Missouri-Purdue snap counts: Run Game in Trouble? Run Off Tackle!

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’ 40-37 win over Purdue 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 Chats...

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Observations

• Missouri’s offense finally got its run game going. How did it do so, you ask? Outside the tackles, for the most part. The Tigers ran 21 times for 159 yards and Drew Lock’s touchdown outside the tackles, for an average of 7.57 per carry. They ran 21 times for 98 yards inside the tackles, for an average of 4.67. This isn’t counting the sack, two kneels and Lock’s time-waster run and slide play on the last drive.
• On 15 of those 21 plays that went outside the tackles, Missouri ran it to the strong side of the line, that is, where Derek Dooley had lined up a tight end or two. On those 15 runs, the Tigers totaled 128 yards, or 8.53 per.
• So, in the broadest sense, Missouri got its run game mojo back by running to the side where the tight ends were, everyone blocking down and the back bursting through the seam on the backside. Nice work if you can get it.
• Directionally, Missouri ran 18 times for 152 yards (8.44 per) to the right side and 24 times for 105 yards (4.38 per) and the touchdown to the left.
• Running off Paul Adams was the most effective tack: 10 times for 96 yards. Nine of those 10 times, it was to the side that the tight ends were aligned. Those nine runs totaled 92 yards.
• There’s your way forward, Missouri fans: cling to Adams and throw Kendall Blanton or Albert Okwuegbunam on the end.
• Now, some unpleasantness. Let’s look at who David Blough picked apart on the Tigers’ defense.
• With DeMarkus Acy out, Adam Sparks was the unfortunate beneficiary of 15 of Blough’s 55 targets. Sparks had 11 catches on him for 161 yards in this 15 targets.
• Terry Petry gave up two catches for 62 yards and a score on that first drive before getting lifted for Christian Holmes, who ended up with a pretty sterling 1-of-7 for 6 yards against him the rest of the game. That’s including that Purdue go-ahead-touchdown-catch-that-wasn’t in the fourth.
• In all, Missouri cornerbacks were targeted 26 times for 15 catches, 245 yards and a touchdown. The linebackers fared even worse: 17-of-20 for 228 yards.
• Terez Hall had 7-of-9 passes completed on him for 137 yards. Now, 74 of those yards did come on that extremely fluky pass that caromed off Cam Hilton’s helmet. You take that away, he ends up at 6-of-8 for 63 yards. Not terrible. Kind of in Cale Garrett range, who went 8-of-9 for 52 yards.
• The safeties didn’t fare that well either, giving up 99 yards on seven catches and two touchdowns in nine targets. Hilton did get some revenge with the interception on that gadget play, though.
• A week after giving up 0 yards on 12 plays out of the Dime, Missouri’s experience with the Dime against Purdue was...a bit rougher. The Tigers ran the Dime 10 times — six times with the four-lineman front, four times with the three-front — and gave up 8-of-10 completions for 98 yards.
• We did see a couple new wrinkles against Purdue. First, a Nickel defense, with Sparks as the nickelback, Jarvis Ware at corner (maybe Acy, if he wasn’t hurt?), and Tyree Gillespie and Joshuah Bledsoe deep at safety. That set ran twice, both times in the red zone, yielding an incomplete pass and a 7-yard sack. Interesting.
• The Tigers also went two-down-linemen once, with Chris Turner and Tre Williams both starting from a standing position on the end. That play yielded an 8-yard pass.
• Missouri had a rush end (our “3-4”) for 15 plays and gave up only 70 yards out of it. By far, the Tigers’ most consistently successful look against Purdue.
• Because the 4-3 gave up 10.3 yards per play (445 in 43), including 22-of-29 passing for 398 yards, three touchdowns and an interception.
• Yikes.
• The three-wide/tight-end attached and the four-wide set were used about the same against the Boilermakers, with the 3-1-1 going 29 times and the 4-0-1 going 27. That 3-1-1 did not acquit itself well, though, averaging only 3.00 yards a play, 3.29 yards a rush and yielding only 18 yards on 2-of-8 passing.
• The 4-0-1 was EXTREMELY pass-heavy (25 passes, 2 rushes) but did pretty well anyway, going 15-of-24 for 233 yards with a touchdown, a pick and a sack.
• I can’t get over how good of a passing set the 2-2-1 is when the Tigers go to the air. In a trend that has repeated itself in all three games, the 2-2-1 was again very run-heavy (7 runs, 3 passes), but the Tigers completed all of those passes for 68 yards. On the season, that set is 9-of-11 for 229 yards and two touchdowns while being about a 72-28 run set.
• That’s a pretty neat trick to have, if they can keep it up.
• Rountree ended up getting 54 percent of the running back snaps, Tyler Badie 37 and Damarea Keener-Crockett 11. So does that mean Crockett is the third option right now? Not so sure.
• All but 13 of Badie’s snaps came on kneels or when the Tigers were doing their two-minute drive, at the end of both halves. So it looks like Badie is definitely the multipurpose, two-minute back but, in regular situations, he and Crockett were about equal. Rountree, though, really differentiated himself.
• Jalen Knox is the pretty clear backup behind both Nate Brown and Emanuel Hall, stepping in for 48 snaps as Hall battled his groin injury and as a Brown-speller.
• Johnathon Johnson took all of the slot wideout snaps, with Dominic Gicinto staying on the sideline. Maybe signaling a redshirt track? Or do the Tigers want to keep him eligible just in case?
• The TEPS (tight ends per snap) count was down a little more this week, to 1.24. But still looking better than last year...
• Again, Okwuegbunam is the more likely tight end to be split out wide, and he and Blanton see about the same usage percentage attached and in the backfield.
• Before Yasir Durant’s injury, the Tigers gained 357 yards on 40 plays, or 8.93 per. With Hyrin White subbed in, the Tigers gained 251 on 49, or 5.12 per.
• Case Cook got one series instead of Kevin Pendleton, and Missouri ripped off a touchdown drive ending in the 2-yard pass to Okwuegbunam. Cook got whistled for a hold on the drive as well.
• The defensive end snaps played out thusly: 49 for Turner and Williams, 41 for Anderson, with seven of those coming as a tackle in speciality sets.
• Terry Beckner’s playing about 71 percent of the tackle snaps, and Jordan Elliott (35), Walter Palmer (25) and Kobie Whiteside (20) are the rest of the depth, fighting for the rest of the snaps.
• Holmes ended up playing the rest of the game after the first series, and Sparks almost matched him except for two snaps in which he was shaken up toward the end.
• Aside from the specialty sets, Bledsoe ended up subbing in for Hilton for parts of two series. So it looks like the illness is behind him.
• Hall gets the “Golden Tiger” award (I just made it up...roll with it...) for playing every snap this week. The trophy’s in the mail, cleared by compliance....

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Missouri Success When Running...

...Off LT: 11 for 63 (5.73 avg.), TD
...Between LT and LG: 6 for 25 (4.17 avg.)
...Between LG and C: 7 for 17 (2.43 avg.)
To The Left Side: 24 for 105 (4.38 avg.), TD

...Between C and RG: 3 for 34 (11.3 avg.)
...Between RG and RT: 5 for 22 (4.40 avg.)
....Off RT: 10 for 96 (9.60 avg.)
To The Right Side: 18 for 152 (8.44 avg.)

Outside the Tackles: 21 for 159 (7.57 avg.), TD
Between the Tackles: 21 for 98 (4.67 avg.)

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Purdue Success When Throwing At...

...Cornerbacks
Adam Sparks: 11-of-15, 161 yards
Christian Holmes: 1-of-7, 6 yards
Terry Petry: 2-of-3, 62 yards, TD
Jarvis Ware: 1-of-1, 16 yards
Total: 15-of-26, 245 yards (9.42 avg.), TD

...Linebackers
Cale Garrett: 8-of-9, 52 yards
Terez Hall: 7-of-9, 137 yards
Brandon Lee: 1-of-1, 15 yards
Ronnell Perkins: 1-of-1, 24 yards
Total: 17-of-20, 228 yards (11.4 avg.)

...Safeties
Cam Hilton: 4-of-5, 89 yards, TD, INT
Khalil Oliver: 2-of-3, -1 yard, TD
Joshuah Bledsoe: 1-of-1, 11 yards
Total: 7-of-9, 99 yards (11.0 avg.), 2 TD, INT

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Offense

Quarterback
Drew Lock — 89

Running Back
Larry Rountree — 48
Tyler Badie — 33
Damarea Keener-Crockett — 10

H-Backs
Albert Okwuegbunam — 11
Kendall Blanton — 7
Nate Brown — 1

Receivers
Nate Brown — 77
Johnathon Johnson — 70
Jalen Knox — 48
Emanuel Hall — 33
Albert Okwuegbunam — 23
Kam Scott — 12
Kendall Blanton — 7
Alex Ofodile — 2

Tight Ends
Albert Okwuegbunam — 33
Kendall Blanton — 27
Samson Bailey — 2
Nate Brown — 1

Line
Paul Adams — 89
Trystan Colon-Castillo — 89
Tre’Vour Wallace-Simms — 89
Kevin Pendleton — 80
Hyrin White — 49
Yasir Durant — 40
Case Cook — 9

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Defense

Ends
Tre Williams — 43
Chris Turner — 42
Nate Anderson — 33
Franklin Agbasimere — 5
Akial Byers — 1

Tackles
Terry Beckner — 51
Jordan Elliott — 35
Walter Palmore — 25
Kobie Whiteside — 20
Nate Anderson — 7

Rush Ends
Chris Turner — 7
Tre Williams — 6
Akial Byers — 2
Franklin Agbasimere — 1
Nate Anderson — 1

Linebackers
Terez Hall — 71
Cale Garrett — 65
Brandon Lee — 31
Ronnell Perkins — 28

Nickelbacks
Adam Sparks — 12
Terry Petry — 10

Cornerbacks
Christian Holmes — 67
Adam Sparks — 57
Jarvis Ware — 12
Terry Petry — 5
DeMarkus Acy — 1

Safeties
Khalil Oliver — 59
Cam Hilton — 58
Joshuah Bledsoe — 23
Tyree Gillespie — 2

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Offensive Set Success

3-WR/1-TE/1-RB
Run: 21 for 69 (3.29 avg.)
Pass: 2-of-8, 18 yards (2.25 avg.)
Total: 29 plays, 87 yards (3.00 avg.)

4-WR/1-RB
Run: 2 for 16 (8.00 avg.), TD
Pass: 15-of-24, 233 yards (9.71 avg.), TD, INT
Sack: 1 for -16
Total: 27 plays, 233 yards (8.63 avg.), 2 TD, INT

3-WR/2-RB
Run: 9 for 104 (11.6 avg.)
Pass: 6-of-8, 56 yards (7.00 avg.), 2 TD
Total: 17 plays, 160 yards (9.41 avg.), 2 TD

2-WR/2-TE/1-RB
Run: 7 for 66 (9.43 avg.)
Pass: 3-of-3, 68 yards (22.7 avg.)
Total: 10 plays, 134 yards (13.4 avg.)

1-WR/3-TE/1-RB
Run: 1 for 2

2-WR/1-TE/2-RB
Run: 1 for 0

4-TE/1-RB
Run: 1 for -2

1-WR/2-TE/2-RB
Run: 1 for -3

Victory
Kneel: 2 for -3 (-1.50 avg.)

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Defensive Set Success

4-3
Run: 14 for 47 (3.36 avg.), TD
Pass: 22-of-29, 398 yards (13.7 avg.), 3 TD, INT
Total: 43 plays, 445 yards (10.3 avg.), 4 TD, INT

3-4
Run: 1 for 2
Pass: 8-of-14, 68 yards (4.86 avg.)
Total: 15 plays, 70 yards (4.67 avg.)

Dime (4-1-6)
Pass: 5-of-6, 69 yards (11.5 avg.)

Dime (3-2-6)
Pass: 3-of-4, 29 yards (7.25 avg.)

Nickel
Pass: 0-of-1
Sack: 1 for -7
Total: 2 plays, -7 yards (-3.50 avg.)

2-front
Pass: 1-of-1, 8 yards