No. 9 Mizzou Looked Unprepared, Came Out Flat Against No. 25 Texas A&M

In what was supposed to be a game for the Tigers to prove themselves, the Aggies exposed their flaws.

Amber Winkler | Oct 5, 2024

Oct 5, 2024; College Station, Texas, USA; Texas A&M Aggies running back Amari Daniels (5) runs the ball in the first quarter against the Missouri Tigers at Kyle Field. Mandatory Credit: Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images. / Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images

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Missouri Tigers

The No. 9 Missouri Tigers talked a lot of smack before facing off against No. 25 Texas A&M. They said they were prepared to play in Kyle Field, that noise wouldn't be a problem.

After a bye week, many thought the Tigers would been more prepared to enter the hostile enemy territory. This quickly did not appear to be the case.

The Tigers last game, a 30-27 win against Vanderbilt was quite the scare for the Tigers. They nearly lost a game that was expected to be an easy win. Head coach Eli Drinkwitz vowed to take a hard look at the Missouri Tigers in their upcoming bye week, pushing off Texas A&M to the next week.

"We did more good-on-good in the past two weeks than I've probably ever done as a head football coach," Drinkwitz said about their bye week practices.

Drinkwitz said from the beginning that they were preparing for redshirt freshman Marcel Reed to be the quarterback for the Aggies. But when sophomore Conner Weigman took the field as the starter, he exposed all the flaws in that plan.

"(Connor Weigman is a) great player, really good player," Drinkwitz said. "He was very accurate today, did a great job scrambling through the football extremely well. We weren't ever able to make him uncomfortable."

Texas A&M came out and got the first points, but the Tigers didn't have an answer. The Aggies scored again, and Missouri still didn't have an answer. It wasn't until the score was 34-0 that they were finally able to get any points on the board.

"We didn't do much of anything well on the defense side of the ball today," Drinkwitz said.

The usually solid defense was full of holes and gaps. The Aggies ran down the field with ease and avoided tackles like they were no threat. Receivers were frequently wide open and found easily by Weigman.

From the start, Missouri had to play from behind. A fairly clear pass interference flag on a 4th-and-2 attempt for Missouri on the Tigers first drive was picked up after referee discussion, but a SEC Network rules analyst stated that it should have still been called. Missouri could not seem to get their footing after that.

"We can't let one play dictate the rest of the game," Drinkwitz said. "Obviously, (the fourth down stop to begin the game was) a momentum play, but we had plenty of other opportunities."

By half, there was pretty much no coming back. The slow start from the Tigers dashed any hopes of a win. The game ultimately ended with a 41-10 loss for Missouri.

"It's my responsibility for us to be better," Drinkwitz said following the loss. "The start of the first half, not being able to convert third downs, not being able to stop them on third downs, ultimately was the difference in the game."

The setbacks are no excuse for the performance that occurred on the field. The Tigers were not able to move on from the unfortunate first quarter and just allowed it to compound throughout the game.

"The season really starts today," Drinkwitz said. "How we respond will determine what kind of football season we're going to have."

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