The work behind Kirby Moore’s early success as Mizzou football offensive coordinator

Kirby Moore doesn’t beat around the bush. Simple questions beget to-the-point answers.

It’s effective.

Kind of like his Missouri offense so far.

The first-year Mizzou football offensive coordinator, who joined the Tigers (7-1, 3-1 Southeastern Conference) from Fresno State in January, has had a productive start to his career in Columbia.

The Tigers are 30th in the FBS for total offense, up from 82nd last season. Brady Cook’s 282.4 passing yards per game rank 18th in the country. Moore’s team, with Luther Burden III and Cody Schrader dealing numbers, is on course to field both a 1,000-yard receiver and a 1,000-yard rusher in Year 1.

If you ask, there’s no complexity, no secret sauce, no witchcraft. At least none that he’s willing to share.

Instead, over time, they’ve worked out what works for them.

“You know, we're all we're all trying to do our job, and I think with the offense, give credit to our guys and the offensive staff,” Moore said. “That's the biggest thing I would say. We've continued to improve throughout the season, and it's a balance. We're trying to be a multiple offense that attacks.”

There’s been plenty of good about Missouri’s attack, and it’s through that continual improvement — a method they’ve reached through self-scouting and multiple modifications — that the pieces have been coming together.

That explains Burden’s uptick in production from Year 1 to Year 2. The star wide receiver totaled 375 receiving yards as a freshman compared to 905 through eight games this year.

“For Luther, moving to the slot was a natural transition,” Moore said. “He does a really nice job in terms of short area routes, quickness, doing some tremendous things with the ball in his hand. And now he's stretching the field vertically in terms of the pass game and it gives him some free access coming off the line.”

How about Cook’s improvement?

Moore saw it coming, again due to what was going on behind the scenes.

He saw Cook every day, 30 minutes early to every meeting, roaming the training facility’s halls.

“Brady's work ethic is second to none,” Moore said.

And Schrader, who has essentially taken over at running back, taking every carry against South Carolina.

“Cody, I would (call) the ultimate competitor,” Moore said. “(He’s) getting himself healthy throughout the week, taking mental reps when he's not able to take the physical reps during the week. And his execution is at a really high level right now.”

Moore saw the potential early on, he said, but noted that “there was a lot of work to be done.”

Some of that potential is shining through.

Some of it still needs workshopping.

For instance: Missouri ran with 15 players — two with just two snaps apiece — versus South Carolina. Moore said that was a one-off, and just how the game played out.

He also still wants to see some development behind Schrader, who has played much of the season with a quad injury but still continues to take a majority of the reps.

And if you ask Moore what they’re working on, he’ll give you a list.

Taking care of the ball; penalties; third-down execution.

“It's a constant work in progress, right?” Moore said. “That's the big thing for us. It's every day, right, 1-0, making the corrections that we need to.”

Moore repeatedly went back to the turn of phrase “self-scouting.”

That seems to strike the chord of exactly how Moore is getting the most out of the Missouri offense.

There was less than a couple of months between the coordinator joining the staff and the Tigers starting spring camp. Everything since then, he said, has essentially been a process of elimination.

They shelved plays that weren’t working. They evaluated what worked against their ever-improving defense.

And that system is carrying them all the way into this week and on to No. 1-ranked Georgia — the Tigers’ opponent Nov. 4 on the road after coming off of an idle week. The winner of that matchup, the ninth in Missouri’s best start to a season since 2013, will control their own destiny in the SEC East race.

But before the Tigers start thinking about UGA defensive back Tykee Smith and linebacker Smael Mondon Jr. and coach Kirby Smart’s two-time reigning national champions, there’s some housekeeping to do.

To keep the process simple:

“The big thing for us is every day is its own,” Moore said. “And so today there are certain self-scout things we're going to be working on, and we will start to introduce Georgia, yes, but we’ve got to clean those things up in a hurry for this next stretch of games.”

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: The work behind Kirby Moore’s early success as Mizzou's offensive coordinator