Know the Opponent | Missouri Tigers - BleedTechBlue: Louisiana Tech Bulldogs Football & Basketball Recruiting

Missouri will be looking to improve upon its 6-7 finish in 2021 that saw the Tigers fall 24-22 to Army in the Armed Forces Bowl to conclude the season.

Eli Drinkwitz is entering his third season as the head coach in Columbia. What's the overall outlook of the Missouri program entering 2022?

Cautiously optimistic. Drinkwitz has landed the two best recruiting classes in school history, which is starting to make a dent in the talent deficit Missouri has faced in the SEC. They're still not there yet, but it's progress. That said, this is the year Missouri needs to turn some of that into results on the field. They're 11-12 in Drinkwitz's first two seasons and the best wins are a bad LSU team and an okay Florida team. I wouldn't say it's been disappointing, but in year three, you'd like to see it translate into a winning record.

Brady Cook is set to make his second career start against Louisiana Tech on Thursday night. The St Louis native totaled 291 yards and 2 TDs in his first career start against Army in the Armed Forces Bowl last season. He's obviously extremely talented, what are his strengths as a quarterback? What are his weaknesses?

He played pretty well against Army considering it was his first start. As far as his strengths and weaknesses, we don't truly know because that's the only time we've seen him. He's far more mobile and athletic than people will give him credit for on first glance. He's a capable and willing runner. He was efficient against Army, but Missouri simply didn't really try anything downfield so we don't know if he can hit the deep ball with any consistency yet. Missouri had an open quarterback competition and Cook won it, so he's the best they've got on the roster. It's just that nobody is sure quite what that means yet.

Former LA Tech assistant Blake Baker will begin his first season as the defensive coordinator at Missouri on Thursday night. Like Louisiana Tech, Missouri really struggled on the defensive side of the football in 2021 allowing 33.8 points per game. What's the outlook for the Tigers defense in 2022?

They brought in a ton of transfers. They'll start at least three of them in DT Jayden Jernigan, LB Ty'Ron Hopper and S Joseph Charleston. Three or four more will probably see significant action. Missouri went from awful (legitimately the second worst run defense and the worst overall Power Five defense) in the first half of the year to merely a below average in the last six games. It was progress, but more needs to be made. Baker is Drinkwitz's third defensive coordinator in three years and this one needs to be the right fit. Even though quarterback is a big question, the defense is probably the biggest question on this team.

Luther Burden was the #1 WR and #4 player overall coming out of HS in 2022, per Rivals.com. What will you guys be paying close attention to when it comes to the talented playmaker on Thursday night? Outside of Burden, who are some names to watch for on the offensive and defensive side of the ball for the Tigers?

Burden's going to start and he's going to get the ball a lot. The expectations are crazy high for him, but he's worthy of the ranking. I went to his season opener last year and the first time he touched the ball it was an 82 yard punt return for a touchdown. He's electric. Now we see how that translates to the college level. The other name to really watch is slot receiver Dominic Lovett, who also played his high school ball at East St. Louis. He had 26 catches for 173 yards as a freshman, but many have pegged him as Missouri's breakout player this year. At running back and tight end, we honestly aren't sure who will start. Defensively, Missouri may go as far as ends Trajan Jeffcoat and Isaiah McGuire will take them. Jeffcoat was an all-SEC player in the COVID shortened 2020 season and McGuire made the second team a year ago. If they can get the best of those two at the same time, Missouri could have a dangerous pass rush for the first time in a while.

Missouri is favored by 19 points with the O/U set at 58.5, how do you see the game playing out Thursday night?

I'm surprised the line is that high. I know Tech was 3-9, but they were close in a lot of games and we know Sonny Cumbie will have an attack that can put up some points. I think Missouri wins the game, but I think it's closer than the home crowd would like. I'll go with something like 37-24.

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