COLUMBIA, Mo. — Here come the Ragin’ Cajuns.
No. 25 Missouri’s season-opening homestand continues Saturday with a visit from Sun Belt Conference program Louisiana for the first meeting between the schools.
The Tigers (2-0) are heavy favorites over the 1-1 visitors, so this game should serve as a tuneup before Mizzou begins Southeastern Conference play next weekend.
The game will kick off at noon — note the time change, explained below — on Faurot Field. It will be streamed on ESPN+ and SEC Network+, plus broadcast over the radio locally on KTRS 550 AM.
Here are three things to watch for in MU-Louisiana:
The time change
Look, it’s not the most entertaining thing, but in the interest of everybody showing up on time, it’s the lead item here: Saturday’s game will begin three hours earlier than initially planned. Noon, not 3 p.m.
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It’s going to be a hot one in Columbia, with temperatures expected to reach 96 degrees by midafternoon. (Those are air temps, too. The turf and metal bleachers will almost certainly be much hotter.)
As a result, the programs agreed to move up the start time to find a marginally cooler window for play. Still, it’s going to be a sweaty affair. Cramping and generalized fatigue could come into play, particularly in the second half as temperatures continue to rise.
The Tigers — and everyone watching from the stands — benefited from quite pleasant weather for the first two games of the season. That luck has evidently run out.
Kicking range
Mizzou was reluctant to try its usual batch of field goals against Kansas, which was the first start for true freshman kicker Robert Meyer. Given his inexperience, the Tigers entered that game knowing they’d be going for any fourth downs spotted at the 25-yard line or farther back, giving Meyer an implied range of 42 yards on field goal tries.
MU coach Eli Drinkwitz said this week that he feels Meyer’s range is really “52 and in,†so that informal rule from the KU game might not apply going forward. Missouri accomplished its goal of getting Meyer some routine makes to start off, so there could be more challenging kicks coming soon.
“Sometimes you need to see that 3-foot putt go in the hole before you back it up to a 12-footer,†Drinkwitz said. “... Now that he’s got a couple of kicks under his belt, we’ll see how practice goes.â€
Still, there’s a degree of uncertainty around Meyer’s range, accuracy and consistency. This game — assuming Mizzou can build a solid cushion of points — could be the time to give him some in-game reps and test his kicking abilities with some lower stakes.
Otherwise, expect more fourth-down action from an offense that is becoming more aggressive out of necessity.
O-line improvements
Given the opponent, this game against Louisiana falls into a similar bucket as the opener against Central Arkansas for a group like Mizzou’s offensive line: There can be negatives learned, but can any positives really emerge?
Maybe, maybe not. At least in terms of the coaching staff, there will be critical eyes on the linemen.
That group allowed more pressure than would’ve been ideal in Game 1. Against the Jayhawks, they improved, but Missouri’s tailbacks had to claw out most of their yardage themselves.
“That ain’t good enough versus anybody,†Drinkwitz said this week. “So I’m not going to pretend and pat each other on the back like we’ve got all this stuff figured out. The name of the game is improvement, and those guys know it. They know I didn’t feel good about it.â€
If there’s any part of the Tigers that doubts the decision to shuffle the offensive line late in camp to insert Curtis Peagler at right guard and shunt Cayden Green out to left tackle, this would be the game to try something different. Regardless of whether that’s the plan, an out-of-hand contest could afford some depth players the chance at reps in the fourth quarter.
A good day in the trenches against Louisiana would mean few to no pressures of quarterback Beau Pribula and some clearer rushing lanes for tailbacks Ahmad Hardy and Jamal Roberts. More specifically, the Tigers are looking to avoid situations where unblocked defensive linemen make it through the line untouched, and the running backs needing to pick up such a high proportion of their yardage after contact.
