They don’t all have to be works of art. Missouri is 4-0 for the first time since 2013 (some good things happened that year).

Did it seem like the Tigers should have beaten the (Memphis) Tigers by more than seven points? Yeah. Did you want it to be a little easier? Sure. But coming off a dramatic last-second win that induced thousands on to the Faurot Field to celebrate with the team, Missouri did enough to beat upset-minded Memphis 34-27 and keep a zero in the loss column. Sometimes, that’s good enough.

Truthfully, Missouri should have won by more. An offsides penalty wiped out a game-opening onside kick that showed some serious huevos from Eli Drinkwitz. A fumble at the 11-yard line by Cody Schrader handed Memphis one of just two touchdowns it scored on the night. The Tigers missed on a fourth and one at the Memphis 30 and allowed their opponents to convert three out of four do-or-die fourth down plays.

And, yes, those things all made the final score a little closer than anyone would have preferred.

“We had a bunch of (mistakes) in the first half honestly,” Drinkwitz said. “We have a chance on fourth and 1 to really put the game way, we don’t get it, the defense goes out and gives up a long drive.

“Those things are things that have to get corrected, but I am really proud of the way our guys hang in there to make plays.”

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But let’s not pretend this one was without its positives. Luther Burden III posted his third straight 100-yard game and had more receiving yards than any Tiger since the 2018 Liberty Bowl despite missing most of the third quarter. Freshman Marquis Johnson opened the scoring with a 76-yard bomb. Brady Cook threw for 300 for a second consecutive game and continued to attack down the field with abandon.

The previous paragraph could probably have been shortened to a sentence: Mizzou has an offense that looks like it can give the Tigers a chance in a lot of games.

The fact that this one came after such an emotional high of last week shouldn’t be ignored. Kansas State was the game Missouri had pointed to for a year. It was a traditional rival that had stomped the Tigers by 28 points a year before. Cook flat out called it revenge. In a perfect world, it’s just as easy to get back up to that level for a game against an American Athletic Conference team in a 1/3 empty dome played on rec center carpet. But it isn’t.

In addition, Missouri won this game with Burden missing a quarter, Dreyden Norwood missing two, Darius Robinson missing three and Ennis Rakestraw and Brett Norfleet never setting foot on the field.

“You really find out who you are in the face of adversity and you really find out who your teammates are,” Schrader said after overcoming a first quarter fumble to run for 123 yards including a game-icing 37-yard touchdown. “We’re 4-0 and we’re looking to be 5-0. We’re a tough football team and we’re going to be tough to beat.”

This team’s depth—something Drinkwitz has bragged about since the spring—may get a test over the next couple of weeks. The Tigers play their first true road game of the year next week against Vanderbilt. The Commodores are the worst team in the SEC and already have a loss to UNLV on their ledge, but Missouri can’t simply roll the helmets out and expect to beat a Power Five team.

They’ll be favored, probably by more than a touchdown, in Nashville next week. Win that and you reach the month of October without a loss for the first time in nine years as LSU comes to town for the biggest game in Columbia since the Tigers won the SEC East for the first time.

The narrative of Missouri’s 2022 season was a 6-7 team that was oh so close to winning eight more. This year’s Tigers are 4-0 despite winning the last three by a combined 14 points and not having any of them salted away until the final seconds. But what’s better, being an average team that was almost good or being a good team that was almost average?

“Our team is very much committed to each other. They’ve faced some adversity and fought and they have a belief in each other,” Drinkwitz said. “You see guys that have been in those tight games before, but they believe in each other, they don’t panic, they just keep fighting.”

This team’s not perfect. But its record still is. And that’s not something to take lightly.

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