Kentucky football: Five things to know about the Missouri Tigers
Five things to know about Kentucky’s next opponent, the Missouri Tigers:
1. Missouri has a new coach in Eliah Drinkwitz
The Norman, Okla., native is the youngest coach in the SEC at 37. Drinkwitz played his college football at Arkansas Tech. He was hired by current Auburn coach Gus Malzahn at Springdale High School in Arkansas. When Malzahn went to Auburn as offensive coordinator in 2010, he brought Drinkwitz in as a quality control coach. When Malzahn become head coach at Arkansas State, Drinkwitz coached the running backs.
The two split after that. Malzahn became head coach at Auburn. Drinkwitz stayed at Arkansas State under new coach Bryan Harsin, then followed Harsin to Boise State. In 2016, he was named offensive coordinator at North Carolina State. After three years there, he was named head coach at Appalachian State after Scott Satterfield left to replace Bobby Petrino at Louisville.
Appalachian State finished 12-1 last season. The Mountaineers finished ninth nationally in scoring offense at 38.8 points per game. That caught the eye of Missouri, which after a long and tumultuous search, tapped the creative and energetic Drinkwitz to be its head coach replacing the fired Barry Odom. The school has branded the new start as Newzzou.
“Eli, I do not know personally but when I have been around him in our meetings and he is new to the league, everything you hear about him and you can tell by watching and listening to him, seems like a great person and obviously a great coach,” said UK Coach Mark Stoops on Monday. “He is very creative and gives you a lot of things to look at and puts pressure on you.
“Obviously, a very good coach and seems like a great guy and what I have been around him I really enjoy being around him. With playing him, it will be a real challenge.”
2. Missouri quarterback Connor Bazelak was recruited by UK
The 6-foot-3, 215-pounder from Dayton, Ohio, considered Kentucky before signing with Missouri. As Souichi Terada of the Kansas City Star pointed out in our preview podcast, Bazelak played in an option offense at Archbishop Alter High School in Dayton. Still, he was considered an excellent prospect who wanted to play in a pro-style offense, which is why he chose offensive coordinator Derek Dooley and the Tigers.
With Dooley, Bazelak played sparingly as a true freshman, completing 15 of 21 passes for 144 yards before tearing his ACL in the season finale. When Drinkwitz became the new head coach, he went with TCU transfer Shawn Robinson as Mizzou’s starting quarterback for the opener against Alabama. Bazelak got in the 38-19 loss, completing seven of 14 passes for 68 yards.
When Missouri got down early in the 35-12 loss at Tennessee, Drinkwitz turned to Bazelak and the redshirt freshman has taken it from there. He was 13-of-21 for 218 yards with an interception against the Vols. Next game, he was 29-of-34 for 406 yards and four touchdowns against LSU’s struggling defense in a 45-41 win. The performance earned Bazelak the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback of the Week honor.
Take another look at those stats against LSU. Bazelak threw almost as many touchdowns (four) as incompletions (five). His 85.3 completion percentage was a school record against an FBS team.
“With Connor, he has stepped in and gave them the spark that they needed and has the ability to run the offense that Eli wants to run and definitely looked very good,” Stoops said. “It does not surprise me that he is playing well. We knew him out of high school and he is a great player and great person and he did a very good job.”
3. Missouri has carryover on defense
Ryan Walters, who served as Odom’s defensive coordinator the last two seasons at Missouri, was retained when Drinkwitz took the job. After all, the Tigers were 14th nationally in total defense and 17th in scoring defense last season, though that was was not good enough to keep Odom from getting fired. Odom is now shutting down offenses as Sam Pittman’s defensive coordinator at Arkansas.
Walters is a Los Angeles native who played his college football at Colorado (2004-08). He came in as a grad assistant under Mike Stoops at Arizona the year after Mark Stoops left to become the defensive coordinator at Florida State. Walters was hired as a grad assistant at Oklahoma in 2012, coached cornerbacks at North Texas in 2013 and then joined Odom at Memphis in 2014. When Odom moved to Missouri under Gary Pinkel in 2015, he brought along Walters to coach the safeties.
When Odom became Mizzou’s head coach, he elevated Walters to co-defensive coordinator in 2016, then gave him the job solo in 2018. Walters also coaches the secondary and the safeties in particular.
“Since connecting with Ryan I’ve been very impressed with his ability to lead people and connect with the players,” said Drinkwitz. “I’m impressed with his work on the defensive side of the ball, I look forward to building on what’s already been established, the foundation that’s been laid. I look forward to Coach Walters leading a championship-style defense here at Mizzou.”
4. Nick Bolton is a tackling machine
The junior linebacker was a First Team All-America preseason selection for 2020. The native of Frisco, Texas, was Pro Football Focus’ top-graded linebacker last season at 91.1. He led the SEC in tackles at 8.92 per game.
The 6-foot, 232-pounder originally committed to Washington before switching to Missouri. A three-star prospect, his father, Carlos, played linebacker at Louisiana Tech from 1989-93. He played well in 2018, but had a breakout season in 2019.
Bolton intercepted two passes and returned one for a touchdown against Neal Brown and West Virginia. He recorded 12 tackles in Mizzou’s 29-7 loss to Kentucky at Kroger Field.
5. Missouri has lost five straight to Kentucky
UK quarterback Patrick Towles had one of his better games in 2015, leading the Cats to a 21-13 win over the visiting Tigers. Towles completed 22 of 27 passes for 249 yards and two touchdowns. The Cats made it two in a row with a 35-21 win in Columbia in 2016. Benny Snell rushed for 192 yards and two touchdowns on a mind-boggling 38 attempts. Boom Williams gained 182 yards on 19 carries as Kentucky rushed for 377 yards.
In 2017, Kentucky won a 40-34 shootout in Lexington. Snell rushed for 117 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries. Snell had a 71-yard touchdown run. Garrett Johnson caught seven passes for 111 yards and Austin MacGinnis kicked a 51-yard field goal.
UK took a controversial 15-14 win in Columbia in 2018. Down 14-3, the Cats got a 67-yard punt return by Lynn Bowden to set up one score. Next possession, the Cats were helped by a defensive pass interference penalty in the end zone by Missouri which produced an untimed down. With no time on the clock, quarterback Terry Wilson hit tight end C.J. Conrad with a 2-yard pass for the winning score.
Side note: The Kentucky defense held Missouri quarterback Drew Lock without a first down in the second half.
Last year in a rain game at Kroger Field, Bowden rushed for 204 yards on 21 carries and the Kentucky defense dominated on the way to a 29-7 victory. Missouri managed just 289 yards of offense in the loss.
This story was originally published October 22, 2020 at 10:12 AM.
