With Missouri leading Vanderbilt by two points and a little more than three minutes left on the game clock, everyone in Vanderbilt Stadium knew who was going to get the ball. The Tigers had force-fed star tailback Tyler Badie all game to that point, and with true freshman Tyler Macon behind center in place of the injured Connor Bazelak, a pass attempt would be even more risky.
No surprise, on Missouri’s first snap of the drive, Macon handed the ball to Badie. Like most of the afternoon, even if it knew what was coming, Vanderbilt couldn’t stop him.
Badie glided to the left side of the field, found a hole and exploded through it. A defender tried to push him out of bounds as he sprinted down the sideline, but he made the man miss. By the time Vanderbilt finally did get him out of bounds, he had reached the two-yard line. Macon scored on the following play.
In just 42 seconds, Missouri had extinguished whatever hope Vanderbilt still held of pulling off the upset. The Tigers won 37-28, their first victory in SEC play this season.
It was a fitting end to a dominant performance by Badie. The redshirt junior has grown accustomed to carrying the load during his first season as Missouri’s featured back. Even by the lofty standards he has established this season, his performance Saturday stood out.
Badie touched the ball a whopping 39 times on 66 offensive snaps for Missouri. That represented a new career high by far, as did his 294 total yards, which accounted for 58.6 percent of the team’s total offense. He scored two touchdowns, bringing his season total to 15. He’s just three yards short of reaching 1,000 rushing yards on the season — through eight games.
The last Missouri player to rush for more yards than Badie’s 254 was Tony Temple, who racked up 281 yards on the ground during Missouri’s Cotton Bowl victory on Jan. 1, 2008. You have to go back to the same season to find the last player who had more total yards in a game: Jeremy Maclin against Kansas State. Only four players in program history have recorded more yards from scrimmage in a single contest.
“He's a great player,” Eli Drinkwitz said of Badie. “I've been saying it for a long time, he's probably the best player that nobody's talking about. He's really the engine that drives us, and he's just got a big heart, and he's a competitor and showed it tonight.”
It didn’t take long for Missouri to hitch its wagon to Badie. During the team’s second drive of the game, Badie got the ball on eight of nine snaps. He gained 54 yards and capped the possession with a 13-yard score, which gave Missouri a 10-0 lead. On Missouri’s first touchdown drive of the second half, five of seven plays went to Badie. Once again, he ended the possession in the end zone after scoring from 15 yards out.
Perhaps his most impressive run came on the next series, when he got hit just a few yards downfield but spun out of the tackle and turned the play into a 45-yard gain, which set up a Harrison Mevis field goal.
“He’s a work horse, man,” wide receiver Keke Chism said of Badie. “Anything we ask him to do in this offense, whether it’s carrying the ball 30, 40 times or making plays in the passing game out of the backfield, he’s a true professional, he’s a true baller, and I’m glad to have him on this team. He’s a special player.”
For Badie, the number of touches might have been just as important as what he did with them. Badie acknowledged that he’s been motivated this season to prove wrong those who thought he could only be the change-of-pace option he provided during his first three Missouri seasons. He heard the speculation that he wouldn’t be durable enough to survive an entire SEC season as a lead back. Saturday offered the latest proof that he’s more than up to the challenge.
Badie’s workload stands out not just in Missouri history, but across college football. The last player to record 30-plus carries and catch at least eight passes in a single game was East Carolina’s Vintavious Cooper, who did so in 2013. Badie is now averaging 24.6 touches per game, the most in the SEC.
“I take that very seriously,” Badie said. “I know a lot of people say not to read into the media and stuff like that, but it’s hard nowadays, you know, when the media is right there in front of you. And I hear a lot of people talk about durability and all this other stuff. I just want to show everybody that I can run the ball in this league. Regardless of who we play — I don’t care if it’s SEC, out of conference — if I need to touch the ball 30 times for this team, that’s what I’m going to do.”
Drinkwitz didn’t necessarily plan on relying so heavily on Badie. But as the game unfolded, with Bazelak struggling and then leaving the game due to injury, it became clear that Badie represented the best offensive option.
In the football equivalent of a complete game, not only did Badie carry Missouri throughout the contest, he served as his own closer, effectively ending the game with his 73-yard fourth-quarter run.
“He wants to win, I want to win, this team wants to win,” Drinkwitz said. “And we're just trying to do whatever it takes to win this game. And that's what it took.”
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