Missouri (4-8 SU/4-7 ATS in 2016)
May 1 Power Rating: 74.70 (#52)
Returning Starters: 15 (10 offense, 5 defense)
Key Losses: DE Charles Harris, LB Donavin Newsome, LB Michael Scherer
2017 Recruiting Class Rank: #51
2016 Season Recap: Missouri head coach Barry Odom had some large shoes to fill a year ago trying to replace long-time Missouri head man Gary Pinkel. The Tigers lost two key defensive lineman in fall camp and then opened the season with 15-point loss at West Virginia. After a blowout win over Eastern Michigan, the Tigers suffered a heart-breaking loss to Georgia in the final seconds which kind of derailed their season. They got an easy blowout win over FCS Delaware State but then went 0-5 SU/ATS including an embarrassing home loss to CUSA Middle Tennessee. They did finish on a high note winning 2 of their final 3 games including a big second half comeback (trailed 24-7) in their upset win over Arkansas in the finale. Overall, The Tigers were favored in 5 games and came under their season win total of 5.5 (South Point)
Offense Per Game Rank
Scoring 31.4 48
Rushing 205.1 38
Passing 295.4 20
Total 500.5 13
Defense Per Game Rank
Scoring 31.5 90
Rushing 232.8 112
Passing 246.8 86
Total 479.7 118
Missouri (SU: 4-8, ATS: 4-7, O/U: 5-6)
|
Date
|
Opponent
|
W/L
|
Line
|
Score
|
Total
|
9/3
|
at W Virginia
|
L
|
+10
|
11-26
|
u51
|
9/10
|
E Michigan
|
W
|
-24
|
61-21
|
o58
|
9/17
|
Georgia
|
W
|
+6.5
|
27-28
|
o54.5
|
9/24
|
Delaware St
|
N/A
|
-52
|
79-0
|
64
|
10/1
|
at LSU
|
L
|
+12
|
7-42
|
u53
|
10/15
|
at Florida
|
L
|
+13.5
|
14-40
|
o51.5
|
10/22
|
Middle Tenn
|
L
|
-8.5
|
45-51
|
o73
|
10/29
|
Kentucky
|
L
|
-6.5
|
21-35
|
u70
|
11/5
|
at S Carolina
|
L
|
+6.5
|
21-31
|
u56
|
11/12
|
Vanderbilt
|
W
|
-3.5
|
26-17
|
u53.5
|
11/19
|
at Tennessee
|
L
|
+17.5
|
37-63
|
o69.5
|
11/26
|
Arkansas
|
W
|
+8
|
28-24
|
u73
|
2017 Outlook: Last year’s Missouri offense didn’t have any problem moving the football as they averaged more than 500 yards per game (No. 13). They did have trouble putting the ball in the end zone though as when you take out the 79 points vs FCS Delaware St, they only averaged 27.1 ppg. This year Missouri returns 10 starters on offense and the Tigers are one of only 2 teams (Oklahoma St the other) in the country to return a 3,000-yard passer (Drew Lock), a 1,000 yard rusher (Damarea Crockett) and a 1,000-yard receiver (J’Mon Moore). They also have some solid depth with players like RB Ish Witter (750 rushing yards) and WR Emanuel Hall (16.2 yards per catch).
On defense, the Tigers really struggled a year ago. Some of it had to do with injury and their fast-paced offense didn’t always put them in great spots. Still it was shocking to see the Tigers go from allowing 16.2 ppg and 302 ypg in 2015 to allowing 31.5 ppg and 479.7 ypg last year. This year they do lose their top two tacklers in Donavin Newsome and Charles Harris who was selected in the first round of the NFL Draft. Their leader is LB Eric Beisel and keep an eye out on DE Marcell Frazier who had 6 sacks in Missouri’s last 3 games a year ago.
Like the defense, the special teams also struggled last year. Kicker Tucker McCann is back after hitting just 6 of 12 FG’s last year (also 4 missed PAT’s). Punter Corey Fatony is back after averaging a solid 43.8 yards per punt.
Projected Starting Line-up
Offense:
QB #3 Drew Lock 6-4 225 Jr
RB #16 Damarea Crockett 5-11 225 So
WR #6 J’Mon Moore 6-3 205 RS Sr
WR #12 Johnathon Johnson 5-10 185 RS So
WR #9 Dimetrios Mason 6-0 185 So
TE #11 Kendall Blanton 6-6 265 RS Jr
C #67 Jonah Dubinski 6-2 295 RS So
RG #66 Adam Ploudre 6-4 320 RS Sr
LG #71 Kevin Pendleton 6-4 335 RS Jr
RT #77 Paul Adams 6-6 315 RS Jr
LT #76 Tyler Howell 6-8 330 Sr
Defense:
DE #16 Marcell Frazier 6-5 265 RS Sr
DT #96 AJ Logan 6-2 325 RS Sr
DT #5 Terry Beckner Jr 6-4 290 Jr
DE #88 Nate Howard 6-4 250 Jr
WLB #24 Terez Hall 6-2 230 Jr
MLB #38 Eric Beisel 6-3 240 RS Sr
SLB #20 Kaleb Prewett 6-1 210 RS Jr
CB #17 DeMarkus Acy 6-2 195 So
SS #3 Ronnell Perkins 6-0 205 RS So
FS #7 Cam Hilton 6-0 190 Jr
CB #28 Logan Cheadle 5-10 180 Sr
Top 5 Incoming Recruits:
ATH Daron Davis 6-2 190
OC Case Cook 6-5 290
OLB Aubrey Miller 6-0 207
OT Hyrin White 6-7 292
DT Malik Young 6-2 280
2017 Schedule With Early Projected Lines
Date
|
Opponent
|
Line
|
9/2
|
Missouri St
|
-31
|
9/9
|
South Carolina
|
-2
|
9/16
|
Purdue
|
-14
|
9/23
|
Auburn
|
+11
|
9/30
|
Bye
|
|
10/7
|
at Kentucky
|
+6
|
10/14
|
at Georgia
|
+16
|
10/21
|
Idaho
|
-21
|
10/28
|
at Connecticut
|
-17
|
11/4
|
Florida
|
+8
|
11/11
|
Tennessee
|
+5
|
11/18
|
at Vanderbilt
|
+3
|
11/25
|
at Arkansas
|
+8
|
Schedule Analysis: The Tigers face a relatively easy schedule for an SEC team. They don’t leave Columbia for the entire month of September and their toughest non-conference game is against Big 10 cellar-dweller Purdue (at home). The key game to the first half of their schedule comes in Week #2 with a home game against South Carolina. Overall, I have Missouri favored in 5 games this year and 4 of them are by 2 TD’s or more. They are a single-digit underdog in 5 games and are probably a November outright upset away from getting back to a bowl game for the first time since 2014. If I was setting their season win total, I’d put it at 5.5.