On Mizzou’s first third down of the game, the line gave up a sack when linebacker Christian Harris blitzed between Delgado and Maietti untouched. PFF tagged Delgado for three hurries and three pressures, while Powell gave up two pressures.
“Obviously part of our job is protecting the quarterback,” Cook said. “There’s a couple hits on him we could have taken off. We could have done a better job of executing in general to take us out of third and long, third and extra long situations where they can really get after the quarterback.”
Overall, though, Drinkwitz came away pleased how his line held together. At full strength, the Tigers have 15 scholarship offensive linemen on the roster, but five were unavailable Saturday. Sophomores Thalen Robinson and Jack Buford opted out for the season. Hyrin White, likely the starter at left tackle if healthy, is out for the season because of a shoulder injury. Both freshmen from the St. Louis area were unavailable, tackle Mitchell Walters from Mehlville (lower leg injury) and center Drake Heismeyer from Francis Howell (undisclosed reason).
“I saw a lot of fight,” Drinkwitz said. “I really did. I thought those guys, answered the bell. I don’t think it was an issue of not being good enough at all. I thought our guys opened up some holes. You know, I probably didn’t give them enough chances in the run game to really get it going in the first half, and that’s on me as a play caller. Larry Rountree ran really hard, and I got to get him some more runs.”
