Let’s continue our look at my rankings of the best wins of the Eliah Drinkwitz era in Columbia and move on to No. 8.
If you want to look back to what I’ve already ranked, here are the stories I’ve already published:
No. 7: Beating No. 23 Kentucky in 2023
We’re moving back a month on the schedule from where we were with No. 8.
Coming off the first loss of the season in a thrilling game against LSU, the Tigers sat at 5-1 and the excitement was still high as they hit the road to take on No. 23 Kentucky.
But nothing seemed to go right for the Tigers early on.
They went three-and-out without gaining a yard, then the Wildcats made a 65-yard drive look pretty easy as Ray Davis and Barion Brown combined for three rushes of more than 10 yards before Devin Leary found Davis on a wheel out of the backfield that got him between two Tiger defenders in the end zone.
Kentucky led 7-0 before Missouri’s offense ran a fourth play.
The Tigers were able to gain some yards on the next series, but Brady Cook threw one of his rare interceptions (he had six in 2023) that ended the drive just four plays in.
Kentucky followed with another easy 63 yards as Leary hit Tayvion Robinson for 12 yards on third-and-11, then found a hole up the middle on a QB draw and ran 13 yards for a touchdown.
Before the end of the first quarter, the Tigers were in a 14-0 deficit, the largest hole they would be in all season.
The Tigers went three-and-out again and had to punt.
Thankfully, the Missouri defense put together a good drive and the Tigers got the ball back on their own 36 to start the second quarter.
Brady Cook had to make some magic with his legs as he scrambled down the right sideline for a 25-yard gain, but from the Kentucky 33, a high snap meant Cook had to dive on a fumble and Missouri was set on fourth-and-10 from the 39 and sent out Luke Bauer to punt.
Then came one of the premier plays of the season.
Bauer caught the snap and immediately fired the ball down the left sideline to Marquis Johnson, who stopped his momentum, went up and caught the pass above a defender, then won the footrace down the sideline for a 39-yard touchdown.
Then it was all Tigers.
Kentucky went three-and-out, Missouri put together a 56-yard drive to set up a 25-yard Harrison Mevis field goal. The Wildcat lead was down to 14-10.
The Tigers forced another Wildcat punt, then chunked off play after play before Cook found Theo Wease down the left sideline for an 18-yard touchdown with just 16 seconds left before halftime.
The Tigers went from a 14-0 deficit to a 17-14 halftime lead.
Kentucky got the ball out of the break, but Joseph Charleston forced a fumble on the first play from scrimmage and Dreyden Norwood recovered it.
The Tigers set up a 31-yard Mevis field goal and led 20-14.
The teams swapped punts, then it looked like the Tigers had a short field after a diving Kris Abrams-Draine interception, but the call was overturned to incomplete and the Wildcats were able to drive down the field for a touchdown when Leary connected with Anthony Brown-Stephens on a swing pass for a 4-yard touchdown.
Kentucky took the 21-20 lead into the fourth quarter, but it didn’t last much longer as Cook faked a reverse pitch and took a 2-yard run around the right side.
Not quite the patented fake end-around toss the Luther Burden followed by a run up the middle, but a similar design heading right.
The Tigers then went for two and got it as Cody Schrader ran it in.
The Tigers had a 28-21 lead with 14:15 left to play and would not give it up.
Missouri forced a three-and-out (after another Abrams-Draine interception was taken off the board by a flag) and a bad punt that put the Tigers at the Kentucky 34.
A pass interference moved Missouri into the red zone and Schrader powered his way in for a 19-yard touchdown to create a 35-21 margin.
Missouri used a Marcus Clarke interception that held up and Mevis kicked a 29-yard field goal to create the final 38-21 margin.
I’ve talked a lot about the team’s growing resilience in these first few game reviews, but this was one of the major signs of what was to come.
Coming off their first loss, the Tigers were knocked to the mat and looked like they might be out of it early, but instead, they fought back in whatever way they could and came out with a 17-point win and it got the Tigers rolling on their way to winning six of their final seven games.
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