WEB EXTRA: SEC Network’s Dari Nowkhah previews Mizzou’s Top-25 clash at Kyle Field
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The No. 9 Mizzou football team will step into the national spotlight, once again, for a Top-25 matchup at Kyle Field, on Saturday. The Tigers will hit the road for the first time in 2024 to meet the No. 25 Texas A&M Aggies, in one of the toughest places to play in the country.
SEC Network main anchor Dari Nowkhah sat down with ABC 17 Sports Director Nathalie Jones to preview the matchup, which will air on KMIZ.
Nowkhah said he will be able to tell you a lot more about where the Tigers stand in the SEC after Saturday's clash.
"I feel like we haven't seen them at their best, yet, and that's obviously on offense where that's the case. They'll have to put up almost a perfect game to go down to Kyle Field and win on Saturday because it's just such an incredible challenge against a really good defense...For right now, I would put them as one of those teams that I just can't figure out. They haven't been as good as I expected them to, but I also think that their problems are fixable," he said.
You can watch the full sit-down with Nowkhah in the video player below.
The Tigers, themselves, pinpointed a few areas they wanted to improve during the recent bye week. Head coach Eli Drinkwitz put third downs and red zone efficiency at the top of the list for his offense.
Quarterback Brady Cook has been efficient, overall, as he's completed 68 percent of his passes this season. He's thrown for 946 yards and four touchdowns, but something Nowkhah said has been missing is the deep ball. The longest throws Cook has had all season were a couple of 49-yarders to Mookie Cooper and Luther Burden in the opener against Murray State.
"It's funny, we had Brady Cook on Sirius XM on Wednesday and he's like, 'yeah, I mean it's true. I keep hearing that and it's true,'" Nowkhah said. "But, that's one of those fixable things, whether it's just timing, whether it's the way they're getting off the line of scrimmage, whether it's guys that are kind of pressing them and throwing that off, whatever it is it's certainly, without a doubt, fixable."
Nowkhah added that he'd be willing to bet that Cook and the MU offense repped a lot of those explosive plays on the bye week.
Cook has plenty of targets to work with, too, between wide receivers Luther Burden, Theo Wease Jr. and Mookie Cooper and even star tight end Brett Norfleet. However, Burden is one that that Nowkhah said he would like to see get more touches.
"It's just about getting the ball in his hands, however you can do that. I think year one, it didn't happen enough. Last year, I thought it happened more. This year, I don't think it's happened enough. But the good thing is that the talent corps around Luther with Wease, with Cooper, with [Marquis] Johnson is certainly capable of carrying a football game if Luther doesn't get it enough," Nowkhah said.
Defensively, first-year defensive coordinator Corey Batoon will have his hands full with A&M quarterback Marcel Reed, who Nowkhah expects to get the start on Saturday.
The freshman QB is 3-0 in his starts for the Aggies. He's thrown for 585 yards, six touchdowns and no interceptions on 54 percent completion in 2024, however, he's also a real threat with his legs. Through the first five games, Reed has carried the ball 42 times, rushing for 230 yards and an average of about five yards per carry.
"I think every defense has problems with mobile quarterbacks. Just inherently, they create nightmares. They make the numbers go in the offense's favor, you get an extra blocker and all of that, but at the same time there's an unpredictability that defenses have to somehow deal with and that's tough," Nowkhah said. "I suspect Corey Batoon's been telling his guys to keep him in the pocket, make sure that we're protecting the edges, setting the edges and if they do that they've got a chance."
Nowkhah said, overall, in Batoon's first season in Columbia, he likes the defense he's put together. He noted that its a typical Mizzou defense, branded by toughness and chips on their shoulder.
Overall, the SEC Network anchor said that he loves what the matchup between the Aggies and the Tigers brings to college football this weekend: high stakes. The main point he'll be focusing in on, for Mizzou, is how well the offensive line blocks A&M's front.
"I want to see if Brady Cook is comfortable back there or if A&M is able to make him uncomfortable back there," he said. "If they are able to break through that offensive line, if they're able to chase Brady around a little bit, if they're able to shorten his time to throw the football, all of a sudden you get one extra mistake that Missouri can't afford. Two extra mistakes that they certainly can't afford. You get 108,000 people starting to get really, really loud really, really rowdy and the first road environment that Missouri's seen this season...I think there's opportunities for a snowball effect to go against Missouri. If the offensive line is able to hold off that defensive front, that front seven for A&M, and Brady's comfortable and they can run the football, I think Missouri certainly gives themselves a chance to win."
Win or lose, Nowkhah said this Top-25 clash will tell him a lot about the 2024 Tigers. He said it's a matchup that's critical to the trajectory of Drinkwitz and company's season.
"It's one of those games, I think if they lose and especially if they lose a second game down the road, you're gonna look at this and say that was an opportunity that got away from them. Who knows if they find themselves in the same conversation as Texas A&M for a playoff spot at the end of the year, so you don't want to give them that advantage," Nowkhah said. "Missouri has one of the easier schedules in this league...this is going to be a big test. I think that you need to pass this test to really leave no doubt, should you have a couple of losses at the end of the season, that you're worthy of a playoff. This is their best test to date...I think if they do it, if they go there and they win, all of a sudden I think the country looks at them a lot differently."
You can watch Mizzou's clash with Texas A&M on KMIZ on Saturday, Oct. 5 at 11 a.m.
