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The Tigers handled Mississippi State on the road Saturday, but the grades are still a mixed bag.

In case this is your first time, or you want the reminder:These grades come from PFF, not this writer. They're at times misaligned with what happened on the field, and certainly not as important of a metric as the final score.

PFF bases all of its grades, including college ones, on NFL standard: 90-100 is elite, 85-89 is Pro Bowl caliber, 70-84 is starting level, 60-69 means backup and anything between 0-59 is replaceable. Want to assign different labels to those number ranges? Go for it. Nobody will know.

Offensive line

• LT Marcus Bryant, 79 snaps, 79.0
• LG Cayden Green, 79 snaps, 67.0
• C Drake Heismeyer, 79 snaps, 52.2
• RG Cam'Ron Johnson, 79 snaps, 74.3
• RT Armand Membou, 79 snaps, 77.3
• OL Mitchell Walters, 9 snaps, 64.5

You don't need proprietary grades to tell you that the Missouri offensive line had a good day. The Tiger's nearly 42 minutes of possession — a long time for the big men in the trenches to go at each other — yielded plenty of rushing yards and just two quarterback pressures. Only one of those was attributed to the offensive line, with Bryant tabbed as responsible. Johnson was the only offensive lineman called for a penalty.

Quarterback

• Brady Cook, 79 snaps, 77.2

Cook did what he needed to do, completing 75% of passes, escaping the pocket as needed and finding receivers downfield. Though the deep passes clicked, his average depth of target was 8.1 yards, which isn't particularly deep at all. 

And on those deep throws: Cook completed three of his four passes aimed 20 or more yards downfield. He threw almost exclusively over the middle of the field, completing 14 of 16 throws to targets between the numbers. 

Mississippi State didn't blitz particularly often — only 34.8% of Cook's dropbacks — but he completed all of his passes against the blitz.

Running backs

• Nate Noel, 37 snaps, 62.8
• Marcus Carroll, 21 snaps, 63.0
• Jamal Roberts, 20 snaps, 60.4
• Kewan Lacy, 1 snap, 65.2

Lacy's role dropped off with only one half of action — an uncomfortable tackle took him out of the game with what a team spokesperson said was an upper-body injury. Noel continued to be the primary back while Carroll feasted on goal-line work with Roberts also finding consistent touches. The Tigers' committee has developed clear spots for all four.

As a team, Mizzou once again excelled at running the ball behind new center Drake Heismeyer, getting more than 5 yards per carry to the gaps on either side of him. The Tigers ran the ball to the left 22 times and the right 25 times in a fairly balanced scheme. 

Wide receivers/tight ends

• TE Jordon Harris, 57 snaps, 66.4
• TE Brett Norfleet, 53 snaps, 64.1
• WR Joshua Manning, 47 snaps, 64.3
• WR Theo Wease Jr., 44 snaps, 72.4
• WR Luther Burden III, 38 snaps, 90.5
• WR Marquis Johnson, 33 snaps, 79.0
• WR Mekhi Miller, 29 snaps, 54.9
• WR Daniel Blood, 5 snaps, 56.5
• TE Tyler Stephens, 1 snap, 60.0

There may not be a better indicator of how Mizzou's offense operated than the fact that its two tight ends both got a good deal more work than any of the Tigers' wide receivers. 

Burden, despite running plenty of routes, still managed an efficient 5.69 yards per route run. His average depth of target was just 3.6 yards downfield, which he then boosted with 9.3 yards after the catch per reception.

Defensive line

• DE Johnny Walker Jr., 40 snaps, 66.6
• DE Zion Young, 35 snaps, 70.5
• DT Kristian Williams, 33 snaps, 62.0
• DT Chris McClellan, 27 snaps, 67.2
• DT Sterling Webb, 27 snaps, 67.2
• DE Eddie Kelly Jr., 17 snaps, 75.2
• DE Jahkai Lang, 12 snaps, 60.3
• DT Marquis Gracial, 8 snaps, 62.4
• DT Jalen Marshall, 7 snaps, 63.1

Walker had a day, pressuring the Bulldogs' Michael Van Buren Jr. six times and sacking him once. McClellan was the only other defensive lineman to create multiple pressures. 

Linebackers

• Triston Newson, 45 snaps, 50.2
• Corey Flagg Jr., 33 snaps, 49.5
• Chuck Hicks, 22 snaps, 61.6
• Nicholas Rodriguez, 2 snaps, 59.8

It seems to be concretely a three-man rotation at this position, which has been the trend lately. It also wasn't a banner outing for the linebacker group against State.

Newson missed a team-high four tackles while recording just one made tackle, which clearly impacted his grade. Flagg missed two and — along with Hicks — drew an unnecessary penalty after a play.

Defensive backs

• STAR Daylan Carnell, 47 snaps, 49.8
• CB Dreyden Norwood, 46 snaps, 57.8
• S Joseph Charleston, 43 snaps, 64.1
• CB Toriano Pride Jr., 41 snaps, 57.0
• S Caleb Flagg, 27 snaps, 57.3
• S Marvin Burks Jr., 23 snaps, 40.2
• CB Nicholas Deloach Jr., 19 snaps, 44.3
• S Tre'Vez Johnson, 11 snaps, 72.8
• STAR Sidney Williams Sr., 7 snaps, 63.5

The personnel usage is noteworthy here — the Tigers made some performance-related tweaks. Flagg and Pride played more than Burks and Deloach, respectively, after the latter duo's struggles that are reflected in their grades.

Burks missed three tackles. Deloach, targeted six times in pass coverage, allowed three catches. Pride allowed four receptions on five targets. 

And Carnell's grade didn't seem to benefit much from the fumble he recovered and took to the house — imagine what it would have been without a defensive touchdown?