Missouri Football: Why the Tigers are optimistic despite loss to UK

Missouri football suffered a narrow loss to Kentucky on Saturday night and here are three takeaways for the Tigers. 

The Missouri football team suffered a tough 28-35 loss to the Wildcats Saturday night, despite a superb effort from QB Conner Bazelak.

The Missouri Tigers traveled to Kroger Field at the University of Kentucky to take on their SEC East cohorts, fresh off a 34-24 win against the Central Michigan Chippewas in week one. The Tigers knew they’d have their hands full, having lost five of the last six meetings with the Wildcats.

Throughout the entire game against the Wildcats, the Missouri football team seemed to take one step forward and two steps back. This Tigers had a difficult time stopping the Kentucky run game, allowing junior running back Chris Rodriguez Jr. to carve up the Missouri defense for 206 yards by himself.

Here are three key takeaways for Missouri football after suffering their first loss of the season.

3. The Missouri Tigers had no answer for the ‘Cats running game

As a team, Kentucky’s offense torched the Missouri defense for 340 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns. Chris Rodriguez Jr. led the way, rushing for 206 yards, and scored three of those touchdowns by himself.

Even junior QB Will Levis gained 25 yards on 11 attempts, netting one rushing touchdown.

Head Coach Eli Drinkwitz must address this if they expect to have any success this offseason. Fans have a reason to be optimistic about the adjustments and should not panic.

The Tigers shored up their passing defense since allowing more than 300 passing yards in last week’s win over Central Michigan. Missouri allowed just 179 passing yards against Kentucky– a marked improvement in just one week’s time.