
Tigers cruise to a 39-20 win with a ridiculously dominant second half effort
Your Missouri Tigers rebounded nicely from a bitter defeat last week at South Carolina and handled business in impressive fashion Saturday with a 39-20 win at Mississippi State. The win improved Mizzou’s record to 8-3 overall and 4-3 in SEC play, while Mississippi State fell to 2-9/0-7. There’s lots of insight to glean from this one all over Rock M Nation, but here were a handful of quick takes that stood out.
- No need to worry about Mizzou’s motivation
Any worry about the Tigers not being into it after being eliminated from the playoffs was dashed early on. Yes, the offense went three-and-out in its first two series, but the defense woke everyone up with a humongous scoop-and-score combo on a Kristian Williams forced fumble that Daylan Carnell picked up and ran back 68 yards untouched to give Mizzou a 7-3 lead midway through the first quarter.
After that point, the offense sprung to life, with three straight long TD drives that ate up 75 yards, 79 yards and 83 yards as the Tigers took a 28-13 halftime lead that you never felt was in danger. It was the most comfortable win of the year in conference play.
2. A possession stat I’ve never seen
Mizzou committed to running the ball in the second half, knowing they had a sound lead and a distinct advantage in the trenches. We’ll go ahead and declare that was a smart decision, because the Tigers absolutely dominated the line of scrimmage after halftime on their way to the big win.
Mizzou held an unfathomable time of possession edge in the second half of 26:14-to-3:46. That’s flat-out ridiculous. Mizzou ran 44 plays in the second half, while Mississippi State only had 11 snaps. After halftime, the Tigers ran the ball 34 times for 101 yards, while Brady Cook was an effective 8-of-10 passing for 127 yards.
For the game, Mizzou owned the ball for 41:51 on the clock, to only 18:09 for the Bulldogs. That’s just pure domination.
3. Tigers net their two longest scoring drives of the season
Coming into Saturday, Mizzou had only three scoring drives on the season that took more than seven minutes of clock time. The longest scoring drive of the season for Mizzou was a field goal drive against Boston College that took 7:24 of clock time.
At Mississippi State, the Tigers put together a couple masterpiece time-consuming scoring drives in the second half that iced the game away. The first was a 15-play, 57-yard drive that consumed 8:46 of clock time and ended in a Blake Craig 35-yard field goal to extend the lead to 31-13.
Later in the half after the Bulldogs went for an ill-advised fourth down deep in Mizzou territory, the Tiger offense put their foot down and traveled 83 yards in 14 plays for a Marcus Carroll 1-yard touchdown run that gave the Tigers their final 39-20 margin. That drive took 8:43 off the clock.
4. The big plays are back in the Tiger offensive attack
After struggling all season long at coming up with the big play, Mizzou’s offense got untracked last week despite the defeat at South Carolina. Those vibes continued Saturday at Mississippi State, as Mizzou racked up five pass plays of at least 28 yards.
The biggest shot was a beautiful 45-yard pass from Brady Cook to Marquis Johnson late in the 1st quarter down to the Bulldog 10 yardline that set the Tigers up for a 14-3 lead.
Two big strikes came in the second quarter, on a 28-yarder from Cook when he scrambled and directed traffic to find Luther Burden in the endzone for a touchdown. Later, Cook hit Theo Wease for a pretty over-the-top 38-yard gain down the left sideline.
Burden caught another 28-yarder in the third quarter, and the last chunk passing play came on a beautifully-designed delayed crossing route by Joshua Manning on a 3rd and 6 from the Tiger 31-yardline that he caught three yards beyond the line of scrimmage and scampered 33 yards all the way down to the MSU 33.
And that doesn’t even include a 57-yard catch-and-run by Brett Norfleet for a touchdown that got wiped out by an iffy block in the back call against Manning.
5. Brady looks healthy
How refreshing was it to see Brady Cook running around unencumbered by injuries that have hampered him so much this season?
Cook had perhaps his best game of the season Saturday, as he completed 15-of-20 passes for 268 yards that included a beautiful 28-yard touchdown pass to LB3. Cook actually started a little slow, as he completed only one of his first four passes for four yards total.
But the 45-yard completion to Speedy Johnson seemed to boost Cook’s confidence, as he completed nine in a row and 14 of his last 16 passes on the day.
Cook showed his textbook mobility in the pocket (especially on his scramble TD pass to Burden). He was sacked only once on the night and he ran for 16 yards including a couple of drive-extending scrambles.
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