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Missouri 41, Arkansas State 19: Grading the defense

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Your defensive MVPs: Michael Sam (8.00), Andrew Wilson (7.26), E.J. Gaines (7.21), Markus Golden (6.97), Shane Ray (6.80). And yes, there are calls to sign the guy who made the FG during one of the timeouts.

Bill Carter

Defensive Coordinator

Dave Steckel: 5.59 (season: 6.24)


After the game plan and adjustments in Bloomington, was dissapointed with the bend/break defense on Saturday

Bend but don't break is dangerous but it's been working so far. Interesting to see how we stack up against SEC offenses.

Cannot afford to give up huge yardage in 1st half.

Duron Singleton is the best option at safety, especially entering into SEC play. Dude can ball and stop the run better that M White.

e hould be ale to manandle a team like Ark State..w sem to be lost at ties the quik pass/screen pas

Forget the "Bend, don't break" try STUFF STUFF STUFF it at the line

Got to do something about the slow starts

House cats

I don't know if its a scheme problem or what but swing passes/screens end with the guy 5 yards downfield before we touch them. Some how when our offense runs them we are on our back as soon as we catch it.

I don't know what to call his defense, but he should see about getting sponsored by Target.

In his defense, ASU had ball way too much in 1st half

Low rating, hs to 'double' dreds

Marine, doesn't believe in pressure on WR, has a broken arm


Not a fan of the continued slack coverage especially against teams without top notch WRs

Not too bad.

Only one touchdown, and on a drive that started in Mizzou territory

Pressure early on was an issue. It's hard to pin that on Stec, though.


Pretty good this week, did not break. -Mac6

Pretty Soft effort from his defense

Stop letting them pic us appart and trust the guys to jam the recievers and move the linebackers up

The bend-don't-break approach can be frustrating to watch at times, but it got the job done on Saturday. Still need to do a better job against the run, though.

The Card says we fire him.

Too much cushion on the corners. Over & over. SSDG

Too much Zone

Ummm, no halftime adjustments?

You are still a machine. You only gave up one touchdown. As much as I had wished they hadn't moved down the field as much as they had you still get mad props.

zone too soft

Defensive End

Michael Sam: 8.00 (season: 6.70)
Markus Golden: 6.97 (6.61)
Shane Ray: 6.80 (6.16)
Kony Ealy: 6.56 (6.44)
Brayden Burnett: 6.30 (5.61)

7s on the DEs. No pick six so no 8s or above. :)

A lot of pressure throughout the game even with the ball coming out quick. Ray was outstanding.

Another good game from the D-line, especially Sam. Must keep this up in conference play.

At what point do we say maybe ealy just isn't that good?

Best unit

Big week for the backups: Burnett with a sack, Golden with a timely forced pass, Ray in on several tackles. But Sam deserves the most credit.

DL easily the high point of the defense this week

Everyone looked really good actually. Sam was the star this game but I heard everyones name called more than once. I still believe that Ray will be a monster in the near future.

Expecting too much of Kony

Golden is EVERYWHERE and Shane Ray has really shown me some flashes. Ealy and Sam have begun to become forces that offenses game plan around.

Keep it up. maybe 3 down or 4 De's once in a while.

Kony Ealy, now you see me, now you don't. Ray and Sam are getting it done.

Let's hope everybody stays healthy.

Relentless pursuit must continue.

Sam beasted

Sam gets a 9, Ealy a non-factor?? -Mac6

Sam tore it up on Saturday.

Sam was outstanding.Burnett was great off the bench. Ealy had some strong moments. Golden was good except a big missed tackle on someone 60 lbs lighter than him.

Sam's a beast, Golden looked good again and Burnet found a move late in the game that really worked for him, solid effort

Someone on our D line will now will the SEC d-line player of the week every week

They seem to be getting better. Which is great for us. It's like the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park evolving.

Why we go away from using our DEs to score touch downs?

Defensive Tackle

Harold Brantley: 6.71 (season: 6.16)
Lucas Vincent: 6.25 (5.89)
Josh Augusta: 6.09 (5.84)
Marvin Foster: 5.87 (5.45)

As season progresses, hope each can come out swinging.

Didn't notice them. -Mac6

Even without Hoch the DTs did a great job of getting pressure. To my untrained eye Vincent seems to be getting better each game and Brantley did a phenomenal job filling in as a starter.

I just absolutely love seeing Augusta contributing this much as a true freshman.

I think I remember some instances of good push up the middle. KEEP IT UP.

I'm stoked about Brantley and Augusta for the next 3-4 years. Just the way Brantley moves is Richardson/suh like. Looks like he could pack on another 10-15 and not slow down a bit.

Is Augusta getting more comfortable? He's ready to make a substatial impact.

Matt Hoch would like to be graded on his cheering ability

More sacks, please.

No grade for Hoch. Augusta and Brantley seem to be steadily improving.

same as above

see DE comment

Solid game against the run. Knocked down a couple balls good game.

They are bigger

Vincent you're suspossed to catch the ball and return it for a TD not punch it! You would have got SEC Lineman of the Week for sure. Overall this unit just keeps holding its own.

Vincent, I'm just not impressed. Brantley was great, esp with his pass deflection that led to the Gaines, extending our streak to 34 GAMES WITH A TO!


Andrew Wilson: 7.26 (season: 6.48)
Kentrell Brothers: 5.77 (5.96)
Donovan Bonner: 5.75 (5.88)
Darvin Ruise: 5.42 (5.83)

17 tackles?! Diagnosis: Acceptable.

All I really remember from this group is Wilson's beastly performance. Can you blame me?

Andrew Wilson was a beast, another 9. -Mac6

At times I thought these guys got beat and others I thought they did really well. So I'm just going to call it an okay day for everyone.

average, behind the line, after missing a few tackles, LBs and DBs becasme tentative and allowed way too many yards and yielded way too many missed tackles, easily worse showing of year for both groups

How is Andrew Wilson legal in the U.S.?

I'd like to see the LB's work through traffic at L.O.S. make effectively. Shed blocks and recognize the play quickly.

Missed tackle. Missed tackle. Missed tackle. Broken coverage. Missed tackle. Wow, that was sloppy. However, Wilson had a couple good hits on the qb.

OLB's better be ready to cover TE's and the outside screens.


Tackle, please God tackle

Tackling? Can we Tackle

They did well.

They're all terrible and can't tackle, let's just not play any of them

Too many missed tackles by linebackers

Underneath routes are killing us

Way too many missed tackles

Wilson had seventeen tackles, and almost all of them were covering sideline to sideline on swing/bubble passes

Wilson is a tackling machine.

Wilson's a stud. That's all.


E.J. Gaines: 7.21 (season: 7.53)
Aarion Penton: 5.78 (6.07)
John Gibson: 5.53 (5.53)
Randy Ponder: 5.45 (5.76)
David Johnson: 5.40 (5.64)

About 7 more INTs for EJ and people outside of Columbia will begin to notice.

Almost gave Ponder an 8 because of the hit, beautiful form tackle. EJ got burned on the back shoulder TD.

Another 9 for EJ. -Mac6

average, behind the line, after missing a few tackles, LBs and DBs becasme tentative and allowed way too many yards and yielded way too many missed tackles, easily worse showing of year for both groups, Gaines gets a 6 because of the pick, but all rankings for LBs and DBs prob still too high

Didn't get beat deep outside of 1 pass that I can remember but allowed wide open receivers underneath all day long

EJ Turn your head around please. Ponder honestly looked okay for the short amount of time he did play. Honestly Penton impressed me the most. I'm sure he got more (but possibly not much more) playing time than he was expecting and he did pretty well. Kid seemed to step up.

Except for one WR, they did really well. Since the final score is great. They did what they needed.

Free Randy Ponder!

Gaines and Ponder made the memorable plays for different reasons. One positive of the ejections is getting players playing time.

Gaines got burned a bit and Ponder was barely around. Penton did a great job filling in. Johnson and Gibson I don't remember.

Gaines is clearly the defensive MVP so far.

Gotta be more aggressive in covering at the line.

I think they need to reduce the cushion they give to WR. While it does keep most plays in front, quick WR screens have hurt because corners can't shed blocks quick enough and because they play so deep at times it takes too long from them to recognize the threat.

Jam at the line

Ponder got screwed

Ponder makes his best play of his career and gets flagged. Wow. Gaines had some great plays and allowed more catches that usual. Penton looked good until the long catch on 3 and long. Gibson looked good.

Rowdy Randy got booted, gaines got exploited on one drive, then he went back to being all SEC

Targeting is a stupid rule and whoever came up with the ejection part of it should be thrown in a bottomless pit, these kids only play so many games before their careers are over and to take a game from them for accidentally making helmet to helmet contact is a joke

targeting is fun

Targeting sucks, gaines is still good

That was not targeting. SOMEBODY SCORED A TD ON EJ. And Aarion did a good job under pressure.

Wish we played a little more press coverage. With our safeties inability to help deep I understand though.


Braylon Webb: 6.20 (season: 6.26)
Ian Simon: 5.96 (6.07)
Matt White: 5.60 (5.58)
Duron Singleton: 5.56 (5.56)
Cortland Browning: 5.42 (5.59)

A lot of missed tackles for the safeties.

Another game another breakdown that led to a guy getting behind everyone.


Browning and Singleton played?

Don't remember these guys' names being called or making plays so I'm going with my default "6 in a win where you hold the opponent under 20 points"

I don't remember. So just fine.

I heard Singleton's name a few times, but I'm just not a fan of what these guys are doing

I liked what I saw from our safeties Webb and White

IMO Mizzou has a WillyMo prototype in Duron Singleton, and in comparing him to Matt White, I don't understand how White is still starting. Outside of coverage, Mizzou needs a safety that can make a solo tackle consistantly. Duron needs to play in more than just the nickel

It's okay safeties I still love you. However, in all honesty you guys really did do okay. Actually noticed Singleton and was impressed with his play.

Matt White is the cause of all the World Wars

Matt White's selfish refusal to commit a targeting penalty is just the latest example of why he's not a team player.

Tackle, tackle,tackle, make a play

They aren't as fast as corners.

We need help at Safety. Why isn't Simon starting?

Webb had a good game. -Mac6

Special Teams

Andrew Baggett (kickoffs): 7.93 (season: 7.96)
Braylon Webb (holder): 6.92 (7.06)
Jake Hurrell (long-snapper): 6.76 (7.13)
Christian Brinser (punter): 6.76 (6.23)
Andrew Baggett (place-kicker): 3.95 (5.37)

A fan made a 30 yard field goal, Andrew.

Bagget still needs to hone that leg in, but I can't complain about his power. Brinser your 48.7 average punting for the game was pretty impressive. So there was one werid snap that looked really funky for this group and I don't know if it was actually a funky snap or a messed up hold (even though it seemd to be kinda recovered) etiher way you both get marked down cause I can't find a place to review it.

Baggett missed a 24 yarder... The random fan drilled a 30 yarder....

Baggett, we want you to be Jeff Wolfert on steroids, not Adam Crossett on steroids.

BAGGETT!!!! I love his kickoffs and hate his fieldgoals so much

Baggett. Come on buddy. Let's get those misses to a lesser % of your kick total.

Brinser's longest punt of the year came when he dropped the ball. Baggett needs to worry about working his legs more and less on his upper body- needs all the help he can get.

Can we sign the guy who made the 30 yard kick during the TV timeout?

Decent job. Baggett needs some work on his accuracy.

FG game is not good. Kickoffs are consistantly good. Webb had a great save of a bad snap

Field goals are tough from the far hashmarks, but Baggett still needs to make those kicks at this level.

Have tyo find a kicker that can make a chip shot

I hear the soccer team is having tryouts next week for a new place-kicker

I wanted to give a shout out to Duron Singleton for his great special teams tackle on punt coverage.

If we ever need a field goal to win the game, please tell me The Card will say "go for two".

Must execute always. Done well minus missed FG

Need to get FGs and PATs figured out

Still trying to understand how Baggett missed that field goal

That missed FG was bad. -Mac6

They certainly are

we're going to lose a game because of a missed FG this year and it's going to be the absolute worst

Webb gets kudos for the one snap that wasn't perfect, everyone else fair, but missing FGs is starting to become an issue

Why did Pinkel go for 2pt conv? Baggett was going to MISS the extra point!

WTF with the field goals????