Instant Analysis of Mizzou's Win Over Buffalo in Week 2

welcome to the postgame show here on missou on SI Missouri Tigers get a win over Buffalo 38 to Zer their second straight shutout to open the season here first time they've got two straight shutouts since 1935 they played a Teachers College for the last time they got that that second straight shut out and William juel the week before in that 1935 season so overall strong showing from the defense all four quarters offense kind of wobbled a little bit in the first quarter and then eventually found their footing uh to put together a 21 Point second quarter and then seven points in both the third and fourth quarter overall a lot to like about this Missouri Tigers performance some things will have to clean up they have a really tough Boston College team coming to town next week so we're here to talk about it all I'm Joey Vince one of our football reporters here and I'm joined by Michael how are we doing in the Press Box another light night um not as late as last week I guess that's nice but yeah this was um you know still nowhere near perfect it's early in the early in the season it's it's Buffalo it's a Mac team so they got some better looks um Buffalo's offense is a little bit better buffalo's defense um threw some wrenches at him obviously Brady cook threw an interception I don't know how much of that was um not a good throw compared to buffalo's defense but still no not really pressure any quarterback or any pressure on cook on the quarterback they shot tried to shut down the run but Noel and Carol still really did their thing and obviously Theo whis did his thing as well in the air so nothing nothing really surprising again uh we're keeping an eye on Luther Burton seems like he was sick all week he didn't get much action I don't think anyone's super concerned about that but still something to keep an eye on and then like Joey said the defense was lights out another shutout and it didn't seem like they really did anything too too crazy it was it was a pretty simple defensive performance nothing really new scheme or formation wise this is what a lot of what we saw last year um now with Cory baton so uh personally for me I always like see seeing a team put pressure pressure on the quarterback so I I was pleasantly surprised to see Zion Young Chris mlen jakai Lang got in on the action which was which was fun to see so it was nice to see him put some pressure on the quarterback but yeah obviously strong defensive showing maybe a little not uh much to be desired with the offense but that's going to uh going to improve as as we move along with the defense they really just w a lot in the trenches like you mentioned put a lot of pressure on CJ Agana the Buffalo quarterback but and the trenches as well really shut down the Run game I think on the first two drives for Buffalo they tried a few runs and they were instantly met at the line Chris Mell and the Florida defensive tackle really helped out in those efforts I was also really impressed with Cory flag for the Second Street week in a row I think muu as a real player on the defensive side of the ball he's maybe not as the the fastest linebacker but he certainly covers a lot of ground quickly we saw him he had that really impressive tackle for loss in the second quarter there um so this defense seems really strong on all three levels seems really deep on all three levels you know I we talked about earlier in the week the depth they have at defensive tackle there're six deep there we saw so many guys at Edge tonight make some plays even Joe Joe Mor can involved with the fun Johnny Walker had his first sack of the season and then in the secondary obviously you you know you have your three corners nor wood pride and delo but then the safety back room really they can just use each of those guys to their own best skill set so defense looks really strong for a unit that was the main question mark at least on the outside going in for Missouri this year you're uh losing your top defensive coordinator and bringing in a unproven guy in the SEC at least and so obviously they have yet to face a real tough Challenge on offense they'll get a little step up next week with Boston College again but another good strong performance from the defense like you mentioned Michael offensively I mean let's talk a little bit about the start of the game there the first quarter was really I I don't want to say concerning that seems like a little overdoing it but it was a pretty bad performance for Missouri especially in contrast to how their defense was doing to to go against Buffalo to get an interception from Marvin burs on that to start the second drive there not make anything of it to have to settle for two long field on the first two drives and Blake cig goes one for two on those um you know the the same problems coming up on third down it just seemed like I I mean one it seemed like the Playbook was a little limited then it just seemed like they were running a lot of short curl routes and just trying to get the hands in uh the ball in the hands of either Luther buron or another one of these Playmakers and just see what they could do with it instead of playing in a rhythm and having really welld designed plays that were able to get them first down so a little bit of a struggle Fest there but then eventually like I said and obviously find their their way Michael what did you make of those first two drives and then how the offense rebounded uh one fascinating thing that I kind of go back to that I mean drink witz Theo whis and Brady cook hit on in the postgame press conferences is the amount of space they were giving some of these receivers and I I mentioned I think early early on the game that it was just a whole bunch of quick hitters to the outside whether that was with uh whis or buron or whoever whoever they were targeting mookie Cooper got in on the fun a little bit not a lot not a lot in the middle of the field I don't know how much of that was just due to that's what they're comfortable with and they want to get those guys like you said the ball um you know in more space um I I know off the top of my head Maris Johnson caught a couple balls in the middle of the field which was kind of a nice switch up um for that but yeah I mean they were really sagging off on on the outside towards the end of the field uh or the sidelines with with guys like whis which really allowed him to get a lot of his receptions he didn't do anything crazy really I mean he had a I I shouldn't say that I guess he had he had a couple plays couple couple catches where after the catch he really excelled um he also mentioned he was frustrated that he didn't get into the end zone which uh was funny and I feel like that's understandable but um he didn't as far as some of some of those other receptions he didn't do anything crazy they were just quick routes to the outside and he was open um the fact that they were you know the the Buffalo uh Buffalo defensive backs were letting them have those was uh was interesting um outside of that the running game I think kind of went a little underrated it sounds like um Carol and noell both did their jobs on not a ton of carries obviously Brady Cook's going to be the one we talked about in the running game um his his 30 whatever yard run was was quite a quite a a highlight for his highlight reel he mentioned that he High stepped that defensive end like Luther Burton which was uh which was uh funny and it sounds like it was not necessarily a busted play but um wasn't what we're supposed to happen there supposed to be a um something involving Tyler Stevens and Stevens kind of got caught up on the offensive line kind of blocking and got stuck cook mentioned that he kind of took Steven's spot and he took off obviously um back flipped or front flipped front flipped uh into the into the end zone which had a couple of us on the edge of our seat maybe not the smartest smartest play but uh noell had the block on that as well which was which was quite impressive so and he had cook had another Russian touchdown as well so he looked really good on on his feet and not that he's never not but it was nice to nice to see that um and Carol and Noel looked look solid as well um kind of like what we expected they they really compliment each other well and and both pick up some nice chunk runs and things like that so was it the most uh you know desired outcome from the offense no but they really did a good job on the ground uh the penalties yeah weren't weren't uh weren't ideal how much of that is just it being early in the season compared to this is really an issue I guess we'll see against Boston College next week because that's when it's going to be more of a a pressing uh pressing issue so I don't think anyone's super concerned about that I personally think it's just early early season stuff so yeah they had 10 penalties that cost them 80 yards tonight I believe they had around eight for around 79 yards last week so a lot of that have to be cleaned up a lot of it is on the offensive line um I know Mitchell wter called for a holding Cameron Johnson who was not playing Mitchell wter taking uh fill in for him tonight um Cameron Johnson is is always good for a false start or holding as well so I think kayen green that's kayen green had one had one as well everyone was getting it on the fun yeah exactly so they're gonna have to clean this up I think you know you did at least see from the offense the ability to they had their struggles in the first quarter but didn't get stagnant got more creative and then in the second quarter once Burton scored that touchdown they were all rolling from there like you said cook had a nice performance um still not connecting on deep dolls again not something I would be concerned with that it's not going to happen at not going to connect in sometime in the next few weeks obviously it's got to be sooner rather than later but again it's not like we've never seen Brady cook connect on a deep ball we saw plenty last year and I have no doubt that I'll be able to get it fixed um in the coming weeks two more things before we wrap up standout performer from this game I'm choosing Marvin Burks of safety we talked to him afterwards he gets his first career interception in this game Theo whis was asked what has uh how Marvin Burks has improved seeing him go up and practice and he had a funny answer saying that the best thing that Marvin Burks did was changing his number to number one um but Marvin Burks is really just a incredible utility piece for this defense and I don't say that to minimize what role he could play but it's more so just he's not your traditional free safety he's moving all over the field playing robber a little bit um playing close to the line of scrimmage we had we saw him get that tackle for loss I believe he was sent on a few quarterback pressures as well um so a strong game for Marvin BS really excited to see how he can get involved in this one Michael who you picking for you spoiled the surprise I'm going with I'll switch over to the offensive side of the ball go with the ois um Marvin Burks was actually asked about the so kind of funny how that happened and his his answer was uh was pretty simple he just said he was a tough cover he's versatile he can he can get you on a deep ball which he didn't have to do today because he was so immediately wide open on on on a quick little routes so he he had a great performance tonight um yeah I mean it it was nice to see him kind of not necessarily step in because uh with with buron out um but just to see him you know work with the ball in his hands and things like that I think there was some slight concern at the about the beginning of the third quarter um he might have you know banged up his shoulder we saw on the on the SEC network broadcast that he was holding his shoulder so there was some slight concern there he came back in uh don't know we don't really know if he was uh having any severe pain coach dritz didn't say anything Theo didn't say anything so doesn't seem like there's any major area of concern there but he did come back in later in the third quarter and one of his biggest gains of the game so kind of speaks to his uh his toughness toughness there but um yeah I mean he he did exactly what he need to do he was he was open in those quick routes and really worked well at the ball in his hands and you know Brady cook had a a nice quote and kind of speaks to whis in the entire receiving Corp um and maybe his ability to read a defense but if if the quick routes are open and the the short stuff is open and you're going to get the ball to your Playmakers if uh if they're pressing up on you and the Deep Ball's open you go with the Deep ball and they didn't need the Deep ball tonight so that that kind of opened up things for whis and other receivers to get a lot after the catch one last thing before we head out of here we've talked so much about these past two weeks of what can we actually gain from isou in these first two weeks of the Season at least where they're going up against FCS Murray State 51 Point favorites in or 48 Point favorites in that one going up as 34.5 Point favorites uh against uh Mac team in Buffalo uh with a new head coach finish near the end of the Mac last year so what we actually learned about the team in this one it's a little bit more difficult to say compared to last week against Murray State I guess my main takeaway would be this defense is pretty legit and I talked out nzim about it a little bit ago about the depth they have on there The Playmakers they have on there too they don't they not only have the guys that can get the dirty work done especially in the trenches but also have Playmakers like flag like Marvin Burks who can come away with big plays when you need it Michael what was one thing you learned about this missou team tonight um I mean it's kind of hard to to pinpoint something outside of the defense right that that's really the the big thing if I'm getting a little more nitpicky um I'm I'm going to go with the with the ground game and the two the pair of running backs not that there was any doubt that they wouldn't wouldn't perform but they look really consistent they complimented each other well again second week in a row wasn't necessarily as explosive as a performance from either of them but they still had 60 70 yards and 10 to 12 carries that General that General range so they both uh they both showed off their skill sets um tonight and then adding on to that I mentioned Brady cook earlier he looked like he was in his element with the ball in his hands um made good reads he made excellent reads especially going back to that that longer touchdown um you know drink drinkwitz mentioned maybe a less experienced quarterback would would panic and throw the ball away he knew that the hole was going to open up he hit it and ran with it and uh front flipped into the end zone so um yeah running game looks strong offensive line appears to be getting getting them holes as well so they might be struggling on the penalty side but the the Run game has been there uh and I pursue that not being as easy against Boston College um they're ideally going to pose a little bit more of a threat but at least to start uh Carol and Noel look very comfortable that'll do us uh do it for us uh from here at ffield make sure you're tuned to the rest of our coverage at Missouri onsi for postgame coverage from this one reactions will have coming out over the next few days and then Buffalo or Boston College week pretty much starts on Tuesday when we hear from coach Eli drood skin so make sure you turn stay tuned to it all we appreciate you watching this one