Now for the good stuff.
After two games of caveats and lots of depth players getting time, postgame analysis of Missouri should not be a little more telling. For an entire four quarters on Saturday, the Tigers tried. That means more insight is available on the back end.
Now, it's your breakdown of Pro Football Focus' grades and advanced stats from Mizzou's win over Boston College.
Your usual weekly reminder of how these work: The grades come from PFF — not this writer. They're at times misaligned with what happened on the field, especially when there's a small sample size, like some players in this game. They're not worth getting worked up about.
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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. Grades seem particularly dampened this week, which you can take as analysis in itself or reason to adjust what you consider to be a solid performance this week.
Offensive line
- LT Marcus Bryant, 77 snaps, 67.5
- LG Cayden Green, 77 snaps, 62.4
- C Connor Tollison, 77 snaps, 66.5
- RG Cam'Ron Johnson, 77 snaps, 68.7
- RT Armand Membou, 77 snaps, 75.5
- OL Mitchell Walters, 2 snaps, 60
Membou finished the day as Mizzou's second-highest graded offensive player. He was the only lineman not to allow a quarterback pressure. All in all, it was a tougher than expected day for the Tigers' blockers. As a unit, they allowed eight pressures. Three came from Bryant. Perhaps some of that was adjusting to a higher quality opponent — and Boston College does appear to have some legitimate talent along its defensive line — but these grades and numbers suggest some improvement might need to take place before the heart of the Southeastern Conference slate.
Quarterback
- Brady Cook, 77 snaps, 76.2
Cook took home the honor of PFF's favorite offensive player, with a relatively pedestrian mark by the site's own standards enough to make him the highest graded player on offense. He finished 21 for 30 for 264 passing yards and a touchdown. Two of those incompletions were graded as drops, and none of his passes were deemed "turnover worthy" by PFF.
The pressure allowed by the Missouri offensive line shifted how Cook was able to operate in the pocket. He averaged 2.18 seconds before throwing the ball, down from 2.3 against Buffalo and last year's mark of 2.57. On average, he targeted receivers 7.2 yards away from the line of scrimmage, which is also shorter than last year's 9.6 average depth of target. It's still early for those trends, but they're worth watching.
One of the biggest indicators of Cook's passing success is whether he's pressured and blitzed. As you'd expect with any quarterback, he performs significantly better in a clean pocket. Against the Eagles, Cook was just 2 for 6 against pressure.
In MU's second season with Kirby Moore as offensive coordinator, play action usage continues to hover around 25%.
Cook excelled at throwing to "medium" depth routes against BC, going 5 for 6 to targets 10-19 yards downfield. He was 1 for 3 on passes of 20+ yards, hurt by one drop there.
Running backs
- Nate Noel, 42 snaps, 68.8
- Marcus Carroll, 26 snaps, 68.6
- Jamal Roberts, 9 snaps, 54.1
Mizzou seems to have settled into a definite hierarchy when it comes to its two running backs, with Noel getting more work but Carroll still seeing his fair share of touches. Given that the two tailbacks combined for 178 yards in a game in which rushing very much mattered, that seems like a positive.
BC proved to be a strong tackling team, holding Noel to just 1.82 yards after contact and Carroll to 1.75.
Coach Eli Drinkwitz said Noel was "hot" in the outside zone scheme, and the numbers back that up: 17 of his 22 carries featured zone blocks.
Laterally, the Tigers' rushing attack remained balanced. Fifteen runs went up the middle on either side of Tollison, the center. Seven went around each edge. The most productive gap, in terms of yards per attempt, was between Tollison and Johnson, the right guard.
Wide receivers/tight ends
- WR Theo Wease Jr., 63 snaps, 70.7
- WR Luther Burden III, 56 snaps, 68.0
- WR Mookie Cooper, 53 snaps, 66.3
- WR Mekhi Miller, 32 snaps, 45.3
- TE Brett Norfleet, 31 snaps, 50.2
- TE Jordon Harris, 28 snaps, 72.0
- WR Joshua Manning, 18 snaps, 61.7
- WR Marquis Johnson, 15 snaps, 58.2
- TE Tyler Stephens, 8 snaps, 59.6
- WR Daniel Blood, 2 snaps, 59.0
Arguably the most interesting takeaways from these positions is the usage.
Despite Manning starting the game with an appearance on the first offensive snap, it was the usual three experienced wideouts leading the charge for Missouri. Miller continues to see a decent number of snaps per game but isn't getting many targets — he didn't get any against Boston College. Manning and Johnson seem to be the change of pace wide receivers, combining for three targets. Blood, despite seeing a fair amount of volume with the second-team offense in the first two games of the season, barely got on the field against BC.
Some of Norfleet's work was limited by the shoulder injury that kept him out of the Tigers' second game. But when he wasn't on the field, or in some two-tight end sets, it was Harris working alongside Norfleet, not Stephens.
Over the course of Saturday's game, Burden forced six missed tackles. That was the most of any wide receiver in the nation in Week 3.
Defensive line
- JOKER Johnny Walker Jr., 42 snaps, 63.8
- DT Kristian Williams, 42 snaps, 72.5
- DT Chris McClellan, 36 snaps, 64.5
- DE Zion Young, 33 snaps, 64.0
- DT Sterling Webb, 21 snaps, 61.6
- DE Eddie Kelly Jr., 17 snaps, 54.2
- DT Marquis Gracial, 12 snaps, 63.9
- DE Jahkai Lang, 10 snaps, 62.5
- DE Joe Moore III, 10 snaps, 55.3
- DT Sam Williams, 3 snaps, 64.6
- DT Jalen Marshall, 3 snaps, 57.9
While there continues to be a significant amount of rotation along the defensive line, as expected, Walker and Kristian Williams are cementing roles as the players who are tough to take off the field. Walker and McClellan each managed two quarterback hurries.
Mizzou averaged 4.09 defensive linemen on the field per snap, based on these participation numbers and the overall count of 56 defensive plays. That means the Tigers' use of five-linemen fronts slightly outweighed deployment of three-man fronts. This could be something to keep an eye on against other mobile quarterbacks this season, but again, it's early.
Linebackers
- OLB Triston Newson, 33 snaps, 48.8
- MLB Chuck Hicks, 29 snaps, 82.3
- OLB Khalil Jacobs, 23 snaps, 75.5
- MLB Corey Flagg Jr., 20 snaps, 75.2
There wasn't a ton of blitzing from Corey Batoon's defense in this one, so Mizzou's linebackers spent a lot of time as quarterback spies or in coverage — only Jacobs got to rush the quarterback multiple times from the linebacker position. MU blitzed on just seven of BC quarterback Thomas Castellanos' dropbacks, including one where Jacobs picked up a sack from the edge.
Hicks, who made four tackles, was Missouri's highest graded player.
Secondary
- CB Toriano Pride Jr., 55 snaps, 53.6
- CB Dreyden Norwood, 52 snaps, 67.7
- S Marvin Burks Jr., 49 snaps, 49.9
- S Joseph Charleston, 40 snaps, 54.4
- STAR Daylan Carnell, 34 snaps, 64.5
- S Tre'Vez Johnson, 20 snaps, 79.4
- STAR Sidney Williams Sr., 19 snaps, 52.1
- CB Nicholas Deloach Jr., 12 snaps, 66.9
- S Trajen Greco, 1 snap, 60.0
Like with other positions, usage is becoming more clear among Mizzou's defensive backs. Pride and Norwood are occupying ironman roles, rarely leaving the field. Deloach, the third corner, is still getting on the field in prowler package situations, though.
Carnell's snaps were lowered because he was the player removed for an extra defensive lineman in some situations — as previously mentioned, a changed-up look to monitor moving forward.
After getting burned over the top on a couple of plays, the Tigers' safeties received low pass coverage marks from PFF. Pride and Norwood seem solid in coverage, though. The only catch Norwood allowed was for a loss of yards — plus he intercepted Castellanos. Pride allowed two receptions on five targets, one of which was a touchdown.