Mizzou Football

Three games into his career, Terry Beckner Jr. is too good not to start

Here are today's Mizzou Links.

By Bill Connelly@SBN_BillC Sep 25, 2015, 5:00am CDT

What's On

Defense good.

Defense real good
Post-Dispatch: Beckner on fast track at Mizzou

"He’s a very a talented young guy and he’s playing really well for a guy so young," MU coach Gary Pinkel said. "He’s got great movement. He’s very naturally strong. He’s a really good competitor. He’s going to get a lot better than he is now.

"We’re not building a statue."

That’s a classic Pinkel phrase to temper hyperbolic praise from spinning out of control, but with Beckner, the early returns have justified the hype. Through three weeks, he’s been part of a five-man rotation at the two interior spots, trading snaps with starters Josh Augusta and Rickey Hatley. As long as the coaches stay true to the depth chart updated Monday, the 6-4, 310-pound Beckner will start in place of Hatley, who leads the defensive tackles with eight tackles. Beckner’s made six tackles — two behind the line of scrimmage.

Offense bad

Offense real bad.

Stat Spotlight: The 100 Club - Columbia Daily Tribune | Columbia Missouri: Behind The Stripes

The Tigers are already in a select club this season of teams whose total offense rank is 100 spots or worse than their total defense rank. They join Kent State (third, 125th, 122 variance), Boston College (first, 109th, 108) and -- surprise! -- Week 3 opponent Connecticut (18th, 119th, 101).

If Missouri were to keep this up for the entire season, they would join only 14 other schools since 2000 to do so. [...]

The average record of those 14 teams above was 5-7. Only five of the 14 had winning records and only four went to bowls.

So basically, this is a balance that will not continue to bear fruit. With every win, Mizzou buys its offense some time, but ... time's about to run out. Time to produce.

PowerMizzou.com - 'Keep battling'

Without a doubt, the offensive struggles have caught much of the staff by surprise. Henson, in the preseason, said he believed he could put the offense in better position to execute earlier.

That hasn't happened so far.

"We expect a little more consistency," Gary Pinkel said. "When something goes bad, you drive down and miss the field goal, it multiplies after a while. You have anxiety over what happened because of what happened the game before?