Heading into Saturday's matchup with UMass, one area Mizzou must improve on is finishing drives with touchdowns. This has been a recurring issue over the past two seasons, but it has especially stalled the Tigers' progress through their first five games this year.
Last season, Mizzou scored on 56 of 58 drives in which they reached the red zone, ranking third nationally in scoring percentage. However, the Tigers only managed touchdowns on 36 of those 58 drives, resulting in a 62% touchdown rate.
This season, we’re already seeing the same trends, with Mizzou scoring on 20 of its 21 trips to the red zone. The issue: of those 21 drives, the Tigers have only managed 13 touchdowns—once again, a 62% touchdown rate, identical to last season when rounded.
Coach Drinkwitz has acknowledged this issue, emphasizing it as a critical area for improvement if Mizzou wants to return to its winning ways this season.
"In the red areas we've not been good in the power four games," Drinkwitz said. "You know, there's a lot of different things that can get fixed but if you just fix those issues, I think everything else kind of falls into place. So being better in the red zone."
This will undoubtedly be a point of emphasis if Missouri hopes to win marquee matchups as the season continues.
Saturday against UMass presents a perfect opportunity for the Tigers to establish momentum and build efficiency heading into a challenging SEC stretch to close out the season.