Missouri’s offense had arguably its best, most complete performance of 2022 in Saturday’s 23-10 victory over South Carolina. In order to contextualize Missouri’s stellar outing in the other Columbia, let’s compare them to one of my favorite sweet treats: frozen yogurt. 

Picture two cups of frozen yogurt. Let’s say that they both have a plain vanilla base. One cup is chock-full of different tasting toppings: chocolate chips, strawberries, gummy worms, Oreo pieces and caramel sauce fill the cup to the brim. It’s ridiculously fun; you have no idea what combination of toppings you’re going to end up with in a given scoop. The other cup contains a little bit of rainbow sprinkles…and that’s it. It’s simple, but it’s predictable. You have a pretty good idea of what you’re going to get in a given scoop.

Through seven games, Missouri’s offense flipped back and forth between the two frozen yogurt cups. In games against Louisiana Tech, Abilene Christian, Georgia and South Carolina, the Tigers looked like the first cup on offense; they were running a ton of different plays that got many different players involved, leaving defenses on their toes and keeping them uncertain of where the ball was going to go. Whether it was Luther Burden taking snaps out of the Wildcat or Tyler Stephens catching a touchdown off of a fake screen pass, the plays that Missouri was running in those games were diverse and unpredictable. Even in games like Auburn that weren’t as offensively potent, there were still plays that effectively created open opportunities for Missouri’s Uber-talented skill player.  

On the other hand, there have been plenty of games and stretches where Missouri’s offense has looked like the second cup of frozen yogurt, most notably against Kansas State. Especially considering the amount of talent Missouri has at the skill positions, performances like the one in little Manhattan have been extremely frustrating. Predictability has really hurt the Tigers, just as it would for any football offense at any level. We talked about in a previous NFL column how the Cincinnati Bengals were making it a lot easier on defenses earlier in the season because of their pre-snap predictability; when Joe Burrow lined up under center, it usually meant that the Bengals were going to run the ball. When Burrow lined up in shotgun, it usually meant that the Bengals were going to pass. 

Missouri had a similar problem, except they’ve been easy to read post-snap. Oftentimes, defenses have capitalized on Missouri making it too obvious where a skill position player is going on the field and/or where Cook is intending to throw the ball. Take this play against Florida, for example. The play was far too clearly designed for Burden; nothing else was done in order to get him open other than Burden simply trying to beat his man one-on-one. Although designed quick patterns are common and work frequently, it allows for a dropped defensive back to easily read the pass, which is exactly what Gator defensive back Jaydon Hill did here to pick off the throw and return it for six. 

Against South Carolina, Drinkwitz called a lot of plays where he had one or multiple players do one thing that opened up another player for an easy chunk gain. This is a common concept in basketball as well; oftentimes, a good basketball offense will have players run actions such as off-ball screens that cause the defense to move one way, then will put the ball in a spot where they moved the defense off of because of the initial action. If that was very confusing, I completely understand, so here’s a clip of what I’m talking about. Pay attention to everything the Knicks (wearing white) do on this possession to create an open opportunity at the basket. Cam Reddish (#0) clears to the right corner. Derrick Rose (#4) then clears to the left corner to leave the paint devoid of any defenders. Then, Obi Toppin (#1) goes to set an off-ball screen for Reddish, but since a) the paint is vacant and b) Paolo Banchero (#5 in blue) thinks that the ball is going to Reddish for a three-point attempt, Toppin fakes the screen and walks into an easy alley-oop slam, albeit a slightly off-target pass from Immanuel Quickley (#5). 

While it’s quite difficult to have that many things happen in a single football play, it’s still something that good football offenses do frequently. Missouri did that numerous times on Saturday, and they often did it out of play-action sets, which is already one of the least predictable types of sets in football (for a refresher on why it’s unpredictable, scroll to the Buccaneers section of this past NFL column). The best part is that they wasted little time in doing so. On their second drive of the game, Missouri clearly wanted to get Dominic Lovett (#7) the ball; instead of predictably putting Lovett on the outside and having him run an isolated route, Drinkwtiz called a play that got Lovett open purely based off of other players doing other things. On this play, it looks like Missouri is going to run the ball. Tyler Stephens (#80) motions into the backfield with two receivers on the left side and none on the right; this is screaming handoff to Cody Schrader (#20) to the left…right? Nope! Watch the entire South Carolina front seven fall for the run fake to the left, allowing for an easy pitch and catch between Cook and Lovett that results in a first down and more. 

Now, let’s look at another play that created an easy chunk gain. There are two things that happen that allow this play to work. One is the block thrown by Stephens (#80). I’d like to give kudos to the Missouri pass-catchers on Saturday for not just their contributions catching the ball, but their exceptional blocking. A lot of these plays can’t work if opposing defensive backs have free shots at ball carriers from the outside, and this one certainly couldn’t have worked if Stephens didn’t throw a textbook block on the South Carolina defender. The other part of this play involved Tauskie Dove (#1 at the top of the screen). Since Dove was on the side where the short pass was intending to be thrown, he needed to clear out of the area, or else the defensive back he was being guarded by would at least have a favorable shot at tackling Elijah Young (#4) that would prevent a big gain. Dove books it down the left sideline, taking the Gamecock defensive back with him and giving Young a ton of space to run. The move was similar to what DK Metcalf did last Sunday against the Giants, where he faked receiving a fade route in the end zone, taking the New York defensive back out of the play and clearing the way for a Kenneth Walker III touchdown run. 

Finally, take this play from the third quarter. It’s similar to the first Missouri play we showed; someone motions into the backfield, Cook executes play-action rollout to the right with a receiver waiting in the flat for a short pass. But that’s not the play here. The play is designed to free up open receivers based on other players doing something. How does Missouri accomplish that? Like the Knicks play from earlier, multiple things happen in order to create an open opportunity. Like I just said, this is a play that Missouri has run before, so South Carolina thinks they’ve figured it out; Mookie Cooper (#5), who’s playing the same role that Lovett was in the previous play, initially draws the attention of at least three Gamecock defenders because that’s who the play was called for last time. But again, that’s not the play; Missouri knows that South Carolina has seen this play before, so they build off of it. At the bottom of the screen, Dove (the receiver who’s only visible feature in the video is his helmet) and Lovett run routes that are designed to free each other up; Lovett, who’s in the slot, runs a wheel route to the outside, and Dove, who’s on the outside, runs a route to the inside. A crossover! This forces the two South Carolina defensive backs guarding them into a bind; they either need to switch off their assignments flawlessly, or they have to avert running into each other while also keeping up with Dove and Lovett. DQ Smith (#27 in garnet) tries to get around Dove, but he grazes his backside, allowing Lovett to separate and haul in a beautiful pass from Cook. 

I’d like to point out some more areas where Missouri’s offense excelled on Saturday. One was their avoidance of third-and-long scenarios. The Tigers faced third-and-at-least-eight scenarios only five times against South Carolina, the fewest they’d had in a game this season. Predictability is exacerbated when you’re in a third-and-long because, since you’re likely not going to run the ball, and you’re probably not throwing a short pass, your playbook becomes limited. Missouri found themselves in third-and-long far too often this season because of negative plays on first and/or second down; against South Carolina, they were able to stay ahead of the sticks for most of the game, which allowed Drinkwitz to keep his playbook wide open. Speaking of third down, Missouri converted 8/16 third downs against South Carolina. That’s really good!

Missouri also stuck with what worked, with the most notable example being in the waning minutes of the game. Missouri had the ball up 13 with 10:23 left to play in regulation. Schrader hadn’t necessarily been gashing the Gamecock defense, but he was gaining a little over three yards seemingly every carry. Wanting to drain as much clock as possible, Drinkwitz called ten consecutive run plays for Schrader; South Carolina didn’t get the ball back until there were just over four minutes remaining in regulation. This was a friendly reminder that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. 

Finally, there was a little more about Drinkwitz’s play calling that I really liked. On pass plays, Cook was often getting the ball out quickly, which greatly contributed to Cook getting sacked only once on Saturday. Quick throws neutralize the line of scrimmage, where Missouri’s offensive line has been prone to mismatches against opposing front sevens. There have been instances this season where Cook was sacked because the play that was called took too long to develop, giving the opposing front seven time to collapse the pocket and get to Cook. That rarely happened against South Carolina. I also enjoyed Burden getting a few reps out of the backfield; when you have a Swiss Army knife like Burden, you use him in as many places on the field as you can.

These niche complexities completely change the game for Missouri on offense; they’re at their best when we don’t know what’s going to happen until it happens. While they’re far from perfect, there have been plenty of signs that show what the Tigers are capable of, and last week was a great example of that. With four games to go in the regular season riding a newfound wave of optimism, we can only hope that the offense continues to leave defenses guessing.