Missouri opens with a win, hosts Wyoming next

It was a bit jarring on Saturday at Faurot Field to see the south end zone open, with the bleachers torn down as part of an ongoing renovation project. It was like someone had left the door open, and the sprawling scene of a college football game just abruptly ended shortly beyond the south end zone.

That view was the only thing mildly out of the ordinary Saturday, as Missouri rolled to a 51-14 win over Tennessee-Martin, a team from lower Football Championship Subdivision. The Skyhawks gave it a shot, but the Tigers (1-0) had them outgunned. Under coach Barry Odom, with quarterback Drew Lock running the offenses, Missouri runs up huge numbers against overmatched teams. It’s an almost unavoidable byproduct of their explosive style, and Saturday was a parade of touchdowns.

But it was a nice start to the season. Missouri got a comfortable win to get the season going. Tennessee-Martin got a nice check for their efforts. And fans who were looking for relief from the relentless sun and hot, humid conditions could leave those unforgiving metal bleachers early, knowing the game was in hand.

Missouri led 28-0 early in the second quarter and 38-7 at the half. The Tigers avoided pouring on the points too bad in the second half, but the offense still put up some big numbers.

Lock basically had a light shootaround, completing 19 of 25 passes for 289 yards and four touchdowns. Emanuel Hall made the most of his four catches, racking up 171 yards and two touchdowns. Missouri had 553 yards of offense, including 394 passing yards.

The schedule gradually gets more difficult now, with a home game against Wyoming, a trip to Purdue, and then a huge home game with Georgia. Missouri is still a big favorite against Wyoming (6 p.m. on ESPN2/ESPNU), but the Cowboys can fight back a lot more than Tennessee-Martin.

Wyoming showed a strong defense in a season-opening win over New Mexico State, and then hung tough with Washington State before losing 41-19 on Saturday. Coach Craig Bohl had tremendous success at North Dakota State before coming to Laramie, where he has gradually built up the Wyoming program. They played in the Mountain West Conference title game in 2016, and lost a halftime lead to Boise State last year or they could’ve played in the conference title game again.

Wyoming is a fairly experienced team. The defense is the team’s strength. The offense was not good last year, but could show some progress this year.

Missouri opened as more than a two-touchdown favorite, but this is more of a test than the opening game. Another high scoring performance against a well-coached, quality defense would be impressive. If the Tiger defense doesn’t look good against Wyoming, it would be an early season red flag.

It would be encouraging to see the Tigers play well again with the trip to Purdue coming up Sept. 15. Wyoming can be feisty, but this should be another solid win for Missouri.