The “Across the (By)Line” series will give Kentucky football fans an in-depth look at their opponent for this week — from the mind of the opposing school’s sports editor.
This week: The Maneater, Quentin Corpuel, Missouri
Kentucky has seemed to have Mizzou’s number lately. Do the Tigers have this one circled on their schedule for revenge?
“I think a lot of sports teams and a lot of schools have this one opponent where it doesn’t really matter how good or bad they are, they just always seem to have their number. I’m a New York Yankees fan and in my lifetime and then some the Yankees have always had the Twins’ number.
Mizzou and Kentucky are similar, Kentucky has won seven of the last eight. (Mizzou) has only won once since I was in sixth grade and I’m currently a sophomore in college and that was during the weird Covid season, so I think that definitely matters.
Another thing is how last year’s game ended and transpired, when you have a rule change because of something that happened in the game that went against you something really crazy must have happened and that’s exactly what happened last year with the whole aborted punt snap, punt block fiasco.
I think this is a very important game not just for Mizzou but for people here in Columbia because the Kentucky monkey is one that hasn’t been able to get off of Mizzou’s back for a very long time so I think a victory would not only keep us in the SEC championship race but it would break the glass ceiling that hasn’t really been broken, or has only been broken once in the past several years.”
Both teams enter the contest as previously undefeated and ranked squads who now need a bounce-back win. What will be the difference maker?
“Turnovers. I think turnovers are going to matter a lot.
I believe Kentucky has created 12 this year and Mizzou has only created four. That number has to be higher for Mizzou if they want to win.
We were talking a couple of days ago to Mike Kelly, the voice of the Missouri Tigers, he called football and men’s basketball games and he was talking to the KCOU 88.1, sports section of our student radio station and he was previewing the Kentucky game a bit and he said turnovers are the great equalizer and I totally agree.
It’s been kind of weird this year because Blake Baker’s defense here at Mizzou have prided themselves on creating havoc, blitzing a lot and creating chaos for opposing defenses and at this point in the season you’d like to have created more than four turnovers.
Kris Abrams-Draine has been excellent at doing that so far, but everybody else not so much in terms of creating turnovers and creating havoc.
I think for both teams that’s going to be especially important considering that I think these two teams are very evenly matched. If one team, especially because both offenses are really good, can get a couple of extra possessions that’s going to be a really big deal.”
What worries you the most about this Kentucky team and what should Kentucky worry about most about Mizzou?
“The thing I would be worried about most if I were Mizzou would be the trenches, which is weird to say because they were excellent on the defensive front at just eating up space on the interior and preventing explosive plays on the ground.
That hasn’t really been the case this year as much as it was last year, and it reared its really ugly head against LSU when Jayden Daniels and company tore up Mizzou on the ground. It wasn’t quite to the level of Tennessee a couple of years ago, but it felt like one of those games where they could kind of do whatever they wanted on the ground.
This past week at Tiger Talk, which is an event hosted by Mike Kelly at a barbecue place here in downtown Columbia, he was talking to the defensive line coach Al Davis and Al mentioned gap integrity, staying in your gaps, not getting pushed out of them because that’s how LSU was able to break off a lot of chunk gains on the ground.
I think that’s going to be especially important, Mizzou has the personnel to do it, it’s just about executing.
On the Kentucky front, you all probably know this, Ray Davis is a monster. I’m a little bit worried about it, especially because he ran for a bajillion yards last week, and when he finds a crease, he’s gonna hit it pretty hard and it’s really tough to stop. For Mizzou, that’s probably the one area I worry about the most on Kentucky’s side.
(Kentucky’s) cornerbacks better be ready because Missouri’s got a pretty loaded wide receiver room obviously highlighted by Luther Burden (III), he has been put in a far better position to succeed this year as a slot versus last year he was playing a lot on the outside and this year, he’s playing I believe 85% of the snaps out of slot versus 13% last year and he now leads the nation in receiving yards.
He’s up there in receptions, he’s up there in PFF grades, he’s up there on 2025 draft boards. He’s like an awesome ball handler in basketball but in a football sense, when he has the ball in space you’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, like what is he going to do? Something cool is probably going to happen because something cool usually does happen.’ Kentucky better be ready to tackle.
Then Mookie Cooper: classic, smaller, quicker, faster, gets open a lot over the middle of the field, can’t lose sight of him and Theo Wease (Jr.), he transferred from Oklahoma. Big body 6-foot-2-inches, almost 200 pounds, can dunk on a lot of quarterbacks one-on-one, especially in the red zone. I think he’s going to be a difficult matchup.
This offense has taken a complete 180 from last year, last year was very tough watching them do offense and this year it’s not a chore to move the ball down the field, it’s actually become a strength of this team.
If I’m Kentucky I worry about the aerial attack which has suddenly become very dangerous, and Brady Cook has been worlds better. It’s kind of crazy what happens when your throwing shoulder is fully intact, and you actually have time to throw to actually open receivers.”
What do you think the final result will be when these teams face off?
“Ahead of the Kansas State game I thought Kansas State would win. They did not, so I was like, ‘Okay, I should just always pick against Mizzou.’
I picked LSU last week and LSU won. I’m going to put my superstitious self aside for just one moment, I’ll knock on wood, this is going to be a very close game.
From what I’ve seen from both teams this year, I think Mizzou is going to win a close game. One thing I was very concerned about heading into the year is Mizzou’s ability to win a game 41-38 or 45-42. Like a really really high scoring game, where they’re gonna need to bring their big guns to a shootout. Last week they proved that they can do that. Obviously, the result wasn’t what they wanted, but they proved they can hang with a high powered offense.
I think now it’s just about the defense tightening up, lessening busted coverages, lessening chunk plays both on the ground and over the air. They’re gonna have to earn that trust back from where it was last year.
But I think Mizzou is gonna win a close one, I’m gonna go Mizzou. 33, Kentucky 30. Potential Harrison Mevis game winner at Kroger field. You all will feel the wrath of the thicker kicker.”
