Missouri-Georgia snap counts: Blitzes of Varying Efficacy

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’ 43-29 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 3 of ... Snap Chats...

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Observations

• For the second week in a row, Missouri’s running backs found a lot of success running off the tackles. Not counting sacks and a Drew Lock scramble, the Tigers ran 19 times for 109 yards and three scores outside the tackles and 15 times for 63 yards inside.
• By far, the most success came off the left shoulder of Yasir Durant: Missouri ran 15 times for 88 yards and two scores off left tackle. More often than not, Tre’Vour Wallace-Simms and Paul Adams were also pulling around to help.
• Also like last week, Missouri ran to the tight end side quite often and effectively: 13 times for 65 yards, or 5.00 per. So, again, pin a rose on Albert Okwuegbunam and Kendall Blanton’s collective nose.
• Now, we get to the bad with the offensive line: Georgia sent extra rushers on 16 of Missouri’s 50 pass plays (or 32 percent) and forced Lock into 7-of-15 throwing for 67 yards and an interception. The Bulldogs also logged a strip sack, two quarterback hurries and a hit on those 16 snaps. So, on 31.3 percent of those snaps, they were getting to Lock.
• The real concerning part, though? Georgia also forced Lock into 16-of-33 passing for 154 yards on snaps in which it sent three or four rushers, with a sack, five hurries and three hits. So, on 27.3 percent of those snaps, they were getting to Lock.
• Not that much of a step down from their blitzing downs. And if Lock is having a defender breathing in his face on 30 percent of his passes the rest of the year, he’ll probably be a wee bit uncomfortable.
• On the positive side, Missouri’s defense also had pretty good success against Jake Fromm when they heated him up. The Tigers sent extra rushers on nine of the Bulldogs’ 23 pass attempts (or 39.1 percent) and forced 5-of-9 throwing for 56 yards and an interception out of Fromm. The only real bad bust on a blitz was the 27-yard strike to Riley Ridley over DeMarkus Acy in the fourth quarter.
• Here’s the bad news, though. When the Tigers didn’t send extra pressure, Fromm picked. Them. Apart: 8-of-14 for 204 yards and three touchdowns.
• As things stand, I think that’s a pretty clear path forward for Ryan Walters and Co. You’re deficient covering while dropping seven or eight. You can’t get pressure with three or four. So take more chances on sending extra rushers and see what happens.
• Tyler Badie actually ended up being the Tigers’ most-used back against Georgia, playing 37 of 85 snaps, or 43.5 percent of the game. A lot of that had to do with Missouri playing out of pass-heavy sets for most of the final three quarters, as they were in comeback mode. Badie is pretty clearly the Tigers’ best receiving option at running back.
• Damarea Keener-Crockett played 34 percent of the snaps and Larry Rountree played 22, a pretty interesting reversal from the Purdue game. Seems like Derek Dooley and Cornell Ford subscribe to the “go with the hot hand” theory of running back rotation.
• Nate Brown and Emanuel Hall, both of whom were reportedly slowed by groin issues, both ended up playing 70 of 85 snaps, or 82 percent. Maybe, with what Jalen Knox showed last week and the starting outside receivers hobbled, he deserved a few more looks?
• Missouri’s TEPS (tight ends per snap) ratio was 1.39. A step in the right direction...
• Okwuegbunam ended up playing split wide 54 percent of the time and Blanton was attached 56 percent of the time. It’s interesting to see how their roles are getting more clearly defined each week: Blanton is the more traditional blocker, Okwuegbunam is the Chase Coffman/Martin Rucker type...who can also block.
• Oh, Blanton can catch, too.
• Hyrin White got one planned series in Durant’s stead. Three incomplete passes. Wah wahhhh.
• Chris Turner (41), Tre Williams (36) and Nate Anderson (44) all played around the same amount of snaps at end. Anderson continues to be the most versatile option there, playing 31 at end with his hand in the dirt, 10 standing as a rush end and three inside at tackle in the Tigers’ 4-front Dime.
• At tackle, Terry Beckner was at about a 67/33 split with his backups, and Walter Palmore was at about 56/44 with his. Jordan Elliott and Kobie Whiteside are the only other two seeing the field. That is the depth right now.
• The starting linebackers played all but four snaps (Brandon Lee) and five snaps (Cale Garrett). Terez Hall played them all, and Tavon Ross played one in the Tigers’ 5-4 goal-line set on that stuffed 4th-and-1 run.
• Cam Hilton’s broken hand limited him to only 14 snaps...but he played really well in them. Joshuah Bledsoe got 52 in his stead and acquitted himself pretty well...except for that Mecole Hardman touchdown pass.
• Tyree Gillespie got two series in relief of Khalil Oliver in the second half, including coming out of the halftime break. Kind of curious.
• Missouri’s four-wide set: not great against Georgia. The Tigers ran 28 plays out of it for only 120 yards, including a strip sack and 11-of-21 passing for 95 yards.
• In fact, the Tigers got none of their touchdowns and all of their sacks and turnovers out of their main two sets: the 3-1-1 and the 4-0-1. The 3-wide, tight-end attached actually yielded a respectable 6.1 yards a play in 30 snaps, but never hit paydirt.
• Missouri got two of its rushing scores out of the 2-2-1, one out of the 3-0-2 and one out of the 2-0-3. What’s the common denominator? Blanton and Okwuegbunam.
• The 5-wide set: 0-of-4 passing and an 11-yard sack. Not great. Nah, not great.
• On defense, the specialty sets fared well. We already discussed the 5-4, and the two Dimes (the 3-2-6 and 4-1-6) combined to give up 31 yards on six plays, with a Christian Holmes interception thrown in. The great majority of those yards came on the aforementioned Ridley 27-yard catch.
• Much like against Purdue, the base defense was a bit of a disaster. The 4-3 and its rush-end hybrid gave up 413 yards on 56 plays, or 7.38 per. Not counting two kneels: 415 yards on 54 plays, or 7.69 per.
• Fromm was 12-of-19 passing for 233 yards and three touchdowns against Missouri’s base defense.

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Missouri Success When Rushing...
...Off Left Tackle: 15 for 88 (5.87 avg.), 2 TD
...Between LT and Left Guard: 3 for 11 (3.67 avg.)
...Between LG and Center: 3 for 11 (3.67 avg.)
To the Left Side: 21 for 110 yards (5.24 avg.), 2 TD

...Between C and Right Guard: 2 for 4 (2.00 avg.)
...Between RG and Right Tackle: 7 for 37 (5.29 avg.), TD
...Off RT: 4 for 21 (5.25 avg.), TD
To the Right Side: 13 for 62 (4.77 avg.), 2 TD

Outside the Tackles: 19 for 109 (5.74 avg.), 3 TD
Between the Tackles: 15 for 63 (4.20 avg.), TD

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Drew Lock Throwing Against...

5 or 6 Rushers
7-of-15, 67 yards, INT; sack for -3, fumble lost
2 QB hurries, 1 hit

3 or 4 Rushers
16-of-33, 154 yards; sack for -11
5 QB hurries, 3 hits

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Jake Fromm Throwing Against...

5 or 6 Rushers
5-of-9, 56 yards, INT

3 or 4 Rushers
8-of-14, 204 yards, 3 TD

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Offense

Quarterbacks
Drew Lock — 85

Running Backs
Tyler Badie — 35
Damarea Keener-Crockett — 27
Larry Rountree — 18

H-Backs
Albert Okwuegbunam — 9
Kendall Blanton — 8

Wide Receivers
Nate Brown — 70
Emanuel Hall — 70
Johnathon Johnson — 62
Albert Okwuegbunam — 35
Kendall Blanton — 15
Jalen Knox — 13
Dominic Gicinto — 4
Kam Scott — 3
Tyler Badie — 2
Damarea Keener-Crockett — 2
Larry Rountree — 1

Tight Ends
Kendall Blanton — 29
Albert Okwuegbunam — 21
Daniel Parker — 1

Line
Paul Adams — 85
Trystan Colon-Castillo — 85
Kevin Pendleton — 85
Tre’Vour Wallace-Simms — 85
Yasir Durant — 82
Hyrin White — 3

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Defense

Ends
Chris Turner — 33
Tre Williams — 32
Nate Anderson — 31
Akial Byers — 6
Franklin Agbasimere — 1

Tackles
Terry Beckner — 42
Walter Palmore — 32
Jordan Elliott — 25
Kobie Whiteside — 22
Nate Anderson — 3

Rush Ends
Nate Anderson — 10
Chris Turner — 8
Tre Williams — 4
Akial Byers — 1

Linebackers
Terez Hall — 63
Brandon Lee — 59
Cale Garrett — 58
Tavon Ross — 1

Nickelbacks
Adam Sparks — 6
Terry Petry — 4
Tyree Gillespie — 2

Cornerbacks
DeMarkus Acy — 62
Adam Sparks — 55
Christian Holmes — 8

Safeties
Joshuah Bledsoe — 52
Khalil Oliver — 51
Cam Hilton — 14
Tyree Gillespie — 8

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Offensive Set Success

3-WR/1-TE/1-RB
Run: 14 for 81 (5.79 avg.)
Pass: 9-of-16, 101 yards (6.31 avg.), INT, fumble lost
Total: 30 plays, 182 yards (6.07 avg.), INT, fumble lost

4-WR/1-RB
Run: 6 for 28 (4.67 avg.)
Pass: 11-of-21, 95 yards (4.52 avg.)
Sack: 1 for -3, fumble lost
Total: 28 plays, 120 yards (4.29 avg.), fumble lost

2-WR/2-TE/1-RB
Run: 7 for 37 (5.29 avg.), 2 TD

3-WR/2-RB
Run: 3 for 18 (6.00 avg.), TD
Pass: 1-of-4, 11 yards (2.75 avg.)
Total: 7 plays, 29 yards (4.14 avg.), TD

2-WR/1-TE/2-RB
Run: 3 for 9 (3.00 avg.)
Pass: 2-of-2, 14 yards (7.00 avg.)
Total: 5 plays, 23 yards (4.60 avg.)

5-WR
Pass: 0-of-4
Sack: 1 for -11
Total: 5 plays, -11 yards (-2.20 avg.)

2-WR/3-RB
Run: 2 for 13 (6.50 avg.), TD

1-WR/2-TE/2-RB
Pass: 0-of-1

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Defensive Set Success

4-3
Run: 23 for 116 (5.04 avg.)
Pass: 7-of-10, 152 yards (15.2 avg.), 2 TD
Kneel: 2 for -2 (-1.00 avg.)
Total: 35 plays, 266 yards (7.60 avg.), 2 TD

3-4
Run: 12 for 66 (5.50 avg.)
Pass: 5-of-9, 81 yards (9.00 avg.), TD
Total: 21 plays, 147 yards (7.00 avg.), TD

Dime (4-1-6)
Run: 1 for 1
Pass: 1-of-2, 27 yards (13.5 avg.)
Total: 3 plays, 27 yards (9.00 avg.)

Dime (3-2-6)
Run: 1 for 4
Pass: 0-of-2, INT
Total: 3 plays, 4 yards (1.33 avg.), INT

5-4
Run: 1 for 0