No. 9 Missouri seeks improvement entering clash with Buffalo

No. 9 Missouri will look to clean up its passing attack when it faces Buffalo on Saturday in Columbia, Mo.The Tigers (1-0) routed Murray State 51-0 in its season opener. Quarterback Brady Cook completed 20 of 31 passes for 228 yards and a TD, but he failed to connect on multiple downfield throws.Coach Eliah Drinkwitz will seek improvement against the Bulls (1-0) this weekend.”It starts with fundamentals, route depth, timing, the quarterback setting his feet when he makes a throw,” Drinkwitz said after reviewing the game tape. “Not drifting after he throws the ball to get ready to go do a celebration, finish the throw, (and) have your feet set in the pocket. Wide receivers have got to run their routes at the correct depth. They’ve got to explode out of them. The quarterback has got to make the throws.”The Tigers completed passes for 11 different targets, with preseason All-American Luther Burden III catching four passes for 49 yards and a touchdown.Buffalo opened its season with a 30-13 victory over Lafayette in first-year coach Pete Lembo’s debut. The Bulls built a 403-223 total yards advantage.Lembo spent the past three seasons as associate head coach and special teams coordinator at South Carolina, so he knows Missouri well.”I faced these guys the last three years in the SEC and just have tremendous respect for how they have built this program,” Lembo said. “Coach Drinkwitz is really the mastermind behind this whole thing.”He’s a fantastic offensive coach He’s had success offensively everywhere he’s been from the high school ranks all the way up the Power 5.”Bulls linebacker Shaun Dolac earned MAC Defensive Player of the Week honors by making 11 tackles, including two for loss (one sack), and grabbing an interception.

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