Missouri-Florida snap counts: The blitz doth not faze Drew Lock

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’ surprising 38-17 win over Florida 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 3 of ... Snap Counts...

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Observations

• Let’s talk about Drew Lock throwing against Todd Grantham’s vaunted blitz schemes. Because he was stellar.
• Florida sent extra rushers on 11 of 32 pass attempts. On those 11 attempts, Lock completed eight passes for 124 yards and all three of his scores, or a rating of 257.42 against the blitz. That’s what we in the business like to call “extremely good.”
• Credit, too, to Missouri’s offensive line for keeping him clean against the extra blitzers. And, as Tom Hart and Jordan Rodgers astutely pointed out during the telecast, credit to Lock for identifying where the blitz was coming from and getting the ball out quickly to the vacated zone, sometimes with some funky arm angles. He was just extremely on against Florida.
• And he did a lot of his damage on very short throws. Lock was 18-of-21 for 104 yards and a score on passes that didn’t go more than 9 yards past the line of scrimmage. Being so efficient on those short passes opened things up a little bit over the top, which is where Lock hit on a 41-yarder to Emanuel Hall and long touchdowns to Albert Okwuegbunam and Kam Scott.
• In this week’s “well, actually” moment, well, actually, Lock wasn’t terribly efficient on the deep balls against Florida. He was 2-of-6 for 82 yards and a score on passes that went more than 20 yards. Where he did his real damage was the intermediate, 10-to-19-yards throws. He completed 4-of-5 of those for 64 yards and the score to Okwuegbunam.
• That’s an encouraging sign for a quarterback who has struggled with some of the easier throws over his career.
• With Tyler Badie only getting one snap, then going out with an ankle injury, Damarea Keener-Crockett (37) and Larry Rountree (36) pretty much split the snaps down the middle. Crockett got touches on 59 percent of his snaps, and Rountree got the ball on 50 percent of his.
• Okwuegbunam played all of the Tigers’ 28 snaps before going out: 12 wide, 10 attached and six at H-back. His versatility, really, is unmatched among the rest of Missouri’s tight end depth. Even with a healthy Blanton.
• With both out, though, Daniel Parker got 40 snaps (23 at H-back, 14 attached and three wide), and Samson Bailey got 19, all attached.
• You really saw how much the missed an Okwuegbunam/Blanton type on obvious pass downs later in the game, where they would sub Barrett Banister in as a fourth wideout rather than just shift the tight end out as they would normally do with a healthy Okwuegbunam or Blanton. Not to say that’s a bad thing, per se (and Banister did come up with a clutch third-down grab), but you can tell Dooley’s preference this year has been to keep a tight end in as that fourth receiver and not do as much subbing.
• It’ll be interesting to see how the tight end picture shapes up going forward with these injuries. Oh, and TEPS was a paltry 1.18 this week. Sad.
• Emanuel Hall fit a lot of action into his 33 snaps in his first game back and got out-repped by Nate Brown (55), Johnathon Johnson (49) and Jalen Knox (38). Kam Scott (16) earned himself some extra looks this week (and, you’d assume, would get some more going forward after that touchdown grab...) and Richaud Floyd oddly subbed in for one snap and then left...never to be heard from again...
• Nate Anderson saw his most sustained action in about a month, logging 22 snaps to put him right up there with Chris Turner (31), Tre Williams (34) and Akial Byers (35). Byers actually got a snap in his old stomping grounds at tackle on the last drive, with Kobie Whiteside done for the game and Terry Beckner temporarily out. Missouri didn’t really have much of a choice but to sub an end in at that point. Bodies were low.
• With Whiteside out and Rashad Brandon not making the trip, Markell Utsey got his most sustained action this year. Utsey logged 15 snaps, coming in behind Jordan Elliott (31), Walter Palmore (33) and Beckner, whose 51 snaps made for a pretty insane 69 percent of the game. That’s a lot for a defensive tackle.
• Interesting new nickelback equation this week, with Adam Sparks out and Jarvis Ware not making the trip. Khalil Oliver came into the box for the first time all year and played 16 snaps at Nickel. He and Joshuah Bledsoe were the Tigers’ nickelbacks in both versions of the Dime...except for one play early in which Terry Petry played alongside Oliver.
• Petry also got a corner snap in relief of Christian Holmes after some Terez Hall friendly fire knocked him out for a play. Other than that, Holmes and DeMarkus Acy held down the corners quite capably all game.
• At the back...still a jumble. In overall snaps, counting the Dime, Oliver (50) and Bledsoe (47) came out ahead. But strictly speaking safety snaps, it was Cam Hilton (38), Oliver (34), Bledsoe (32) and Tyree Gillespie (32).
• I’d imagine that being a committee approach the rest of the way.
• On offense, the 4-wide/running-back set passed on 17 of its 21 occurrences and did well at it: 13-of-17 for 126 yards and a score. The 3-1-1 set ran on 15 of its 17 plays and did well at that as well, going for 92 yards and a touchdown.
• The three-wide/H-back/running back set gets MVS (Most Valuable Set) against Florida. Not only was it versatile — nine runs, eight passes — but it shredded. Missouri got 72 yards and a score on those nine runs and completed seven of those passes for 96 yards and a score. That’s 168 yards on 17 plays and two touchdowns overall.
• OK, one more minor “well, actually” moment. Well, actually, Missouri’s base defense wasn’t that spectacular against Florida. The 4-3 gave up 256 yards on 43 plays (5.95 per) and let up 15-of-23 passing for 171 yards.
• Good thing the speciality sets were on point. The Tigers ran the Nickel (twice), 3-2-6 Dime (twice) and 4-1-6 dime (13 times) a total of 17 times in the game and only allowed 39 yards and a score on those plays, or 2.29 yards per play.
• When a quarter of your defense is speciality sets, and those sets are allowing 2.3 yards a play, that’s not so bad, you know?

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Drew Lock When Throwing Against...

4 Rushers
16-of-21, 126 yards

Extra Rushers
8-of-11, 124 yards, 3 TD

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Drew Lock When Throwing

Left
Behind the Line: 2-of-2, 10 yards
0-9 yards: 4-of-6, 18 yards, TD
10-19 yards: 1-of-1, 11 yards
20+ yards: 2-of-6, 82 yards, TD
Total: 9-of-15, 121 yards, 2 TD

Middle
10-19 yards: 2-of-2, 43 yards, TD

Right
Behind the Line: 3-of-4, 12 yards
0-9 yards: 9-of-9, 64 yards
10-19 yards: 1-of-2, 10 yards
Total: 13-of-15, 86 yards

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Behind the Line: 5-of-6, 22 yards
0-9 yards: 13-of-15, 82 yards, TD
10-19 yards: 4-of-5, 64 yards, TD
20+ yards: 2-of-6, 82 yards, TD

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Offense

Quarterback
Drew Lock — 74

Running Back
Damarea Keneer-Crockett — 37
Larry Rountree — 36
Tyler Badie — 1
Dawson Downing — 1

H-Back
Daniel Parker — 23
Albert Okwuegbunam — 6

Wide Receiver
Nate Brown — 55
Johnathon Johnson — 49
Jalen Knox — 38
Emanuel Hall — 33
Kam Scott — 16
Albert Okwuegbunam — 12
Barrett Banister — 8
Dominic Gicinto — 8
Daniel Parker — 3
Richaud Floyd — 1

Tight End
Samson Bailey — 19
Daniel Parker — 14
Albert Okwuegbunam — 10

Line
Paul Adams — 74
Trystan Colon-Castillo — 74
Yasir Durant — 74
Kevin Pendleton — 74
Tre’Vour Wallace-Simms — 74

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Defense

End
Tre Williams — 34
Akial Byers — 33
Chris Turner — 28
Nate Anderson — 17
Trajan Jeffcoat — 13
Jatorian Hansford — 2

Tackle
Terry Beckner — 51
Walter Palmore — 33
Jordan Elliott — 31
Markell Utsey — 15
Kobie Whiteside — 3
Akial Byers — 1

Rush End
Nate Anderson — 5
Chris Turner — 3
Akial Byers — 1

Linebacker
Terez Hall — 68
Cale Garrett — 55
Brandon Lee — 49
Ronnell Perkins — 2

Nickelback
Khalil Oliver — 16
Joshuah Bledsoe — 15
Terry Petry — 1

Cornerback
DeMarkus Acy — 68
Christian Holmes — 67
Terry Petry — 1

Safety
Cam Hilton — 38
Khalil Oliver — 34
Joshuah Bledsoe — 32
Tyree Gillespie — 32

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Offensive Set Success

4-WR/1-RB
Run: 4 for 21 (5.25 avg.)
Pass: 13-of-17, 126 yards (7.41 avg.), TD
Total: 21 plays, 147 yards (7.00 avg.), TD

3-WR/2-RB
Run: 9 for 72 (8.00 avg.), TD
Pass: 7-of-8, 96 yards (12.0 avg.), TD
Total: 17 plays, 168 yards (9.88 avg.), 2 TD

3-WR/1-TE/1-RB
Run: 15 for 92 (6.13 avg.), TD
Pass: 2-of-2, 13 yards (6.50 avg.)
Total: 17 plays, 105 yards (6.18 avg.), TD

2-WR/1-TE/2-RB
Run: 9 for 37 (4.11 avg.)
Pass: 1-of-2, 4 yards (2.00 avg.), TD
Sack: 1 for -2
Total: 12 plays, 39 yards (3.25 avg.), TD

2-WR/2-TE/1-RB
Run: 3 for 3 (1.00 avg.)
Pass: 1-of-3, 11 yards (3.67 avg.)
Total: 6 plays, 14 yards (2.33 avg.)

Victory
Kneel: 1 for -2

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Defensive Set Success

4-3
Run: 20 for 85 (4.25 avg.), TD
Pass: 15-of-23, 171 yards (7.43 avg.)
Total: 43 plays, 256 yards (5.95 avg.), TD

Dime (4-1-6)
Run: 1 for 2
Pass: 3-of-11, 33 yards (3.00 avg.), TD
Sack: 1 for -13
Total: 13 plays, 22 yards (1.69 avg.), TD

3-4
Run: 5 for 28 (5.60 avg.)
Pass: 0-of-3
Total: 8 plays, 28 yards (3.50 avg.)

Dime (3-2-6)
Pass: 1-of-2, 6 yards (3.00 avg.)

Nickel
Run: 1 for 11
Pass: 0-of-1
Total: 2 plays, 11 yards (5.50 avg.)