The Post Script: Black and Gold game

-- Not sure what the wind was like yesterday, but man, Tucker McCann can boom it. His first kick-off went through the endzone and landed on the track. It’s also funny to see his head-bobbing confidence on the TV broadcast after he came off the field.

-- Missouri’s had some issues getting in plays from the sidelines the last few years, when they would have coaches and assistants signaling to the various position groups. Now, Josh Heupel is bringing in a system that uses a board with different colors and numbers to signify plays. Interesting to see that for the first time for the Tigers.

-- Starting offense: QB Drew Lock, RB Ish Witter, WR Keyon Dilosa, WR Chris Black, WR Nate Brown, LT Tyler Howell, LG Pendleton, C Samson Bailey, RG Alec Abeln, RT Paul Adams, TE Sean Culkin.

-- Starting defense: DE Spencer Williams, DT AJ Logan, DT Rickey Hatley, DE Walter Brady, LB Donavin Newsom, LB Mike Scherer, LB Joe Burkett, CB TJ Warren, CB Aarion Penton, S Anthony Sherrils, S Thomas Wilson

-- Obviously a new center takes some getting used to, and on the botched snap to Lock during the first series, it looked like Lock wasn’t quite ready for it. He was still looking to the left when the snap -- which was a little high but nothing bad -- came in.

-- It’s kind of tough to break down the snaps on offense, because there’s a lot of overlap of the teams due to the depth issues. But with Marvin Zanders at quarterback, the changes I see are Tanner Owen at left tackle, AJ Harris at left guard and Adam Ploudre at right guard. Alec Abeln, who started at right guard with the first time, is now at center.

I have to imagine that when Nate Crawford returns from injury, the first-team will go Howell-Crawford-Abeln-Pendleton-Adams from left to right.

-- So it looks like there are pretty much four different positions the tight ends are playing. Through the first two series, they’ve been lined up as an H-back, attached to the line, split out in the slot, and almost lined up directly next to the running back as a fullback.

-- During the second series for the No. 1-offense, Adam Ploudre replaced Alec Abeln at right guard, and Tanner Owen came in for left tackle Tyler Howell. So, again, considerable overlap on the line because of that depth problem.

-- And then more changes, as Harris comes in at left guard and Abeln comes in at center. Yeah, it’s probably kind of pointless to chart snaps for the offensive line at this point when there’s really not a full No. 1 and No. 2 group right now.

-- Through three series, we have two shovel pass attempts. The first came from Marvin Zanders to Ray Wingo, motioning into the backfield. That pass, however, was incomplete. The second came from Lock to Jason Reese. Lock rolled to his left with the running back, looking like an option there, but then pitched it forward to Reese who was motioning underneath. It went for a loss, but certainly interesting to see Heupel trying to get the ball into receivers’ hands quicker.

-- Another slow start by the offense, but it does seem like Lock looks more like the Lock of August and not the Lock of October to November. He seems much more confident and active in the pocket, and on a third-and-15 play, he steps up through pressure and throws a nice pass to Ryan Williams, which is knocked loose on contact. But that was what we saw last August, and something that went away as the season went on.

-- Nice to see some more read-option with Lock, and he gets a first down on a 14-yard run. Lock is an athletic guy, and he could be in position to at least keep teams off-balance this year if they run him a little more.

-- Here’s a screenshot of Walter Brady’s injury. Looked like his knee buckled in when he tried to make the tackle. Seemed to be serious, but the coaches after the game said it wasn’t. At the time, though, it looked bad. The cameras caught defensive line coach Jackie Shipp dropping a curse word on the sidelines when he saw Brady down.

-- Busted coverage on Lock’s TD to Richaud Floyd. Play-action left, Lock rolls right. Most of the defense bit on the fake to the left, and no one was there to cover the middle of the field, where Floyd had the easy catch.

-- In Zanders’ second series, they start with a misdirection shovel pass to Wingo. Zanders and the running back run to the right, but Wingo runs to the left in front of Zanders to get the shovel pass. Just a couple of yards, but it’s interesting to see these wrinkles.

-- As best I can tell, the No. 2 linebackers are Brandon Lee, Cale Garrett and Terez Hall. Doesn’t seem to be much subbing between teams on defense.

-- I don’t know if the stats show it, but Marcell Frazier seems to be having a very active day. I keep noticing him with both the first and second-team defense.

-- Not sure if it was miscommunication or design, but with Jack Lowary in, Missouri goes with two tight ends, two receivers and a running back on a pass play. However, only the two receivers run routes -- everyone else is blocking -- and Lowary still gets pressured.

-- J’Mon Moore torched John Gibson on the 64-yard touchdown. Missouri used two tight ends, one as an H-back and one attached, giving the appearance of a run-heavy personnel. Lock ran a play-action fake to Ish Witter and then immediately found Moore over the top and just lofted a rainbow to let Moore run under it.

By my count, this was the fourth time this game the offense used two tight ends, and before that, each time was a run. So, looks like the defense was again anticipating the run and it burned them.

-- Gibson nearly made up for it later. Lock tried to find Dilosa deep down the sideline, but Gibson was in tight coverage and the ball sailed back into the field, away from the sideline. Gibson breaks up the pass and very nearly has the interception, which would have been the first turnover of the day.

-- Really impressed with the pose of Zanders, too. After picking up a first down on a third-down scramble, he ignores pressure coming at him, steps up and finds a receiver for a nice gain. He missed Kendall Blanton early in the game on what could have been a huge gain, but Zanders looks much better this second half.

-- I’d say the two best drives of the game where the first team’s drive that ended in a 4-yard TD to Floyd and then Zanders’ drive that ends in the 19-yard TD to Justin Smith. Zanders again had a slow first half, but his improvement really showed on that drive. He also got some compliments for making the correct read on a run-pass option.

-- While he didn’t put up huge numbers, I thought Ish Witter looked markedly improved. It definitely looks like he’s in better shape, and I thought he ran stronger and more physically than he has before. He also seems to be a legitimate option in the passing game. However, he needs to work on his arm strength on his 40-yard passes.