11/19/2023 football Edit

Cook, Tigers capitalize on Florida's late 4th quarter error to win 33-31

Jarod Hamilton • PowerMizzou

Staff Writer

COLUMBIA, Mo. 一 Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. On Saturday, in front of its fifth-straight sell-out crowd at Faurot Field, No. 9 Missouri got a lot of breaks to go its way in its 33-31 win over a game Florida squad.

Mizzou (9-2, 5-2) got a couple of hand-wrapped gifts in the fourth quarter. The first was a mishandled snap by Florida backup quarterback Max Brown in the red zone, which was recovered by defensive tackle Kristian Williams.

Mizzou capitalized the next play with Brady Cook hitting receiver Theo Wease in the flat for a 77-yard touchdown to extend its lead to 30-21, but Florida quickly struck back with a touchdown of its own and forced a punt.

This is when the Tigers got their second gift of the quarter.

Florida was at Mizzou's 19-yard line facing a third and 12, down 33-31 with 1:46 left to go. The Gators decided to run a stretch play for running back Trevor Etienne and after stiffarming Missouri defensive end Darius Robinson in the backfield he bounced to the outside for a gain of two, but he went out of bounds which stopped the clock.

The Tigers only had one timeout remaining at that point. So, if Robinson would’ve made a tackle for loss, Missouri would’ve likely burned the timeout. That's a bit lucky.

Instead, Florida essentially gave them a timeout and kicked its field goal to go up 31-30, and also left 1:36 in regulation.

That would set up what would be a masterful 12-play, 62-yard drive by Cook that would end with a go-ahead 30-yard field goal by Harrison Mevis to take a 33-31 lead with five seconds left.

“I kind of had a feeling like we're gonna be fine, guys. Just call a timeout and let's get the right play called and let's go do it,” Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz said. “And you know Brady gives me a lot of belief, and I know our players believe in him too.”

The drive started with a two-yard pass to running back Cody Schrader on the first play before an incomplete pass on second down, which would set up a 13-yard completion to Mekhi Miller on third and eight. Then, another completion to Schrader for a loss of two yards was followed up by two incompletions, which set up a fourth and 17.

Cook would take the snap from the shotgun and fire it 27 yards down the field to superstar receiver Luther Burden III to convert the fourth down.

But right before that moment, the Tigers decided to burn their final timeout despite having a stopped clock due to an incompletion. To Drinkwitz, there wasn’t much of a reason to take the timeout home with him.

“There was some confusion on what play we were going to go to. So, I wanted to make sure that we were in the right play in the last few coaching points,” Drinkwitz said. “We tried to run a clearout dig concept, but Luther was in the middle of the field, and Brady saw that. … There’s no reward for taking timeouts with you. So, you don't save them for possibilities. You use them and then we executed after that, perfectly.”

Two plays after the fourth down conversion, Cook would find Miller on an 11-yard out route which would’ve set up Mevis for a 47-yard field goal. Instead of kicking the field goal right then with 13 seconds left after a spike, Cook found Mookie Cooper for a gain of 16 along the left sideline to set up a 30-yard field goal for Mevis.

On that drive, Cook completed 7-of-10 passes for 67 yards which included two third-down completions and the big fourth-down completion.

In a game, that broke Missouri’s way for the most part it struggled to capitalize. It won the turnover battle 2-0 and got 10 points off those turnovers. Missouri didn’t wish for Florida starting quarterback Graham Mertz to get hurt, but when he’s ruled out for the game, you'd expect the Tigers to pounce on that, and Mizzou still almost lost the game.

But it didn’t.

A year ago would we be saying the same thing? Probably not. And that’s what separates the 2023 team from the 2022 team, finishing ball games.

"I think it's a mindset and this team has it. To answer your first question, no, I don't think we win this game last year,” Cook said. “I think that's the development and the toughness and the grit that this team has. Yeah, I'm just so proud of our team. It’s super special.”

Cook finished the game having completed 20-of-34 passes for 331 yards and a touchdown. He also added a rushing touchdown.

Schrader, whose meteoric rise took the nation by storm this past week, had 23 carries for 148 yards and a touchdown and he concurs with Cook. This team would’ve lost last year, but it’s different now.

Whether it’s him recording his fourth straight 100-yard rushing game, making him the first Mizzou running back since Henry Josey in 2011 to do that. Or Burden becoming the first Missouri receiver to record over 1,100 yards in a season since Danario Alexander in 2009, this team will find a way to win games.

“We're tough and we refused to lose. I keep saying from last year 一 I truly believe that we won that game because of what we learned last year,” Schrader said. “I think last year we may have found a way to lose that game and this team, this year, we're not going to lose those games.”

In a game where Missouri got some breaks, its talent and execution led to it capitalizing on Florida's misfortunes, scoring its ninth win of the season.

Everyone pitching in

Mevis now has two game-winners this year, and it's finally starting to feel like the field goal struggles are really a thing of the past now.

But it wasn't just his go-ahead field goal that was big-time it was his entire performance.

The "Thiccer Kicker" came up big throughout the game, nailing all four field goals (22, 38, 24 and 30) in the red zone.

Missouri entered the game with the nation's No. 1 red zone offense, but in a game when it made five red zone trips and only came away with one touchdown, Mevis made sure it left with something each time down the field.

"In close shootouts like that, every play counts. So, whether it's seven points, whether it's three points, we need the points up on the board," Mevis said. "The mindset is that we've just got to go and put up points on the board every single time we're on the field. And that's what we did and got the job done."

Mevis was one of 27 seniors honored for Senior Day on Saturday, and he got a little choked up when asked to compare his 61-yard game-winning field goal over Kansas State in Week 3 to this one, and being carried off the field by his teammates.

"I just wanted to win for this team, you know," a slightly choked-up Mevis said. "Just wanted to help my team win and that's where my focus was. It doesn't really matter if it was 60 yards or a PAT. I'm just trying to do my job to the best of my ability to put the ball through the uprights and that's what happened.

Mevis wasn't the only one balling.

It was the usual suspects like Burden, who had nine receptions for 158 yards, and Wease whose lone reception was the 77-yard touchdown.

But also there were some other contributors who had big games when the Tigers needed it most.

Miller had the aforementioned third-down reception and the reception after the fourth and 17 to get the Tigers in field goal range.

Cooper had three receptions for 29 yards, including the aforementioned 16-yard reception to make it a 30-yard field goal instead of one closer to 50 yards away.

True freshman Brett Norfleet had one of the better statistical games from a Mizzou tight end in the last couple of seasons with his three receptions for 43 yards. He impressed Drinkwitz so much, that the fourth-year coach lobbied that Norfleet should be a freshman All-American.

"He's a dude," Drinkwitz said. "If he's not an All-SEC freshman or true freshman All-American, I don't know what people are watching. He's a true freshman dominating people. Dominating them."

Mevis wasn't the only special teamer who Drinkwitz thought had a good day. Punter Riley Williams, who had lost his starting spot beginning in Week 4, re-gained the starting spot and had four punts for an average of 41.3 yards with three landing inside Florida's 20-yard line.

In a game when it seemed like the offense stalled at times and the defense couldn't get a stop, it was important that a number of guys stepped up in addition to the big games from Cook, Schrader and Burden.

It wasn't all good, though

A win is a win. The good teams make plays to get wins in these situations and the not-so-good teams don't.

However, that doesn't mean there aren't plenty of things Missouri needs to clean up.

As mentioned in the previous section, the Tigers were in the red zone quite a bit but had to settle for field goals and here are a few reasons why.

On their final drive before halftime, Missouri had a third and one from Florida's 17-yard line.

Cook lined up in the shotgun and received a low snap from center Connor Tollison, so low that Cook's knee touched the ground as he scooped it off the ground.

He handed the ball off to Schrader, who would get about five yards on the play, but the officials reviewed the play and determined Cook's knee was in fact down. So, the Tigers settled for a field goal and went into halftime up 13-7, instead of possibly scoring a touchdown and going up 17-7.

There was a third-quarter drive when Schrader picked up six yards on first down, which would've set up second and one from the Gators' one-yard line but left tackle Javon Foster was called for holding.

Then, on that same drive, it seemed like Burden had made one of the catches of the year after a Florida defender had tipped a Cook pass and Burden made a diving attempt to catch the ball in the end zone. It was ruled a touchdown before being overturned.

"Got to finish in the red zone," Drinkwitz said. "For us, offensively, that's really the story of the game. That's why it was so close. We had a chance to really put up a much bigger lead, but weren't able to score touchdowns in the red zone. It's happened to us three weeks (straight), We've got to get that fixed."

On the flip side, typically, when a team allows 500 yards of offense or more they usually lose. The Tigers allowed exactly 500 yards and gave up the most points in a home win all season.

A lot of that can be attributed to poor run defense and quarterback contain, as well as poor tackling.

The team was already down starting MIKE linebacker and team captain Chad Bailey for the season, due to a core injury. Then, fellow starting linebacker and team captain Ty'Ron Hopper was held out of this game due to an ankle sprain.

That meant Chuck Hicks and Triston Newson would be starting together, and despite them tying for the team lead in tackles with nine, it wasn't a great showing by any means.

"It's pretty evident, honestly (that the team misses Bailey and Hopper). You miss Chad Bailey and Ty'Ron Hopper, your starting middle linebacker and starting WILL linebacker. That's not to say that Triston and Chuck, didn't play well, but Triston has never had to play that many snaps. Again, I think what Billy (Napier) does on offense is very difficult because they utilize a lot of motions, split flow and confuse our eyes. And that's what they did most of the night."

Robinson, one of the leaders of the senior class as well as one of the team's six team captains, started off his postgame presser by saying how much better he has to be.

He was the edge defender on Brown's third and three 27-yard run to put Florida in field goal range down 30-28 with less than five minutes to go. He was also on the receiving end of Etienne's stiff arm on the play when he went out of bounds.

"I got to be better. It was a third and medium. I had the quarterback. He just beat me. I got to be better in the red zone, I got stiff-armed and that's unacceptable," Robinson said. "If I'm the player that I envision myself as and my teammates and my coaches believe (I am) I've got to be better, ... as a leader, I hold the standard and I've just got to get better."

Again, Robinson missing the tackle on Etienne actually worked in Missouri's favor, but ultimately he's right. Missouri has a tackling problem. It did last year and it has this year.

The team thought they found something in the three-man odd front package used to limit Tennessee's elite rushing attack to 83 yards on 23 carries a week ago, and it was phased out by halftime after Florida started breaking it down.

"We were just too leaky, ... we weren't able to stick our gaps the way we needed to," Drinkwitz said.

Again, a smorgasbord of issues. A lot of things that may cause the team to lose to a different team on the right day.

With all of the things that went the Tigers' way, it seemed like sometimes they were failing to capitalize. However, they capitalized when it mattered most and are now one more win away from clinching a New Year's Six bowl.

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