If it's not one thing it's another for this Tigers team. After Missouri’s 21-17 loss to Kentucky, Mizzou is now 1-4 in conference play in one-possession games this season.
Against Auburn in week four, it was a missed chip-shot field goal and a fumble inside the one-yard line. In week five versus Georgia, the Tigers let the Bulldogs steal a win in Columbia after being up by double-digits a third of the way through the fourth quarter. Then against Florida in week five, it was an interception in the red zone late in the fourth quarter.
This week, it was a much more controversial finish since it had to do with the referees.
After Missouri’s defense forced a three-and-out with two minutes and 34 seconds left, Kentucky’s long snapper Cade DeGraw overshot punter Colin Goodfellow on the snap. The ball trickled inside to the Wildcats’ four-yard line, and instead of kicking it through the end zone for a safety, Goodfellow recovered the the ball and kicked it out of bounds as Missouri’s WIll Norris Jr. hit him.
The result of the play was a roughing the punter penalty and a new set of downs for the Wildcats, essentially icing the win for Kentucky.
“The explanation I was given was that the ball was snapped over his head and the ball was still in the tackle box and he was still a protected punter when he picked up the ball,” Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz said. “So, how a guy can still be a protected punter 50 yards downfield and how our guys are supposed to know they can’t tackle him is beyond me.”
By rule, the right decision was made, but there were a lot of blurred lines during the play. When asked if the rule should be re-examined Drinkwitz said he was all for it.
“Yes, absolutely,” Drinkwitz said. “The ball was snapped over somebody’s head almost 50 yards down the field to the four-yard line. I’m not sure how anybody on the punt return team is supposed to play it any differently. I mean Kentucky was rewarded for a huge mistake. The young man was able to kick the ball. At least give us the ball at (Kentucky’s) 30-yard line, but they snapped the ball over his head and were rewarded with a first down.”
Missouri had a number of 50-50 plays that didn’t go its way
The roughing the punter call wasn’t the only call that didn’t go Missouri’s way on Saturday.
The first instance seemed to be on the last play of the first quarter when defensive end Josh Landry got called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after a skirmish on Kentucky’s sideline. Kentucky quarterback Will Levis scrambled for three yards and may have received a slight shove by Mizzou defensive end Trajan Jeffcoat right before he went out of bounds.
Pushing and shoving from players on both teams followed but only Landry was given a flag, which that also left Drinkwitz confused.
“Explanations don’t really matter,” Drinkwitz said. “It’s just the results. So, the result was that amongst how many people on their sideline and all the things that happened, it resulted in one penalty."
Fortunately for the Tigers, that penalty didn’t have too much of an impact on the game since Missouri got consecutive sacks on second and third down to push the Wildcats out of field goal range and force them to punt.
The second call Missouri didn’t get was an apparent stop on third and one on Kentucky’s second drive of the second half. With the ball on Mizzou’s 25-yard line, Kentucky running back Chris Rodriguez Jr. ran and appeared to not only not have the first down, but be stopped for a loss.
The referees gave Kentucky a first down and Missouri didn’t call a timeout that may have made the officials review the play. Part of the Wildcats getting a new set of downs is on Missouri for not calling a timeout, but it seemed clear that Rodriguez Jr. was short of the line to gain. Kentucky would score a touchdown on that drive to go up 14-3.
Another call that didn’t go the Tigers' way was a fumble by Rodrigues inside the Tiger 20 when he was tackled by Missouri safety Jaylon Carlies and linebacker Chad Bailey.
The call on the field was called a fumble, but the officials decided to overturn the very close call. Kentucky would score on the next play on a 22-yard touchdown pass from Levis to Dane Key for what ended up being the game-winning touchdown.
“We didn’t make the plays to win the game,” Drinkwitz said.
Third down struggles on both sides of the ball
Missouri’s defense entered week 10 allowing opponents to convert 30% of their third-down attempts which ranked 13th in the FBS. In week 10, it allowed Kentucky to convert 6 of 16 on third downs (37%). That’s not too far off from its season percentage, but when you consider two of the Wildcats’ touchdowns came on third and nine and third and 11, it's not great.
“Offensively, we were 2 of 13 on third downs,” Drinkwitz said. “Defensively, on the last drive, Kentucky converted a couple of third downs and specifically the third down for a touchdown. Again, it wasn’t nearly a clean enough game.”
Missouri’s defense didn’t play badly. It had six sacks and 11 tackles for loss and also got help from Kentucky’s five offensive penalties. More times than not if Missouri’s defense keeps an opposing offense behind the chains, Missouri should be in good shape to win that game. That did not happen in part due to Missouri’s offense going 0 of 6 on third down in the first half and 2 of 13 on third down for the game.
It was another game of Missouri relying on its defense to be perfect and when it wasn't perfect the offense couldn't provide the necessary support.
“The roughing the punter call doesn’t change the fact that we went 2 for 13 on third down,” Drinkwitz said.
Third down wasn’t Missouri’s only offensive struggle. Mizzou gave up nine tackles for loss and two sacks. Quarterback Brady Cook also fumbled on a play where he could’ve passed to Luther Burden III for what would’ve likely been a first down. Instead, Cook scrambled for three yards before fumbling the ball untouched at Missouri’s own 43-yard line.
Brady Cook is still Missouri's quarterback going forward
Cook didn’t have a good game whatsoever. He had the aforementioned fumble and struggled tremendously in the first half. Going into halftime, Cook was 7 of 9 for 19 yards and had five rushes for one yard and the fumble.
He did bounce back to some degree in the second half going 11 of 17 for 124 yards and three rushes for 16 yards and the Tigers’ two touchdowns. Both of his touchdowns came after Cook took a couple of big hits, including a 20-yard rush after breaking two tackles.
Cook did show he has heart because after both of the hits he had trouble standing up and walking at times. But he stayed in the game. In fact, there were times that Cook had to rely on his offensive linemen to help walk him down the field. It looked somewhat similar to Byron Leftwich at Marshall a couple of decades ago after suffering a leg injury during a game.
For all he did to score those two touchdowns and help Missouri get a 17-14 lead in the fourth quarter, it could easily be said that he was the one who put the Tigers in that situation in the first place.
He wasn’t throwing the ball downfield early on and when he did throw he missed a number of missed throws or missed reads. It was a far cry from his performance last week at South Carolina which saw him complete 17 of 26 passes for 224 yards to go along with 11 rushes for 53 yards and a touchdown. But its who Missouri has at quarterback and its who Drinkwitz is going to play.
Despite Cook laboring at his non-throwing shoulder and leg during points of this game, he didn’t miss a snap. Not only did he not miss a snap, but no other quarterback was warming up. That means if anyone was hoping or expecting for backup quarterbacks Jack Abraham, Sam Horn and or Tyler Macon to see snaps it's unlikely.
Cook is apparently going to be the guy until he physically is incapable of playing the entire game 一 not just missing a play or two.
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