Early in the fourth quarter of Missouri’s win over No. 11 Florida, Drew Lock dropped back to pass. Lock surveyed the field and saw no receivers open, but he did spy a swath of green grass to his left. He would need to cover seven yards to keep the Tiger drive alive. He decided to run for it.
Florida’s Chauncey Gardner sprinted to try and tackle Lock short of the first-down marker, but before Gardner could arrive, Lock dove, head-first, extending the football in front of him and past the line to gain. Lock returned to the huddle and told his teammates that his neck and ribs hurt as a result of the dive, but running back Damarea Crockett didn’t want to hear it. Crockett described the scramble as a “game-saving play.”
“I was like, ‘Bro, don’t worry about it right now,’” Crockett said. “Even though we were up three scores, that’s still a game-saving play, because it can take anything just for them to get the momentum back.”
After the game, Missouri head coach Barry Odom also pointed to Lock’s scramble as the play that would stick with him most from the victory. The play certainly contributed to the result; it allowed the Tigers to run a couple more minutes off the game clock and kick a field goal to extend their lead to 21 points. But, in all likelihood, Missouri still would have beaten Florida had Lock decided to throw the ball out of bounds. His scramble stood out because it provided such a stark contrast to the week prior, when the Missouri offense as a whole and Lock in particular failed to make such a play on eight consecutive third down opportunities in the second half en route to squandering a 14-3 fourth-quarter lead. The play encapsulated what the Tigers did differently a week later, when they took another 11-point lead into halftime, then proceeded to convert each of their first six third downs of the second half.
Lock’s successful scramble evoked the offensive play that drew more criticism than any other against Kentucky: the Tigers’ final snap, when Lock threw an incomplete pass on third down and two. Critics argued Lock should have run the ball when he couldn’t find an open receiver. Even if he hadn’t picked up the first down, Kentucky would have been forced to use its final timeout. The stakes weren’t as high against Florida, but Lock’s decision to tuck the ball and his willingness to lay his body on the line to pick up the first down felt like tangible progress from the week prior.
“He willed his way to go get the first down,” Odom said after the game, “and that was huge at that point.”
There were, of course, other important conversions in Missouri's win over Florida, and several factors aside from the quarterback contributed to the team's third-down success. The Tigers had wide receiver Emanuel Hall back in the lineup, for one, and the offensive line did a better job of protecting Lock. But the scramble illustrated what players and coaches agreed was the biggest difference between the past two games: Missouri simply made plays it hadn’t the week before.
“Sometimes our plan stinks and the players execute it anyway, and it works,” offensive coordinator Derek Dooley said. “Sometimes our plan is really good, and our players don’t execute very well. So ultimately, it comes down to not really the plays, it’s how we execute, and the guys did a great job.”
Lock's improvement between the two games was more apparent than that of any other player. Between his running and his passing, he accounted for five of Missouri’s six third-down conversions in the second half. For the game, he completed nine of 12 passes for 114 yards and two touchdowns on third downs — and that doesn’t include the scramble.
He deferred some of the credit to Hall, who had missed the previous four games with a groin injury. Lock said having Hall’s ability to consistently get open in big moments makes him far more comfortable on third downs. After the game, he even referred to Hall as his “blankie.” Hall caught a 41-yard pass on a third down and 10 in the second quarter, which led to a touchdown later in the drive, as well as a four-yard touchdown on a third and goal in the third quarter.
“He’ll make three to four big plays throughout a game, but it’s more so like big times, whether it’s a third down and it picks up a first down, whether it was second and 10 and just not looking pretty,” Lock said of Hall. “So I think just the times he makes his plays is just crucial in who we are as an offense.”
The offensive line also contributed by keeping Lock upright. Florida never recorded a hurry in the game, and its only sack came when Lock scrambled around for several seconds then ran out of bounds behind the line of scrimmage. Guard Kevin Pendleton said the offensive line felt it shouldered the blame for the offensive breakdowns against the Wildcats, and that led them to play better against Florida. Tackle Yasir Durant said it helped that the Tigers managed to gain enough yardage on most first and second downs that Florida didn’t have enough time on third downs to send exotic blitzes at Lock.
“Our goal, I would say, is to win first and second down so we don’t have to be in a third and long situation,” Durant said. “... In this league, we have great defensive coordinators, and they throw different stuff at you every week that you can look on film and be like, how do you even come up with that type of blitz?”
After Missouri’s losses this season, the phrase “we beat ourselves” became a familiar refrain. Players felt like they had the talent to compete with Kentucky, South Carolina and Georgia, but a lack of execution resulted in painful losses. They said it wasn’t a change in scheme or personnel that led the Tigers to break through on third down and, more importantly, win their first game over a ranked opponent since the 2014 season on Saturday. It was plays like Lock’s scramble.
“We just were not being denied,” Crockett said. “Coach can call whatever play he wants to. At the end of the day, it’s a player’s game, we have to win the game. So it’s just up to us to execute, and we have to win our one-on-one matchups.”
