Missouri Receivers And Ohio State Secondary Will Be Strength On Strength In Cotton Bowl

ARLINGTON, Texas — When Ohio State and Missouri tangle in the Cotton Bowl on Friday it will be a matchup of one of the nation’s best secondaries and one of the nation’s best group of wideouts.

Missouri’s talented trio of Luther Burden, Theo Wease, and Mookie Cooper have produced 162 catches for 2,265 yards and 14 touchdowns this season. Burden has 12 receptions of at least 30 yards this season. Even freshman Marquis Johnson has been impressive. He has 12 catches on the season and six of them have gone for at least 30 yards.

Matching up against them will be Ohio State cornerbacks Denzel Burke and Davison Igbinosun, and nickel back Jordan Hancock. All three have had fantastic seasons for the Buckeyes, but this will be their stiffest test yet.

“Most definitely,” Burke said when asked if this was the best group of wide receivers they’ve faced. “They’re just an explosive wideout group. We’ve got to keep stuff in front of us. No. 3 (Burden) is the best. They make a lot of good contested catches. Solid on route running and, yeah, they know how to make plays.”

Burden has 83 receptions on the season for 1,197 yards and eight touchdown, and while Missouri quarterback Brady Cook will certainly look for him a great deal, he won’t ignore his teammates. Cook will get everybody involved, and he’ll do it from a number of different angles.

“Yeah, overall, it’s challenging because they do spread the field,” said Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles. “I think they create openings for their receivers and mismatches. There’s a lot of motions. There’s a lot of shifts. So they do a great job of getting those guys free. I think that’s really a big thing. They’re really good, but their offense is structured to get them free through movements and shifts.”

As for Burden, he will line up just about everywhere for the Tigers. Most of the time you can find him in the slot, but he will also line up in the backfield or out wide, and there will generally be some kind of motion by Burden or a teammate. It’s a lot to keep an eye on.

“Absolutely. He’s everywhere,” Knowles said of Burden. “He’s as talented a guy as we have faced. He’s a guy — you said it, you better know where he is at all times. And he’s in so many different places, so it makes it challenging.”

Burden said on Tuesday that he doesn’t have a favorite place to line up, but admitted he is most effective in the slot. That means much of the duty of defending him could end up with Hancock.

Burden is explosive all over the field, and can make something out of very little after the catch. What will be the key for Hancock and Co. in holding him in check?

“You have to tackle him before he gets started,” Knowles said. “That’s the key. Really breaking on the ball and getting him before he gets started. Because, like you said, he’s dangerous after the catch. So you got to be great in your breaks and leveraging him and owning your hip and doing all the right things that you’re trained to do. But most importantly, you can’t give him that much space, because he will make you pay.”

This isn’t just going to be a one-way street, however. The Missouri receivers understand what they have ahead of them.

The Buckeyes have the No. 1 pass defense in the nation, allowing just 147.4 yards passing per game. They have the No. 3 pass efficiency nationally, and they are holding quarterbacks to a nation-low 4.9 yards per attempt.

“They’re good corners. That’s all I got on that. They’re good corners,” Wease said.

After being asked if it was hard for him to praise opposing cornerbacks, Wease said a little bit more.

“No, not at all,” he said. “Specifically me, if I’m going against a good corner that’s known or I’ve been watching film and I like what they do, I’ll tell them before the game, like, ‘Let’s get some work in. Let’s work. Let’s give the people what they want to see.’ So no, I give props when props are due. They’re good corners for sure.”

Burden is also looking forward to the challenge, which could be Missouri’s toughest to date.

“Yeah, it’s a full force, you know?” Burden said. “I’m excited to play them. Excited just to be here and compete at the highest level. Most of those guys on the team are gonna be playing on Sunday, so there’s gonna be a good matchup. I mean, they’re the number one passing defense in the country, so we’ve got to lock all the way in and we’ve got to trust the process and we’ve got to stay together.”

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