simmons, he said he is not dwelling or looking back at his Week 3 performance, but instead turning the page to a matchup against a tough Bulldog team.

"Just taking what they give us," Simmons said, when asked what his top priority is to fix from the game against Troy. "Honestly, that's pretty much been the whole quote for this week. Just take what they give us and just keep on going."

You can watch the full press conference with Simmons in the video player below.

One of the biggest bright spots from that 27-17 win over the Trojans was the reemergence of Mizzou's run game. That unit, by far, had its most efficient outing of the season in Week 3, as running back Jamal Roberts was the bell cow. He totted the ball 22 times for 128 yards and one touchdown, making a massive impact for an offense that was trying to find its rhytym.

The run game has been an area that Coach Drink has repeatedly said he's looking for more consistency in. Now, it's all about how you take Saturday's performance against Troy and make it a regular occurence.

"All that stuff is to be determined this week and see. This is a different animal this week, it's a totally different challenge. You know, we're going to have to have more rotation at the running back position. We're going to have to be more consistent, not creating negative yardage plays with our other running backs," he said. "I think one of the things that Jamal does really well is very few tackles for loss, because he understands, you know, if the outside zone is getting widened, you got to stick your foot in the ground and make it a zero yardage play instead of it being a minus three or a minus eight. And that's something that young backs just take a little time to learn. But, we got to get that rotation going. And, for me, the biggest thing in running the ball is you cannot have negative yardage plays. You can't put the team behind the chains, anything second and long is a is a bad deal for us."

"I mean, I think this past week we watched a lot more tape together. So, we were a lot more on the same page and then, yeah, like I said, just week-to-week we just improvement every week," left tackle Cayden Green said, when asked about what led to more success in the run game from an offensive line perspective.

You can watch the full press conference with Green in the video player below.

Although Mizzou takes no opponent lightly, there will definitely be a stark contrast in the level of competition they will face in this Week 4 game against the No. 24 Bulldogs.

"From here on now we're playing NFL guys every week, so I definitely think that's the biggest difference [in SEC play]," Green said.

Up next - No. 19 Mizzou will make the trip to Starkville for action against No. 24 Mississippi State on Saturday at 6:45 pm CT.