Mizzou missing resilience lacks in loss to Aggies: 'There wasn't much of a response.'

COLLEGE STATION, Texas Fresh out of a cheesy ad for a dubious weight loss product, Missouri has undergone a 21-day transformation.

But the results arent particularly flattering.

The before, from the immediate wake of the Tigers win over Boston College on Sept.

14 that involved coming back from a slow start to win, is a portrait of resilience.

Today was not pretty, was not our best performance, top to bottom but (we) really responded, MU coach Eli Drinkwitz said after beating the Eagles .

We hadnt been challenged all year, and (I) was concerned, with so many new faces, what that response would be.

Today, I think you saw a team thats committed to each other, a team that responds, a team thats never out of the fight.

A week after that game, Mizzou held on in double overtime against Vanderbilt, letting that bout come down a missed field goal.

MU spent its bye week working on third downs and red-zone offense, then a week prepping for the wrong Texas A&M quarterback.

Sure enough, three weeks later, what the Tigers lost is eye-catching.

They lost 41-10 Saturday to the Aggies, with their poll rankings and chances at making it into the College Football Playoff dropping in lockstep.

Thats the after: A team that fell behind early in its first away game of the season only sank deeper.

I mean, (we) come out on the first drive of the second half and we give up a 75-yard touchdown, Drinkwitz said after the loss to A&M, so there wasnt much of a response.

It wasnt for lack of a ready-made setting.

Three weeks ago, the Tigers lamented that they werent getting the spot on the national radar that they so dearly craved.

ESPNs College GameDay spurned that MU-BC game three weeks ago, drawing the ire of wide receiver Luther Burden III.

To me, its disrespect, Burden said after that game, not to have us on the big stage with the big TV cameras.

I took that personal.

Im pretty sure everybody else in that locker room took it personal.

We aint going nowhere.

Were here to stay.

They didnt get the "GameDay" treatment this weekend, but as the only matchup of Top 25 teams, Missouri-Texas A&M earned a visit from the "SEC Nation" pregame show on SEC Network and a national TV spot on ABC.

Burden was interviewed on "GameDay" during pregame warm-ups.

Fellow Mizzou wide receiver Theo Wease Jr.

appeared on the show, too, when he arrived at Kyle Field wearing the Aggies-branded blanket that someone not affiliated with A&M, apparently left in his room as a party favor from a cornerback whose nickname is "the Blanket." Blanketed and bulldozed in the national spotlight, Wease didnt know where the team so ready to respond at a moments adversity went.

I dont know how to answer that, he said when the Post-Dispatch asked players what kept them from responding how they did a few weeks ago.

I wouldnt say that something kept it from happening, defensive tackle Kristian Williams said.

I feel like it was just that weve got to lean more on our preparation.

He suggested that the Tigers could have used their bye week a little more, and that their less-than-maximal use for the bonus prep time held them back in the game.

Maybe so, but there are questions about what this Missouri team is or can be that now factor in more than one blown bye week or blowout.

In its three games against Power Four teams, Mizzou has scored 67 points while giving up 88.

Quarterback Brady Cook has thrown for 676 yards and four touchdowns, which might be passable, but his picking up just 24 rushing yards in those three games has made him look rather one-dimensional.

In fairness to him, MUs offensive line isnt doing a whole lot to help his case, allowing 10 sacks in those games.

The ground game that flourished against the Eagles and Commodores vanished against the Aggies, in part because such a steep deficit required Cook to keep rolling out of the pocket and heaving the ball downfield.

A defense that opened the year with back-to-back shutouts has made up for lost time when it comes to allowing points.

It probably will take a performance of a lifetime in Tuscaloosa at the end of the month even after Alabama's loss to Vanderbilt or some help from teams not even on Missouris schedule for the Tigers to make it into the College Football Playoff.

Theyve got a get-right game next Saturday against a Massachusetts team that has only beaten Central Connecticut this year, which likely wont do much to answer the questions or assuage the concerns.

Just go back to work, Wease said of what the team will do next.

Its the same recipe.

Drinkwitz, even while declining to engage in talk of Mizzous national stature or what Saturdays defeat does to its goals for the season, seemed to think the stakes are a little bit higher than that.

His postgame message in the locker room wasnt quite that of a campaign on the brink, but certainly a season that has bumbled along to a fork in the road.

You got one of two choices.

You can fall apart or you can dig deep and find the resolve to get better, Drinkwitz said.

The season really starts today, and how we respond will determine what kind of football season were going to have.

"At the end of the day, this is one loss.

And its a tough loss because youre embarrassed by the performance Im embarrassed by the performance.

But its just that: Its one game.

Theres really a whole heck of a lot of football left, and its going to be up to us to either seek comfort in placing blame or have the resolve to get it fixed..

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