Missouri (2-4, 0-3) will square off against the nation’s No. 5-ranked pass offense this weekend when it hosts Middle Tennessee (4-2, 2-1 C-USA) at Memorial Stadium.
Blue Raiders sophomore quarterback Brent Stockstill, son of head coach Rick, has completed 179-of-276 (64.9 percent) pass attempts for 2,091 yards, 18 touchdowns and five interceptions at the midway point of the 2016 season and is coming off a 434-yard, three-touchdown performance in a heartbreaking overtime loss to conference foe Western Kentucky.
Coach Barry Odom understands that MTSU is no pushover and has been stressing that to his players all week.
“You look at the job that coach Stockstill has done there – and I know it first-hand because we played against him and recruited against him when I was at Memphis – I’ve got such great respect for him and his staff,” Odom said during Wednesday’s SEC teleconference. “You watch them play, they’re averaging about 40 points a game, they’re playing so aggressive defensively. I know what that program is about, because it was something that I saw it first-hand and respect.
“We’ll have to play really well and prepare absolutely every minute that we have to give ourselves a chance to play as good as we can against a really good opponent,” he continued. “I’m really impressed with the way that they’ve played and just their structure on offense. Their quarterback is one of the best that I’ve seen, and, by the way, happens to be the head coach’s son. We recruited him when I was at Memphis. Very, very high respect for what they’ve done.”
Middle Tennessee has had some explosive games throwing the ball this season, but so has Missouri. Despite last week’s poor outing against Florida, quarterback Drew Lock still ranks No. 2 in the SEC with 1,714 yards passing and boasts a touchdown-to-interception ratio that is well over 2-to-1.
Regardless, the Tigers will not be overlooking their Group of 5 opponent when they kick off at 4 p.m. ET. As of today, Missouri (-6.5) is just a one-score favorite entering the nonconference contest.
“Fortunately, you turn on the video and you get started watching them, and it jumps out pretty quick how good and talented they are. Our guys, what we’ve tried to do every week is focus on us, getting as good as we can. We haven’t played very well the last couple weeks, but we’ve also played against some really good teams. We’re not that far off from hopefully making some plays in all three phases.
“We understand by looking at these guys since Sunday, as a team, how explosive they are and how hard they play and how well-coached they are.”
Tyler Waddell is a member of the Saturday Down South news team. He brings over five years of professional journalism experience and is closing in on a Bachelor's in sports management. Follow him on Twitter (@Tyler_Waddell).
