Missouri’s offense struggled Wednesday night in the 33-16 Texas Bowl loss to Texas.

The Tigers’ explosive unit and record-setting QB Drew Lock couldn’t get much going against the Longhorns defense. Earlier this month, the former Tigers’ OC Josh Heupel took the UCF head coaching job, and former OL coach Glen Elarbee followed him. That obviously had an impact on how the offense prepared for the bowl game and directly impacted the play-calling.

With Heupel and Elarbee out, that left TEs coach Joe Jon Finley as the game’s offensive play-caller, the first of his career, and offensive analyst Jon Cooper (no, that’s not me!) to coach the OL.

Entering the game, Lock had gone eight consecutive games with at least three TD passes. Wednesday night, Lock had just one.

While there are multiple reasons Missouri struggled against Texas, DE Marcell Harris singled out the departed coaches following the game, according to PowerMizzou’s Gabe DeArmond.

“Realistically, (Josh) Heupel left us in a bad position. It is what it is. And (Glen) Elarbee left us in a bad position. As men they have to look in the mirror. They let a whole bunch of teenage boys down, 18 and 19-year olds down. They left and they have to do what’s best for their family, but I think it showed up a little bit today. We were doing things we haven’t done since maybe the Auburn game. It showed up.

“You practiced for almost a whole month without an offensive coordinator or an offensive line coach after having one of the most dominating offenses in the nation. It’s tough. I believe that they let some guys down. They had to do what’s best for them. I don’t quite understand it, because I know Scott Frost is staying at UCF for their bowl game. So I don’t quite understand all the politics, but it showed up. Texas, I don’t believe they had anyone leave their entire staff. We had two offensive coaches leave from arguably the most explosive offensive in the country so it showed up a little bit.”

Perhaps if Mizzou had been in a New Year’s Six or College Football Playoff game, it would have made sense for Heupel and Elarbee to  return to coach in this game, but in order to get a jumpstart on the Early Signing Period (and learning the current roster), it’s certainly common for coaches to handle it the way Heupel and Elarbee did.