Louisiana Tech has a new-look offensive system. How is Mizzou football preparing for the unknown?

When Missouri takes on Louisiana Tech on Thursday at Faurot Field, the Tigers will be going into a relative unknown. Beyond the fact that it will be the first matchup ever between the two programs, Missouri finds the Bulldogs in a time of transition.

After a 3-9 record spelled the end for former coach Skip Holtz, Louisiana Tech turned to former Texas Tech offensive coordinator Sonny Cumbie to lead the team.

Thursday will be his first game at the helm.

"We’re unsure of what Louisiana Tech has,” Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz said Sunday. “We do know they have good players. Their record last year wasn’t indicative of how close they were. ... They’re not going to be intimidated.”

More: Mizzou football opens the 2022 season against Louisiana Tech. Here’s how to watch.

The Tigers know Cumbie likes to run an air-raid-inspired offense after playing and coaching under current Mississippi State head coach Mike Leach at Texas Tech. Still, they don’t have any film of the current players running the new system.

What they do have is tape from last year’s Bulldog team, previous stops for players, and even other teams Cumbie has coached.

“You’re kind of hodgepodging it all together,” Missouri defensive coordinator Blake Baker said. “You've got a quarterback that was at a different spot, you've got an offensive scheme that was at a different spot and a personnel that was at a different spot.”

Louisiana Tech’s recently named starting quarterback, Matthew Downing, took the job after transferring in from Texas Christian in the offseason. He played for Cumbie at TCU, back when the coach was offensive coordinator there before moving on to Texas Tech.

Downing played in five games throughout his TCU career, four of them under Cumbie in 2020. He finished that year with 17 completions on 30 throws for 168 yards and a touchdown. He competed through fall camp with Parker McNeal, who played for Cumbie last season at Texas Tech.

“I think tempo is the No. 1 thing,” Baker said of the new-look Louisiana Tech attack. “I think they’re going to try to go fast, spread you out on short perimeter throws, and I think that’s probably going to be the first question we have to answer.”

Baker is familiar with the Louisiana Tech program. He was the Bulldogs’ defensive coordinator from 2015 through 2018.

Some of the players remaining on the roster overlapped with his time there, which has been helpful to the Tigers. That experience has led to conversations with Drinkwitz and Co. about how to best exploit Baker’s former players.

“The two safeties, Jaiden Cole and BeeJay Williamson, I recruited and they actually played for me, so history with those two,” Baker said. “There’s a couple other guys I worked with, (cornerback) Broderick Calhoun’s another guy that comes to mind. But when you look at the front seven, predominantly a lot of these guys I recruited, but they were part of the last signing class, so I don’t know the ins and outs.”

The offensive Tigers have also been watching film of last year’s Cumbie-led Texas Tech team. He served as offensive coordinator until Matt Wells departed, at which time he took over as interim head coach.

More: Running back by committee, starting punter listed on Mizzou football's Week 1 depth chart

The 2021 Red Raiders ranked 50th nationally in total scoring per game, averaging 30.3 points. They were 39th in passing offense, averaging 272.2 yards through the air.

Despite the air-raid reputation, Texas Tech was also effective enough on the ground, averaging 159.1 rushing yards per game.

“(Cumbie) has a quarterback-driven run game that he’s involved that they used last year,” Drinkwitz said. “He used 12 personnel quite a bit to create matchups and mismatches in the run game and the quarterback runs, and he still has the RPO game.”

Drinkwitz brought up one Louisiana Tech receiver in particular who he was keying off of: Smoke Harris, who led the Bulldogs in receiving yards last season with 756 yards and six touchdowns on 71 catches. Given the tempo and reliance on the passing game, Harris has the potential to thrive in Cumbie’s system.

Missouri cornerback Ennis Rakestraw broke down Harris’ game.

“He’s a dynamic receiver,” Rakestraw said. “He’s a shifty guy in the slot and on the outside, he’s got some good use of the great hands. He's getting in and out of his breaks pretty good.”

Missouri released its depth chart for Thursday’s game on Sunday, nailing down starters at most positions. Chad Bailey, who was recently voted as a team captain, will get the start at linebacker for the Tigers.

Bailey reiterated what his teammates and coaches had said about the main threat of the Bulldogs' offense.

“Probably just getting used to the tempo again,” Bailey said. “We know their offensive coordinator and he likes to run that tempo offense.”

Thursday’s game is scheduled to kick off at 7 p.m. and will be shown on ESPNU.

Matt Stahl is the Missouri athletics beat reporter for the Columbia Daily Tribune. Follow him on Twitter @mattstahl97.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: How Missouri football coach Eli Drinkwitz prepares for unknown LA Tech