Why Mizzou’s Pass Defense Wasn’t Enough Against Arch Manning And Texas

While it might not want to be heard in the heat of the moment, you never want to get into situations where officiating is the main talking point of a game in the first place. 

Following Mizzou’s 34-20 loss to a top-10 Texas team, much of the discussion revolved around Arch Manning’s controversial fumble that resulted in a 14-yard gain by Emmet Mosley V, instead of an incomplete pass. 

But while that ruling didn’t go in Mizzou’s favor, on top of multiple reviews that didn’t go the home team’s way, it still had an opportunity to prevent seven points and get off the field. 

Three plays later, with Mizzou leading 20-13, the Tigers defense got Texas back into a 3rd and 10. The same down-and-distance as the fumble. Texas lined up in a 3×1, with Jermaine Bishop Jr. lined up as the only receiver on the short side of the field. 

Post-snap, the Tigers brought six defenders, but it took less than two seconds for Manning to fire the ball to Bishop, who had no defenders close enough to make any type of play on the ball. The extra point was good, and the score was tied at 20 with under two minutes to play in the 3rd quarter.  

With a wide receiver running that wide open, two things happened. Either the receiver created the separation himself with his route, or there was a communication breakdown in the secondary. Immediately after the play, you can see free safety Trajen Greco immediately start communicating to cornerback Sione Laulea, indicating the latter. 

“Our corner thought we were in cover-2, and everybody else thought we were in a fire zone,” Eli Drinkwitz said. 

Mizzou brought six defenders on the pass rush. It leaves five in coverage, a three-deep, two-under structure. It presents a cover-3 look and as Drinkwitz mentioned, Laulea thought his responsibility was cover-2, so he played the zone underneath. The breakdown is a massive error for the Tigers, and it resulted in a 25-yard score.

“They made the plays they needed to in order to win the game, and ultimately we did not,” Drinkwitz said. “It didn’t come down to officials; it didn’t come down to reviews. It came down to the opportunities we had as a team. Ultimately that’s on me as a head coach. My job is to make sure our guys take advantage of the opportunities.” 

The breakdown was a microcosm of what went wrong defensively for Mizzou. Manning had his best statistical performance in SEC play this season. He left Columbia going 28-for-38 (73.7%), 297 yards with 3 touchdowns and zero interceptions and turnover-worthy plays. 

“They attacked our seams and got completions on curls and cover 3,” Drinkwitz said. 

Per Pro Football Focus, 12 of Manning’s 27 completions came between the numbers of a distance between 0 and 20-plus yards. Five more came between the numbers behind the line of scrimmage. 

When examining some of the bigger chunks of Manning’s day, he was able to easily attack the Tigers’ zone coverage, due to the lack of pass rush up front. 

“If we get in man coverage against some of these guys, we’re going to be in for a tough day, so we’re going to give up some zone and try to hope we can get home with our pass rush,” Drinkwitz said. 

The Tigers did get home to Manning three times, and as a team PFF credited the defense with 18 pressures, but it wasn’t up to the standard Drinkwitz hoped for against a talented offense like Texas. 

“We weren’t really able to create the pass rush we were probably hoping to today,” Drinkwitz said. “Ultimately, it led them to hold the ball in the pocket.” 

Manning finished the afternoon with an average time to throw of 2.89 seconds. The only other Power Four games he’s had a longer time were against Ohio State and Oklahoma. 

Two touchdowns, getting outschemed twice

While one of Manning’s three touchdown passes came on a defensive breakdown, the other two came when Steve Sarkisian won on the drawing board against Corey Batoon. 

On the Longhorns’ first score, Texas designed a screen to get Derrek Cooper into space. Manning rolled to the left where Ryan Wingo was heading towards the flats. He redirected back to the right where his eyes were on Brown. 

The issue defensively for Mizzou is that no one on the defensive line recognized it was a screen. Santana Banner came on a safety blitz, while Chris Graves and Trajen Greco’s responsibilities were occupied towards Bishop and Emmett Mosley V, running vertically. 

While Manning faced getting decked by a den of Tigers, he got the ball into Cooper’s hands, who proceeded to dash into the end zone for a 24-yard score. 

On Texas’ go-ahead score, Mizzou manned up all available receivers. Raleek Brown didn’t stay in to pass protect; instead, he ran on a wheel route. Dante McClellan wasn’t able to keep up. The favorable matchup allowed Manning to drop it in for a 23-yard score to put Texas up for good. 

They hit the wheel route,” Drinkwitz said. “Matched up, Coach Sark always gets good matchups and makes the plays they need to win.” 

As a team, Mizzou did not make the plays it needed to come away victorious. Offensively, the Tigers scored one touchdown in the red zone while going 3-of-16 on third down. On special teams, Mizzou had two missed kicks and a blocked punt. But defensively, the Tigers had no consistent answers against Texas’ passing attack. 

On top of the defensive breakdown, they couldn’t consistently generate enough pressure to disrupt Manning, which was a major question I had going into Saturday. With no one getting to the quarterback, Manning surgically picked the defense apart in the middle of the field. 

As mentioned at the top, sometimes you have to play good enough that the officiating shouldn’t dictate if you win or lose. Simply put it, the Tigers did not, and that’s more frustrating than complaining about the refs.

At 6-3, Mizzou will look to rebound with three tough tests in Georgia, Kentucky, and Oklahoma. Starting in Athens next week, the Tigers will play an efficient Georgia passing attack. Gunner Stockton has just a 2.5% turnover-worth play percentage, with 43 of his 82 completions beyond the line of scrimmage coming in between the numbers, the same area Manning found success all game.

Playing in Athens hasn’t been an easy place to play for the Tigers, while Georgia, as always, is a freight train, as they are the new No. 1 following Miami-FL’s loss to Notre Dame. Mizzou is going to have its hands full. It can’t make things harder by another poor performance in defending the pass.