Mizzou Uses Get-Right Game to Prepare for Auburn Tigers

The Auburn Tigers travel to Missouri to take on Mizzou on Saturday, and they're going to need to buckle up the chin straps.

Philip Blidi and the Auburn Tigers defensive line have their work cut out for them against the strong running game of Mizzou. / Photo by Austin Perryman/Auburn Tigers

If Auburn head coach Freeze was hoping for a nice relaxing day watching football on Saturday, he got a rude awakening when he saw the score coming through from the Tigers' next opponents.

The Missouri Tigers tuned up for Auburn by methodically putting 45 points on a severely over matched UMass team. Beating the Minutemen 45-3 on their own turf really isn't that notable for the 21st ranked Tigers, but that's why Freeze should be pretty worried.

This 5-1 Missouri Tigers outfit particularly likes taking the ball and shoving it down opponent's throat. They're sixth in the SEC at 187.5 yards-per-game rushing. Auburn likes to fancy itself a good rushing team, but by comparison, they're just-ninth in the conference.

On Saturday in Amherst, Missouri was unabashed about how they put a stamp on things, running the ball on nine of the first 12 offensive snaps from scrimmage.

Heading into the contest with Auburn, you've got to figure that Missouri will be relishing the opportunity of punching ever more holes in the listing Tigers run defense which sits 12th in the conference.

After setting the bully-boy tone, the Tigers settled into a more complimentary football mode, another gear of performance that's bound to make coach Freeze more than a little jealous.

"I thought (offensive coordinator Kirby Moore) called a great game," Mizzou head coach Eli Drinkwitz said after thrashing UMass. "I thought he called a great game and did exactly what we needed to do to stay ahead of the chains, get the easy conversions, play to our players' strengths (and) get the ball to Luther [Burden]."

Missouri needed UMass as a get-right game after falling flat in their faces against Texas A&M, and the Tigers took advantage of an outmatched opponent. Given the way Missouri set themselves up to be ultra-physical, it's a pretty safe bet that Freeze will be demanding more fight than he's been getting from his troops.

"Well, truthfully, I expect more fight than we saw for the 60 minutes today," Freeze said after Auburn lost to Georgia. "I told them that in the locker room, I mean it, and it's my job to get that out of them, and I'm going to die trying. We're going to get it turned and going to find the ones who want to fight for 60 minutes."

Auburn went 0-3 at home against P4 opponents in their five-game-home stretch to start the season. They were beaten by the Bulldogs in their first-road test 31-13. They hit the road again this week to take on Missouri who looks beatable, but like Freeze said after the Georgia game, he's going to need a lot more fight.