10/29/2022 football Edit

Missouri outplays No. 25 South Carolina in wire-to-wire 23-10 road win

Jarod Hamilton • PowerMizzou

Staff Writer

For the first time in conference play all season, Missouri played a complete and disciplined game on both sides of the ball and came away with its first road win of the season on Saturday, 23-10 over No. 25 South Carolina.

A lot of that is because the defense could finally play with the lead. It could play knowing that if it allowed a touchdown it wouldn’t result in the opposing team running away with the game as it did against Kansas State in week two. The defense played knowing it would be able to get adequate rest on the sidelines and not have to see its offense author quick three-and-out after three-and-out as it saw against Auburn in week four.

“I stressed to the defense the last couple of weeks that it has been playing unbelievable football and I’m tired of walking off the field because the offense left plays out there,” Mizzou quarterback Brady Cook said. “Moving forward I want to make sure that is not the case. We know how good the defense is playing, so when South Carolina scored a touchdown late in the half we weren’t going to worry the defense was going to bounce back and get a stop. It’s up to the offense to score the points.”

The man leading the offensive charge for the Tigers was Cook, who finished the game 17 of 26 for 224 yards. He also had 11 rushes for 53 yards and a touchdown on the ground.

Mizzou head coach Eli Drinkwitz was pleased with how the team played today and had strong words for his starting quarterback who has been under scrutiny much of the season for his play.

“He played his butt off tonight and without him we don’t win,” Drinkwitz said. “This game isn’t even close. I’m really proud of him. He handled all the third downs well, the zone reads well, ran his butt off like he always does and showed incredible toughness. So write more about that instead of calling for the backup quarterback.”

Cook’s favorite target throughout the season and on Saturday was wide receiver Dominic Lovett who had caught all 10 targets for 148 yards. He was at times guarded by cornerback Cam Smith, who is projected to be a first-round talent in the upcoming NFL Draft, but Lovett didn’t see it that way and neither did Cook.

“My mindset going against any defensive back is to kill the person in front of me,” Lovett said. “It’s me versus you and that is no disrespect to Smith; that’s how I look at everybody.”

“Obviously, Cam Smith is one heck of a cornerback and he’s probably one of the best we’ve seen all year,” Cook said. “South Carolina has a lot of good players but Dominic is special. So, I know if it’s him against anybody, I’m taking him.”

The offense put up 367 total yards of offense compared to 203 yards for South Carolina. Missouri dominated time of possession (36:35 to 23:25), won the turnover battle by forcing a fumble and an interception and averaged 5.3 yards per play compared to 3.8 yards per play for the Gamecocks offense.

The defense did its thing as always, but this seemed like a balanced game for the Tigers and a welcomed sign that the offense can play well no matter who it lines up against.

Discipline and different faces play key roles

Coming into week nine, Mizzou ranked 77th in penalties and 128th in tackles for loss allowed. This week Mizzou had six penalties and only three were on the offensive line. That line featured EJ Ndoma-Ogar making his first start of the season at right guard replacing Mitchell Walters. Also, the Tigers allowed just four tackles for loss in this game and one of them came from Luther Burden III, who tried to make something out of nothing and gave himself up after running backward and seeing there was nothing he could do. For Drinkwitz, the unforced errors--or lack thereof--were the difference in this game.

“No self-inflicted wounds, and in this league to play that kind of game when we really had to was impressive,” Drinkwitz said. “It’s the difference between wins and losses. We gave up one sack and I don’t even recall what that was. I didn’t see any negative yardage plays besides that sack.”

On the flip side, South Carolina had five penalties including one on what would’ve been an interception. It also allowed four sacks and 11 tackles for loss.

Starting Ndoma-Ogar wasn't the only change Drinkwitz made offensively. Burden had a couple of rushes where he lined up as a running back and Cook was seemingly getting the ball out of his hand and into his playmakers' hands faster on screen plays or designed jet sweeps. Running back Elijah Young had three carries for 20 yards and a reception for 11 yards.

Running back Taj Butts and tight end Ryan Hoerstkamp made multiple cameos after not seeing much action for much of the season. Neither one of them was targeted, but their impact didn’t go unnoticed by Drinkwitz or Lovett.

“Those guys practiced hard and quite honestly we needed them and when you don’t perform the way you need to, you got to make changes otherwise the statement doesn’t matter," Drinkwitz said. "Ryan had a couple of big-time blocks, especially on the touchdown run. Taj had some big-time blocks sealing off the defensive ends on our counter stuff. EJ played the whole game and I haven’t watched the tape but from everything I can understand he played pretty well.”

“I told them don’t count your reps, make your reps count,” Lovett said. "No matter if you play one snap or 300 snaps you have to make it count because your play can change the outlook of the game. Just have to come in with a 1-0 mindset and they did that and I’m proud of all of them.”

Running back Cody Schrader made his sixth start of the season and has always been featured in the offense, but was splitting time and carries predominantly with Nathaniel Peat who didn’t see much, if any, of the field Saturday. Drinkwitz said earlier in the week that Schrader had earned the role as the feature back going forward due to his consistency and work ethic on and off the field.

Against Vanderbilt, the former Truman State product had 14 carries for 84 yards and this week he had 22 carries for 81 yards and a touchdown.

“He’s one of the best players on our team from a consistency, work-ethic and talent standpoint,” Drinkwitz said. “I wish we had a better record, so more people could know his story. He is the American dream 一 whatever y’all could say about him he’s all those things. He has a tremendous work ethic, strong character and he’s talented.”

Mevis' Mystery Ups and Downs Continue

Missouri kicker Harrison Mevis’ previous career-high for missed field goals in a season was three. Entering week nine he already had four, going 12 of 16 through seven games. He added one to that on Saturday, missing a 21-yarder against the Gamecocks.

Mevis missed two field goals against Abilene Christian, which marked the first time in his career that he missed multiple field goals in a game (one of his attempts was from 52 yards away). In that same game after missing a 52-yard field goal he made one later in the game. In week four against Auburn, he missed a 26-yard field goal at the end of regulation to win the game and then bounced back in week five against Georgia going 5 of 5 (22, 41, 49, 52, 56).

He missed a field goal from less than 40 yards away versus Vanderbilt that ultimately had no consequence but was makeable and this week he did it again. Mevis was 3 of 4 on field goals (19, 50 and 32) today with his miss being from 21 yards away.

Drinkwitz joked that Mevis is part of the reason why his hairline is receding.

“I don’t know if you’ve seen my hairline, but it’s not really good,” Drinkwitz said. "But no flinch from Mevis. That’s what I told him just don’t flinch and keep on going and he was good.”

Mevis is 4 of 5 on kicks from 50 yards away or more and is 11 of 15 on kicks 49 yards or less. Overall, he is 15 of 20 on field goal attempts this season.