The SEC injury bug hits Mizzou
October 09, 2019 | Sports,
By Logan Reinhart
The biggest takeaway for Mizzou Football from last Saturday’s game against Troy was playing concise and persistent football. The outcome of the game was a 42-10 win over the trojans, and Mizzou’s star linebacker Cale Garrett tearing his pectoral. The “heart and soul” of the defense will most likely be out the rest of the season. Mizzou will continue to move forward as they head into arguably the biggest home game of the season: facing off against Ole Miss for Mizzou’s Homecoming.
The SEC is facing a huge problem with injuries, and Mizzou football just happened to be the next victim. There was a lot of speculation about Kelly Bryant’s knee on Saturday after taking a low shot to the back left of his leg. While the shot scared many Mizzou fans, away on the sideline Mizzou’s defensive powerhouse was facing a season ending injury. Cale Garrett had two interceptions, one of which was a pick 6, after tearing the outside of pectoral late in the first quarter. The play in question was a simple uniform pull on Troy’s quarterback.
Barry Odom seems calm and dead set on continuing to move forward through injuries.
“A player is going to get injured every game,” head coach Barry Odom said. “That’s part of the game and that’s part of life.”
Though Garrett was considered the face of the defense, Mizzou plans to make zero changes to their defensive strategy.
“We better be great tacklers,” Odom said. “No one in our conference is feeling bad for us, so we have to go after it.”
This year, Mizzou’s defense hasn’t been stretched too thin. After a heartbreaking loss to Wyoming, the Tigers have been consistent in out-scoring their opponents by over 30 points every game, and have only allowed two touchdowns since their first loss.
“We gotta step up and do it again,” Odom said.
Mizzou is facing a tremendous football team in Ole Miss. In conference play, Ole Miss has scored on average 31 points per game, an average of 309 yards rushing and 180 yards passing.
“They’re close to 500 yards per game,” Odom said. “It’s going to take a lot to slow them down.”
There’s now a big question mark on Missouri’s defense heading into Saturday, but with a steady and consistent offense it should be a great game of SEC conference play and a game changer for Mizzou football. If Mizzou can win against Ole Miss, it would most likely put them in talks of being ranked. This would also set the tigers up well for the rest of the season heading into a 7-game stretch of SEC play, the biggest challenges being the #3 Georgia Bulldogs and the #7 ranked Florida Gators.
Edited by Emma Moloney | ehm3gd@mail.missouri.edu