2023 Tigers cement their legacy in Cotton Bowl win

The years and the names depend on your age. Wehrli and Roland and 1960 and 69. Bradley and Winslow in the late 1970s. Corby and Devin and 97 and 98. Chase and Maclin and Spoon and Tight End U in 2007. Michael Sam and Shane Ray and 2013.

They're the legends and the seasons that live on in your memories despite being 10 or 25 or 60 years gone by now. As of Friday night, they've got company.

Cody and Cook and 2023 is the latest entry. The latest Tiger legacies forever secured their spots in Mizzou history in a 14-3 win over Ohio State in Friday night's Cotton Bowl.

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To be honest, it didn't much look like it was going to go this way for most of the night. A fun season, sure. But special? That was getting spoiled.

With 8:39 left in the third quarter, Missouri had 105 offensive yards on 41 plays. For those who may not excel with numbers, that's 2.5 yards per play. Which means if you go for it on fourth down every single time, you might just barely scratch out enough to move the chains and try it again. It is not a number that offenses strive for.

Ohio State started a backup quarterback and soon moved on to its third-stringer, a true freshman who had thrown five passes this season. It made some sense why the Buckeyes were struggling. But Missouri was doing its best Ohio State impression with a full offensive arsenal available. There were no opt outs and no injuries. There was just a complete and total lack of offense.

Until there wasn't.

Missouri got the ball back with 4:25 left in the third quarter on its own five-yard line. Thanks to an historic defensive performance, Brady Cook and the Tigers were still in the game, trailing just 3-0. At that point, Cook had all of 33 yards passing. He completed a seven-yard pass to Theo Wease on third down and seven (lost in the analysis of this game will be the catch Wease made for a first down despite a skull-ringing hit).

Cody Schrader picked up ten yards and a first down and the Tigers immediately committed a false start to put themselves in first and 15 because Missouri's offense was bound and determined to make nothing easy on this night. Cook scrambled for 15 yards and another first down.

Then came the play. In a Missouri season defined by big plays, the Cotton Bowl hadn't had one. There had been some candidates defensively, but they had led to nothing. Missouri's offense had been in hibernation all night. But on first and 10 from his own 35, Cook faked a handoff to Schrader and dropped back. Luther Burden drew the majority of the attention from the Ohio State secondary as freshman speedster Marquis Johnson broke across the middle of the field from right to left. Cook, with time to throw for one of the first times all night, dropped a bomb to Johnson for 50 yards.

It was just the second play all season long to go for more than 40 yards against the Ohio State defense. And it unlocked something in the Tigers.

Missouri finished that drive with a seven-yard touchdown run by Schrader on the first play of the fourth quarter to take a 7-3 lead. The Tiger defense got a stop and Cook got the ball back on his own nine-yard line. Three Schrader runs produced a first down at the 20, but then Cook was sacked and the Tigers faced 2nd and 16.

Ohio State jumped early on the next play. Cook spotted the movement and waved Wease downfield on the left sideline. The Tiger quarterback used the free play to drop a perfect pass in between double coverage to Wease for 31 yards to the Buckeyes' 49. Eight plays later, he zipped a laser between two Ohio State defenders and an official for a seven-yard touchdown to Burden. Mizzou led 14-3. On this night, an 11-point lead might as well have been 111.

Missouri closed out the 14-3 win--its first over a top ten opponent in a decade and the first over a top ten bowl foe since the 1961 Orange Bowl against Navy--with a steady diet of Schrader runs and Cook kneeldowns.

Along the way, Schrader set the all-time single-season Missouri rushing record at 1,627 yards. Cook pushed his season totals to more than 3,600 yards of total offense and 29 total touchdowns. And a Missouri team that absolutely no one expected to be here was led to an 11th win and assured of a top ten ranking by perhaps the most unlikely pair of heroes in Tiger history.

Schrader's story is well-known by all of college football now because the last month has been a commercial for the former walk-on from Truman State. Everyone in sports says nobody believed in them. But Cody Schrader can say it honestly. He had one Division One scholarship offer--from FCS Northern Colorado--that was pulled days before his official visit. He ran for 3,000 yards in Kirksville before walking on in Columbia thanks to the recommendation of a donor.

He became the face of the country's most surprising program this year, as well as its single-season rushing leader and its first top-ten Heisman vote getter in 16 years. He ran the ball 29 times for 128 yards--just the second 100-yard rusher against the Buckeyes' top five defense this season--in Friday's win.

Cook seemed to be Missouri's starting quarterback only by default. In his redshirt freshman season, starter Connor Bazelak was injured and couldn't play when the Tigers went to Georgia. Cook saw Tyler Macon leapfrog him for the start. Though he did see action--14-of-19 for 78 yards and 32 yards rushing on 10 carries--it was hardly a vote of confidence.

Bazelak transferred the day after the Armed Forces Bowl loss to Army--Cook's first career start--and that offseason, Drinkwitz offered a spot on the team to virtually every transfer with a pulse and the ability to throw a forward pass. None of them accepted the opportunity so Cook was Missouri's starting quarterback in 2022. He played through a torn labrum for most of a 6-7 season that left Missouri fans hoping freshman phenom Sam Horn could do enough to unseat him as the starter headed into 2023. Because with Cook as the starter, Missouri was going nowhere. Everybody knew it. Everybody, that is, except Brady Cook.

On Saturday morning, Cook and Schrader will wake up--who are we kidding? Neither one of them is sleeping tonight--as the quarterback and the starting running back for an 11-2 football team that was college football's biggest surprise in 2023. They led the Tigers to an upset of the bluest of the sport's bluebloods on Friday night at AT&T Stadium. Of course they did, because they led this team everywhere.

Sure five-star wide receiver Luther Burden got a lot of (deserved) attention. Sure, the defense deserves every bit of praise it will get for Friday's domination. Sure, Drinkwitz was the SEC Coach of the Year and a finalist for national coach of the year honors. There was Harrison Mevis with a 62-yard game-winning field goal and Luke Bauer with a miraculous fake punt turned touchdown pass to turn things around in a 38-21 win over Kentucky.

But this was the season of Cody and Brady. It will forever be remembered that way. The quarterback that was never supposed to be the starter and the running back absolutely nobody wanted are the two biggest reasons one of the top five seasons in the 133-year history of Missouri football happened.

Schrader is done, off to chase his NFL dream. Bet against him at your peril. Cook has another year. He confirmed he was coming back to Mizzou next season on Friday night. He will, for the first time, enter spring football and fall camp as Missouri's unquestioned starting quarterback. He'll be the leader of a team that will be mentioned as a strong contender for the first 12-team playoff in college football history.

Maybe he'll take the Tigers to that promised land, maybe not. That's a concern for another day. For now, these two best friends have an offseason to enjoy the fact no one who has ever rooted for this football program will ever forget them. In 14 minutes and 13 seconds, 21 plays and 186 yards, Cook and Schrader cemented their places among Missouri's all-time greats. Forever.

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