No. 9 Missouri will look to clean up its passing attack when it faces Buffalo on Saturday in Columbia, Mo.
The Tigers (1-0) routed Murray State 51-0 in its season opener. Quarterback Brady Cook completed 20 of 31 passes for 228 yards and a TD, but he failed to connect on multiple downfield throws.
Coach Eliah Drinkwitz will seek improvement against the Bulls (1-0) this weekend.
“It starts with fundamentals, route depth, timing, the quarterback setting his feet when he makes a throw,” Drinkwitz said after reviewing the game tape. “Not drifting after he throws the ball to get ready to go do a celebration, finish the throw, (and) have your feet set in the pocket. Wide receivers have got to run their routes at the correct depth. They’ve got to explode out of them. The quarterback has got to make the throws.”
The Tigers completed passes for 11 different targets, with preseason All-American Luther Burden III catching four passes for 49 yards and a touchdown.
Buffalo opened its season with a 30-13 victory over Lafayette in first-year coach Pete Lembo’s debut. The Bulls built a 403-223 total yards advantage.
Lembo spent the past three seasons as associate head coach and special teams coordinator at South Carolina, so he knows Missouri well.
“I faced these guys the last three years in the SEC and just have tremendous respect for how they have built this program,” Lembo said. “Coach Drinkwitz is really the mastermind behind this whole thing.
“He’s a fantastic offensive coach He’s had success offensively everywhere he’s been from the high school ranks all the way up the Power 5.”
Bulls linebacker Shaun Dolac earned MAC Defensive Player of the Week honors by making 11 tackles, including two for loss (one sack), and grabbing an interception.
“You can tell he studies tape,” Drinkwitz said. “You can tell he’s a very smart, physical player at the point of contact. They utilize him in the box. Out of the box, they pressure with him. So he’s a really good player. It’s going to be a real challenge for us. He’s consistent with what you see in our league.”
Missouri is familiar with Bulls quarterback C.J. Ogbonna, who completed 14 of 24 passes for 195 yards and two touchdowns against Lafayette.
Ogbonna transferred from Southeast Missouri State, which lost 59-28 at Missouri in 2021. In that game Ogbonna rushed for 96 yards on 12 carries and completed 7 of 14 passes for 53 yards with run-pass option plays.
“We’ve got to do a good job in the read game,” Drinkwitz said. “They try to get on your edges through zone reads, plus-one run schemes and options, so we have to be disciplined and multiple in the way we’re challenging those read schemes.”
Buffalo pounded the ball on the ground versus Lafayette with five running backs combining for 41 carries. The Bulls figure to rotate backs again this week.
“I feel like we have a lot of backs that can do a lot of different things,” said Jacqez Barksdale, who ran for 99 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries against Lafayette. “I consider myself to be a power back and we have other great backs that have different abilities. I feel like that will help us against Missouri, coming in and showing them a few different things.”
