Missouri’s passing troubles against SEC teams begins with Drew Lock. And his WRs. And Lock.

The next step in Drew Lock's development: learning to read defenses better. It was at the heart of his struggles against South Carolina. Uh, well, that, and his receivers dropped too many damn passes.

It's always funny finding yourself trying to critique a QB for his mistakes — and to be sure, Lock made a couple of really bad ones last Saturday — while also acknowledging that if his receivers caught his catchable passes, his stat line would have been just fine. I know this is hard because Josh Heupel struggles with it, too.

“A quarterback, in part, is only as good as the 10 other guys around him. At the same time, the quarterback has to be good enough to make up for the 10 other guys,” Heupel said. “I know I’m talking out of both sides of my mouth right now, but that’s how it all comes together.

The two main stats to remember from Saturday night, one more time:

• “On plays in which he held the ball for less than 2.5 seconds, he completed 13-of-24 passes for 241 yards, a touchdown and a telegraphed interception. On plays in which he held the ball for more than 2.5 seconds, he completed just 1-of-8 for 4 yards, with an interception.” That’s on Lock (even if it’s also a sign of his receivers not always getting open).
• “He was, though, also victimized by five drops that would have accounted for at least 51 yards and a touchdown to Johnathon Johnson. J’Mon Moore was responsible for two drops, and Johnson, Dimetrios Mason and Jason Reese had one each.” That’s on his supporting cast. Add that to his stat line, and he’s 19-for-32 for 296 yards, two scores, two picks, and a nearly 150 passer rating. Would have been hard to complain about that, even with the two picks.

Average stat line for Purdue opponents through two games, by the way: 24-for-38 for 300 yards and a 143.2 passer rating. Lock has a prime bounce-back opportunity. So do his receivers.

More Football Links:

• Terez Hall on Marcell Frazier: “He started taking some of the blow, so (the media) won’t keep coming at other guys. I’m glad he’s back doing what he has to do so he can show the world that he’s not a mean guy.”
• Extended South Carolina highlights, complete with Tim Tebow walking in slow motion? Alright, sure, why not...

• MUtigers.com has your Saturday fan primer.

More Links:

• Mizzou’s SEC hoops schedule has plenty of story lines to go around.
• This week’s Inside Mizzou Athletics podcast features chats with Barry Odom, Terry Beckner Jr., Tre’vour Simms, Robin Pingeton, Wayne Kreklow, Mark Ellis, and Mun Choi. Somehow it’s only 37 minutes long.

• Meanwhile, the Post-Dispatch’s Eye on the Tigers podcast talked to Cuonzo Martin.
• Evidently Mizzou freshman Austin Hindman is the defending International Triathlon Union world champion? I had no idea, but that sounds impressive, and he's racing in Rotterdam this Saturday to defend his crown. He's delayed the start of his college career until his title defense.
• Mizzou Volleyball wraps up its brutal non-conference slate this weekend with a trip to Reno to face Pepperdine and Nevada on Friday and Sacramento State on Saturday. The Tigers are 4-6 and defeated Sac State in Boise before taking a pair of losses to BYU and Boise State.
• NEW PAPN! Clemson-Louisville, a plan for rescheduling games canceled by weather issues, transfer rules, and, yes, a little bit of Mizzou-Purdue.