For about a minute, it looked like Missouri had figured Kansas out.
The Tigers were trailing the underdog Jayhawks 6-3, but were driving a few minutes before halftime Saturday in Lawrence, Kan., doing exactly what this spread offense was designed to do. Quarterback Brad Smith got one first down through the air and ran for another. Then the Tigers mixed in their tailbacks beautifully, getting eight yards on a Jimmy Jackson carry and 10 more from Marcus Woods.
But then, the mixing stopped. The offense began to exclusively — and predictably — go through Smith. The drive stalled, and Kansas eventually won 13-3.
The Tigers’ offense was, staggeringly, not spread. After the Woods’ run, Missouri ran 41 plays from scrimmage. Smith was the focal point — meaning he passed, ran or was sacked — on 40 of them. In the entire game, MU’s productive running back trio of Jackson, Woods and Tony Temple touched the ball seven times.
It’s a trend this weekend’s opponent, No. 25 Colorado, understands well. The Buffaloes had speedy freshman receiver Charlie Sherman play Smith’s role in practice this week.
“It’s either Brad Smith right or Brad Smith left, Brad Smith up the middle,” Sherman told the Boulder Daily Camera this week. “If you stop Brad Smith, you’re going to stop Missouri.”
MU coach Gary Pinkel said Monday that the Tigers need to guard against that possibility.
“We want to get a lot of balance in our offense,” Pinkel said. “We play a lot of different players...From a tailback standpoint, without question, they’re good football players and we want to get them involved more and we will do that.”
Two weeks ago against Nebraska, Smith also got the vast majority of plays. Nobody noticed then, however, because Smith rolled up 480 yards of total offense and the Tigers won 41-24.
Against Kansas, though, Smith ran and it didn’t work. He passed and it rarely worked. Then he ran and passed some more, and still it didn’t work.
Pinkel said part of the reason the offense stayed Smith-heavy was because the Tigers buried themselves with penalties and sacks, and that running backs weren’t the way to dig out. He also said that sometimes, Smith decided to keep the ball on option plays that could have been extra touches for tailbacks.
“That’s another touch for the tailback we thought we were going to have and we don’t have it,” Pinkel said. “I think obviously putting all of that on Brad every play is very difficult. So, as coaches, we have to find ways to make sure it gets distributed more.”
Smith said he goes through his read on every option play and doesn’t decide to keep the ball beforehand, but agreed that Woods and Temple need more touches.
“It takes a little bit of pressure off me,” Smith said. “I’m more than willing to share the wealth and let those guys make big plays, too.”
And it’s not just the running backs. The Tigers’ ultra-reliable tight ends, Martin Rucker and Chase Coffman, caught three passes combined against the Jayhawks. Receiver Will Franklin didn’t catch a pass for two whole games in October. Reciever Brad Ekwerekwu hasn’t made more than two catches in the past five games.
“It’s definitely tough, and at times it’s frustrating, but I think in this offense you can’t really be selfish,” Ekwerekwu said.
Things might change Saturday.
If they don’t, everything will be on Smith again. And the Buffaloes will be ready.