Well, that game was a lot to digest.
Missouri is still undefeated after beating Vanderbilt on Saturday to open Southeastern Conference play. But after needing two overtimes — and a missed field goal from the Commodores in the second — to get that result, quite a few questions are coming up about the Tigers.
Perhaps Pro Football Focus' collection of grades and advanced stats will have some insight.
Per usual: The grades come from PFF — not this writer. They don't factor in things like questionable clock management. They're at times misaligned with what happened on the field. They're certainly not worth getting worked up about.
PFF grades are based on NFL standards: 90-100 is elite, 85-89 is Pro Bowl caliber, 70-84 is starter level, 60-69 means backup, and anything between 0-59 is replaceable. Because this isn't the NFL, you can shift those labels as you see fit.
Offensive line
- LT Marcus Bryant, 79 snaps, 73.9
- LG Cayden Green, 79 snaps, 57.1
- C Connor Tollison, 79 snaps, 72.7
- RG Cam'Ron Johnson, 75 snaps, 73.1
- RT Armand Membou, 75 snaps, 78.1
- OL Mitchell Walters, 9 snaps, 55.2
These grades were higher than I expected them to be — it didn't seem like a banner day for Mizzou's offensive line. Tollison was the only starter not to allow a pressure. Johnson — the only MU O-lineman called for a penalty — had the lowest pass blocking grade of the bunch, likely influenced by a couple of plays on which he was blown backwards by the Vandy defensive line. So far, PFF has been wholly unimpressed with Green: It has yet to give him a grade higher than a 72.9, though on the whole he's earning better marks than he did with a 53.7 overall at Oklahoma last season.
Walters, who often sees a few snaps as a swing tackle or sixth offensive lineman, got a little bit of extra action. He briefly replaced Johnson at the start of the second half, then replaced Membou when the right tackle had to leave the game for a few plays.
Quarterback
- Brady Cook, 79 snaps, 70.5
No doubt many of you have thoughts here. Cook threw for 226 yards, marking the third game this season in which he has thrown for 228 or fewer. His 62.2% completion percentage was the lowest of this season so far, though the drop-adjusted version lands slightly above his mark against Murray State in the season opener.
Cook took 2.98 seconds, on average, to throw the ball against Vanderbilt, bucking a trend of quick releases. If you want a deeper dive into that metric, I wrote about the trend earlier this week — though now, it might not be so relevant. The eye test supports the notion that he was taking longer against the Commodores, and the time to throw metric supports the general sense that something was different with Cook's performance on Saturday.
The MU QB was actually a more efficient passer under pressure than he was with a clean pocket, though drop-adjusted completion percentages were both 71.4% regardless of whether he was under pressure or clean. On the 30.2% of dropbacks on which Vanderbilt blitzed, Cook's metrics dipped.
Depth of throws was a direct indicator of how well Cook threw. He was 13 for 14 within 9 yards of the line of scrimmage, 5 for 11 between 10 and 19 yards, and 1 for 4 going 20 or more yards downfield.
As a rusher, Cook picked up 24 yards on scrambles but lost four yards on designed runs.
Running back
- Nate Noel, 59 snaps, 66.9
- Marcus Carroll, 14 snaps, 54.3
- Jamal Roberts, 6 snaps, 60.2
This is why I include a warning at the top of these stories about PFF being misaligned with what happens on the field: Noel ran for a career-high 197 yards. Multiple Mizzou folks said after the game that he's the reason the Tigers were even in the game, and I don't think you can argue with that. But anyway, the metrics: 20 of Noel's 22 rushing attempts were zone plays, a sign that Missouri is happy to let its primary tailback navigate its preferred blocking scheme. Noel continues to be more of a bruiser than advertised, averaging 4.14 yards after contact against Vandy. He forced 5 missed tackles.
Carroll played the fewest snaps of any of his games this season and picked up just 1.7 yards per carry. That his workload is trending downward while Noel's is moving up suggests the backfield isn't much of a committee anymore. But when Carroll, solidly the No. 2 back, is on the field, he tends to get the ball. His 14 snaps saw him get seven carries and three targets.
Roberts didn't rush the ball but continues to see third-down work — Mizzou likes his size and ability to serve as a backfield blocker in those situations.
Wide receiver/tight end
- WR Theo Wease Jr., 63 snaps, 69.4
- WR Mookie Cooper, 58 snaps, 58.3
- WR Luther Burden III, 54 snaps, 62.7
- TE Brett Norfleet, 49 snaps, 63.1
- WR Mekhi Miller, 32 snaps, 58.6
- TE Jordon Harris, 21 snaps, 47.3
- WR Joshua Manning, 19 snaps, 54.6
- WR Marquis Johnson, 16 snaps, 74.0
- WR Daniel Blood, 3 snaps, 56.6
Burden led the Tigers in targets, catches and yards while also producing two touchdowns. Of his 76 receiving yards, 28 came after the catch.
PFF's algorithm was quite enamored with Johnson's brief appearances, though he left Saturday's game with a left leg injury.
Norfleet was targeted just two times and ran a route on 76.2% of the pass plays he was on the field for. So far, he's running routes slightly less often in 2024 than he did in 2023, but his sample size this season is still on the small end to make that a clear-cut trend.
Defensive line
- DT Kristian Williams, 52 snaps, 76.5
- DE Johnny Walker Jr., 47 snaps, 67.7
- DT Chris McClellan, 42 snaps, 77.0
- DE Zion Young, 33 snaps, 70.6
- DT Marquis Gracial, 24 snaps, 67.3
- DE Eddie Kelly Jr., 23 snaps, 87.1
- DE Joe Moore III, 18 snaps, 52.7
- DT Sterling Webb, 11 snaps, 56.8
As a defensive unit, Mizzou managed to pressure Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia 15 times, though his ability to escape led to just one sack. Kelly, Young, McClellan and Williams each had two pressures. Williams batted down two passes while McClellan swatted one.
The Tigers once again used a five-defensive lineman set against the Commodores after rolling out the "rhino package," as it's called, against Boston College — keep an eye out for an explanation from coaches and players on what goes into that. MU had 4.1 defensive linemen on the field per play, a metric that doesn't mean anything other than an indication that the five-man front appeared enough to raise the average above 4.
Linebacker
- MLB Chuck Hicks, 42 snaps, 62.0
- OLB Triston Newson, 41 snaps, 66.0
- OLB Khalil Jacobs, 16 snaps, 68.4
- MLB Corey Flagg, 15 snaps, 62.0
The linebacker rotation seemed pretty even through the first few games of the season, but Hicks and Newson's workloads far outweighed those of Jacobs and Flagg.
This position group is where defensive coordinator Corey Batoon chose to craft his blitzes. Newson was the most common non-lineman to rush the quarterback, blitzing five times to produce a team-high three pressures. As a whole, Mizzou's linebackers combined for nine pass rushes compared to the secondary's six.
Defensive backs
- CB Dreyden Norwood, 61 snaps, 54.3
- CB Toriano Pride Jr., 60 snaps, 55.6
- S Marvin Burks Jr., 73.6
- STAR Daylan Carnell, 45 snaps, 76.3
- S Tre'Vez Johnson, 37 snaps, 55.0
- STAR Sidney Williams Sr., 20 snaps, 55.7
- S Joseph Charleston, 19 snaps, 66.6
- CB Ja'Marion Wayne, 5 snaps, 62.2
- CB Nicholas Deloach Jr., 4 snaps, 62.0
- S Caleb Flagg, 1 snap, 60.0
The snap counts are interesting here. After earning a handful of snaps as a third cornerback, Deloach dropped to fourth at his position in snaps played as Wayne returned to action. But neither took the starting corners off the field, for the most part — Norwood played every snap and Pride was out for only one play.
Johnson started for Charleston as the latter played with a cast on his hand. Johnson's three missed tackles were a team high.
Vanderbilt tried to target the Mizzou defenders who would theoretically be the least comfortable in pass coverage, throwing toward Carnell the most. He broke up one pass while getting four receptions attributed to him, for 17 yards but 18 after the catch — perhaps some weirdness from the PFF computer.