Some college football games are tougher to sell than others. And Missouri taking on a struggling Massachusetts team on the road is one of the more challenging ones.
The No. 21 Tigers (4-1, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) will enjoy some lovely fall weather in Amherst when they take on the 1-5 Minutemen at 11 a.m. Saturday, but that won鈥檛 transmit through the ESPN2 broadcast. Only the maximum 17,000 crowd will soak in the autumn sun.
The rest will be needing ways to making Mizzou鈥檚 chance at a rebound from last weekend鈥檚 crushing defeat compelling.
With that in mind, here are three things to watch for when Missouri plays UMass:
Running to find a rhythm
There鈥檚 never a bad day for an offense to have a good day, but Saturday would be an especially ideal one for the MU offense to hit its stride.
It鈥檚 not like the Tigers should need an exorbitant amount of points to get past the Minutemen, whose lone win of the 2024 season is against Central Connecticut State. But after picking up just 254 total yards 鈥 79 in the first half 鈥 against the Aggies last weekend, a bit of offense might do Mizzou some good.
Part of what was striking about Missouri鈥檚 implosion in College Station was the disappearance of a run game that looked to be finding its form against Boston College and Vanderbilt. In those games, running back Nate Noel continued his career-long trend of always picking up at least 100 rushing yards when given 20 or more carries.
But against Texas A&M, he only received 10 handoffs. Some of that was due to the Tigers falling behind and needing to pass for any chance of a comeback, but the run wasn鈥檛 part of their early game plan either.
Missouri ran the ball three times on its opening drive 鈥 one handoff to Noel, another to wide receiver Luther Burden III, a tuck-and-run from quarterback Brady Cook 鈥 once on its second possession and not at all on its third.
That meant MU trailed 17-0 and had just four run plays early in the second quarter, which isn鈥檛 exactly establishing the run or any sort of success.
Coach Eli Drinkwitz wasn鈥檛 satisfied with how the Mizzou offense looked early in that game, but it wasn鈥檛 just because the rushing element was missing.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 specifically go back to the game plan and say there should have been a more concerted effort to find runs,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 think there鈥檚 got to be a more concerted effort to find a rhythm for us to stay on the field.鈥
Rhythm, while abstract in a football sense, is part of Missouri鈥檚 offensive identity, Drinkwitz said. He described that identity as 鈥減laying with rhythm, controlling the tempo of the game, having an attacking style of offense.鈥
UMass should be an ideal opponent against which the Tigers can establish all of those things. There will be continued interest in whether Cook can connect on the deep passes that the MU offense craves, but the degree to which the run game 鈥 for both Noel and Cook 鈥 is part of the rhythm will also be worth monitoring.
A turnover trend
There are two interesting sides to the turnover coin when it comes to Missouri.
One is undoubtedly positive: The Tigers have turned the ball over just two times through five games, once on a failed trick play that turned into a Burden fumble, later on a Cook interception. Only six teams in the nation have made it this far into the season with two or fewer turnovers, which is a positive sign for MU鈥檚 ball security.
The opposite side is more mediocre: Mizzou鈥檚 defense is among a host of schools tied for 95th in turnovers forced, with five. It鈥檚 not a bad result: Georgia, for example, has only four. But it is something that could see some padding and be part of any domination of UMass.
After allowing Texas A&M to run most of its plays unfettered, and with a dropped interception, the MU defense could stand to gain by taking the ball away from the Minutemen.
Any depth chart competition?
Like with Missouri鈥檚 early-season nonconference games against Murray State and Buffalo, the degree to which the Tigers are favorites suggests that their starters鈥 services won鈥檛 be required for the full 60 minutes of game action.
Some depth players could get cameos or longer runs at getting on the field, but there could also be some new faces in the starting lineup or rotation.
Nicholas Deloach Jr. and Toriano Pride Jr. split snaps at cornerback right down the middle against A&M, and the former was taking first-team reps during Tuesday鈥檚 practice. He鈥檚 a candidate to take over the starting job at that position, though some rotation still seems to be likely.
Drinkwitz praised defensive tackle Jalen Marshall for making some impact plays as Mizzou cycled through options on the D-line in search of a beneficial combination. MU rotates its defensive linemen heavily, but Marshall could break into that group for a more regular role.
While the portion of Tuesday鈥檚 practice that was open to media didn鈥檛 offer any indication that the Tigers would try something different on the offensive line, a game against UMass seems like the ideal opportunity to test out other combinations, given how much the left side of the O-line in particular has struggled.
Another position worth watching is middle linebacker. Corey Flagg Jr. was on the field for one more snap than starter Chuck Hicks was against the Aggies.