Mizzou football head coach Eli Drinkwitz talks about Luther Burden on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024, after a win over Boston College in Columbia, Mo. (Video by Mizzou Network, used with permission of Mizzou Athletics)
COLUMBIA, Mo. — What if Luther Burden III had not been in the game to make what became Saturday’s win-cementing catch?
Mizzou’s star receiver often does things that look impossible, but not even he could have pulled down the fourth quarter’s penultimate first down had he been ejected earlier for taking Boston College’s bait.
You know what else is impossible, even for the talented Burden? He can’t throw the ball to himself in the first quarter.
Both topics are worth ruminating upon for No. 6 Mizzou as it digests its 27-21 win against No. 24 Boston College before turning attention toward SEC play.
Hey, there’s no such thing as a bad win against a ranked team. The Tigers’ run of consecutive wins dating to last season (a nation-leading seven) and straight home games sold out (eight) rolls on as Saturday’s SEC opener against Vanderbilt nears. But here’s the thing about good teams that are determined to become great teams: They don’t throw out the bad with the good. They use it to improve.
Saturday presented two obvious ways the Tigers can sharpen their claws.
One has to do with how games start. It’s specifically tied to one player. Fixing it should be pretty easy, as long as it’s acknowledged as an issue.
Another affects the whole team across four quarters. But there’s one player who can and should lead the charge of positive change. Burden.
First, Mizzou has to get Burden an early touch or two every game. No exceptions. No excuses. He went a quarter and a half without getting the ball in his hands Saturday. When he finally got it on Mizzou’s 18th play of offense, he turned a Brady Cook pass into a 44-yard gain. That play lit the fuse on a 117-yard receiving performance that featured 74 yards gained after catches in addition to a highlight worthy spin move on a 19-yard touchdown reception.
“It doesn’t make it harder,†Burden said, diplomatically. “When I get the ball, I’m trying to do what’s best for my team. It doesn’t matter when.â€
Still, it took too long for Mizzou to activate its best gamebreaker. Period.
Second, the Tigers have to clean it up. Eight penalties on Saturday surrendered 91 yards, and the list included some really dumb and poorly timed stuff.
For example, Mizzou’s defense would have snuffed Boston College’s first two drives promptly had third-down penalties on each of those drives not provided the Eagles with new life. The Tigers now have surrendered 215 yards on 25 penalties this season. The trend has not cost them a game, but it eventually will if it continues. And it could have happened Saturday, had Burden not caught what appeared to be a lucky break.
Tigers coach Eli Drinkwitz didn’t sound too pleased with the game’s ACC-based officiating crew, but I imagine he will find little to object about Burden’s rapid-fire flags in the third quarter.
Burden drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for tossing an opponent’s mouthpiece during one jawing session. Then, two plays later, while knowing he was one more unsportsmanlike conduct penalty away from being thrown out of a game his team led by only 10 points, he drew an unnecessary roughness penalty for aiming a ball at a Boston College player during jostling on the BC sideline. It easily could have been called another unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. If it had been, Burden would have been watching from the locker room instead of corralling a critical catch that later shut the door on Boston College after it had cut the lead to six and forced Mizzou into a third-and-seven situation on its own 28-yard line.
“The penalties, those are on me,†Drinkwitz said. “Those are on me. They said they captured me getting on Luther pretty good about it. That’s the bottom line. It was selfish football and it’s gotta get cleaned up, but I’m sure glad he’s on our team.â€
The first problem seems pretty fixable, right? Coaches have a bad habit of overcomplicating these things, and I think Drinkwitz was trending that way Saturday while shrugging off Burden’s slow launch. This wasn’t a case of Burden dropping a first-quarter pass, or Cook overthrowing him. Burden being an option on early plays that don’t go his way isn’t a good answer, either. Some guys, you get the ball early to get them going. Burden is one of those guys.
The penalty problem is bigger than any one player, but Burden certainly can be the lead change agent in solving it. If buckling down on bad decisions and mental mistakes that gift yards to opponents becomes something he takes a lead in stomping out, others will follow him, the same way they mimic his touchdown dances.
Saturday’s postgame comments presented a good sign there.
“I just have to cut the nonsense out,†Burden said. “Stay composed. I don’t want to put my team in that position anymore. I’m glad to learn from it.â€
If the lessons learned Saturday are that Burden must be involved earlier and that he can’t risk making himself unavailable late, a good team can take another step toward becoming great.
Learning lessons while remaining undefeated is a lot better than the alternative.
Mizzou football head coach Eli Drinkwitz talks about Luther Burden on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024, after a win over Boston College in Columbia, M…
Missouri wide receiver Luther Burden III celebrates after making a key first down in the second half of the Tigers’ victory over Boston College on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024, in Columbia, Mo.