Missouri-Georgia: OK Albert, whiffing on tackles, and the Secondary Tango

If you followed along with my work in this space last year, you know that I endeavored to provide snap counts for every Missouri player for every offensive and defensive snap that counted during the season.

If you were not...well, I just explained what this is in the last graf. You should have paid attention.

Anyway, I pored over the film of the Tigers’ 53-28 loss to Georgia to see who Missouri used on offense and defense, how often and in what ways. Then I tried to gather it in a way that wouldn’t bore you too terribly.

Did I fail? Did I succeed? I suppose that’s up for history to decide.

On we go with Year 2 of ... Snap Chats...

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Takeaways

• Missouri’s defense missed tackles on 16 of the 66 plays in which there were tackles to be missed (so, no incompletions or kneels). That’s 24.2 percent. They missed tackles on 29.2 percent of run plays and 11.1 percent of pass plays.
• Those missed tackles led to 217 total yards -- 183 on runs and 34 on passes. So Georgia got 48.4 percent of its non-kneel rush yards, 10.4 percent of its pass yards and 30.8 percent of its total yards after missed tackles.
• That pass total in particular should tell you that a whole bunch of those yards came through the air...meaning the Tigers’ coverage wasn’t exactly airtight.
• To that point, Georgia quarterback Jake Fromm had the most success throwing against three people: DeMarkus Acy (3-of-4, 44 yards), Joshuah Bledsoe (2-of-3, 89) and Cale Garrett (2-of-2, 66). Fromm completed 7-of-9 passes for 199 yards and both of his touchdowns when he went at those three, and 11-of-17 for 127 yards and an interception when he threw at everyone else.
• Yes, Garrett logged an interception, but he technically did so while getting the underneath zone on a pass to Adam Sparks’ man. So he gets saddled with the two long gains in which he got stuck on one-on-one coverage with a tight end and has to cede credit for his pick to Sparks, at least in this very narrow sense.
• Doesn’t seem fair, does it?
• On offense, the Tigers had boffo success throwing out of the 3-wide, H-back look, completing 7-of-8 passes for 180 yards and all four touchdowns. Unfortunately, they also ran for only 2.0 yards a pop out of that set.
• The 4-wide set didn’t do anything particularly well, and the 3-wide, tight end attached look logged Missouri’s most running success: 8 carries for 47 yards.
• So, all told, when tight ends were snug to the line or in the backfield, Missouri averaged 7.73 yards a play. When they were split wide, the Tigers averaged 5.00.
• Ah, the 4-3. I clamored for you, and yet you have forsaken me. The Tigers gave up 7.72 yards a play out of that set, including 329 yards and all four touchdowns on 38 carries (8.66 per). The good news? The set only gave up 6.54 yards a pass. Which, really seems like average news. But it gets to be better news as you read on...
• The extra defensive back sets: not so special against the pass. The Nickel gave up 108 yards on 3-of-8 passing, with a pick thrown in. The Dime let up 93 yards and a score on 3-of-3 passing, while the 3-3-5 let up 40 yards and a score on 2-of-2 passing. That’s a total of 7-of-13 for 241 yards, two scores and an interception.
• Against sets. With an extra. Defensive back.
• Missouri did stand an end up in its base personnel five times and held Georgia to 11 rush yards. So that was kind of nice.
• When Crockett was healthy, he played on 19 of 29 snaps, or 65.5 percent. Then he missed the final 19 after hurting his shoulder. In his stead, Ish Witter got 12 snaps and Larry Rountree got seven.
• Albert Okwuegbunam appears to have taken a stranglehold on the tight end rotation. He played on 34 of 48 snaps (70.8 percent), with Jason Reese taking nine and Kendall Blanton getting only five. This position has been a bit of a teeter-totter all season, but I don’t know that any one player has ever taken this proportion of the snaps.
• The right side of the line remained set. Tyler Howell got four series in relief of Yasir Durant on the left, and Adam Ploudre got one in relief of Kevin Pendleton.
• On the line, Chris Turner got about 30 percent of the end snaps and Nate Anderson and Tre Williams each got about 20 percent. Williams’ trend line appears to be going up the most out of the backups.
• Walter Palmore continues to creep his way back into the rotation, but Kobie Whiteside got the lion’s share of the backup snaps behind Terry Beckner and Markell Utsey, with 40 percent.
• Neither Terez Hall nor Garrett subbed out until the final series. Brandon Lee played nearly all of the game as well, really only leaving the field when the Tigers went specialty set and brought in Bledsoe.
• Logan Cheadle actually got the least corner snaps out of the four who played, which seems rather odd to me. He got four out of 13 series. I obviously don’t get to watch practice, but I haven’t seen anything in the games so egregious that would signal Cheadle not only losing his starting spot but also playing the least of the rotational corners. Maybe the coaches are thinking youth snaps to prepare for next season?
• But then, if that were the case, why are they leaving senior Thomas Wilson out there for 74 of 77 snaps? Nothing against Wilson — he actually got left out to dry a whole bunch by, like, the rest of his defense, in space against ballcarriers with momentum and not much choice but to whiff...or get trucked...or hurdled... — but there was very little space for freshman Jordan Ulmer, who actually played again! For three snaps. On the final series. Until they put Wilson back in.
• Kaleb Prewett, with the nickelback receding from the Tigers’ plans, actually got into the game as a safety for 32 of his 35 snaps against Georgia. He got about five series out of 13 in relief of Ronnell Perkins at safety.
• Still no Cam Hilton, though.

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Missouri Missed Tackles
Total: 19 (17 Run, 2 Pass)
Total Plays: 16 (14 Run, 2 Pass)
% of Available Plays: 24.2 (29.2 Run, 11.1 Pass)
Yards After Missed Tackles: 217 (183 Run, 34 Pass)
% of Total Yards: 30.8 (48.4 Run, 10.4 Pass)

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Jake Fromm Throwing At...

Linebackers: 5-of-8, 76 yards
Terez Hall: 1-of-4, 1 yard
Cale Garrett: 2-of-2, 66 yards
Brandon Lee: 2-of-2, 9 yards

Cornerbacks: 5-of-7, 85 yards, TD, INT, PD
DeMarkus Acy: 3-of-4, 44 yards, TD, Wilson PD
Adam Sparks: 1-of-2, 22 yards, Garrett INT
Jerod Alton: 1-of-1, 19 yards

Safeties/Nickelbacks: 8-of-11, 168 yards, TD, PD
Ronnell Perkins: 3-of-4, 36 yards, PD
Joshuah Bledsoe: 2-of-3, 89 yards, TD
Kaleb Prewett: 2-of-2, 22 yards
Thomas Wilson: 1-of-2, 21 yards

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Offensive Set Success

3-WR/2-RB
Run: 12 for 24 (2.00 avg.)
Pass: 7-of-8, 180 yards (22.5 avg.), 4 TD
Total: 20 plays, 204 yards (10.2 avg.), 4 TD

4-WR/1-RB
Run: 1 for 3
Pass: 6-of-12, 46 yards (3.83 avg.), INT
Total: 13 plays, 49 yards (3.77 avg.), INT

3-WR/1-TE/1-RB
Run: 8 for 47 (5.88 avg.)
Pass: 1-of-3, 1 yard (0.33 avg.)
Total: 11 plays, 48 yards (4.36 avg.)

5-WR
Pass: 1-of-2, 26 yards (13.0 avg.)

Wildcat
Run: 2 for 3 (1.50 avg.)

Alec Abeln’s Pesky Elbow
Run: 1 for -18

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Defensive Set Success

4-3
Run: 38 for 329 (8.66 avg.), 4 TD
Pass: 10-of-13, 85 yards (6.54 avg.)
Sack: 1 for -2
Kneel: 1 for -3
Total: 53 plays, 409 yards (7.72 avg.), 4 TD

Nickel
Run: 4 for 40 (10.0 avg.)
Pass: 3-of-8, 108 yards (13.5 avg.), INT
Kneel: 2 for -5 (-2.50 avg.)
Total: 14 plays, 143 yards (10.2 avg.), INT

3-4
Run: 5 for 11 (2.20 avg.)

Dime
Pass: 3-of-3, 93 yards (31.0 avg.), TD

3-3-5
Pass: 2-of-2, 40 yards (20.0 avg.), TD

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Offense

Quarterback
Drew Lock — 46
Damarea Crockett -- 2

Running Back
Damarea Crockett -- 17
Ish Witter — 16
Larry Rountree — 11

H-Back
Albert Okwuegbunam — 15
Jason Reese — 5
Alec Abeln — 2

Tight End
Albert Okwuegbunam — 6
Kendall Blanton — 3
Jason Reese — 2

Wide Receiver
Emanuel Hall -- 43
J’Mon Moore -- 39
Johnathon Johnson — 27
Richaud Floyd — 19
Albert Okwuegbunam — 13
Dominic Collins — 9
Nate Brown — 5
Kendall Blanton — 2
Drew Lock — 2
Jason Reese — 2
Larry Rountree — 1
Ish Witter — 1

Line
Paul Adams — 48
Trystan Castillo — 48
Tre’Vour Simms — 48
Kevin Pendleton -- 45
Yasir Durant — 30
Tyler Howell — 18
Adam Ploudre — 3

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Defense

End
Jordan Harold — 47
Marcell Frazier — 46
Chris Turner — 24
Tre Williams — 15
Nate Anderson — 14

Tackle
Terry Beckner — 47
Markell Utsey — 34
Kobie Whiteside -- 31
Rashad Brandon -- 19
Walter Palmore — 14
Akial Byers — 5
Marcell Frazier — 1

Rush End
Marcell Frazier — 6
Jordan Harold — 2

Linebacker
Cale Garrett -- 67
Terez Hall -- 65
Brandon Lee — 60
Joey Burkett — 12
Eric Beisel -- 8

Nickelback
Joshuah Bledsoe — 19
Kaleb Prewett — 3

Cornerback
Adam Sparks — 61
DeMarkus Acy — 58
Jerod Alton — 19
Logan Cheadle — 16

Safety
Thomas Wilson — 74
Ronnell Perkins — 45
Kaleb Prewett — 32
Jordan Ulmer -- 3