This season has been fourth-quarter comeback after fourth-quarter comeback for the Missouri Tigers.
How could they do anything else on Senior Night?
“In our four SEC home games, we had to win in double overtime and had to come back in the fourth quarter versus Auburn, Oklahoma and now Arkansas,” Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz said. “Resiliency, our guys never quit believing in each other, trusting each other. Just tremendous all the way around.”
But it wasn’t just the team that ended the regular season in a way that was emblematic of the year in a 28-21 win against the Arkansas Razorbacks.
Senior quarterback Brady Cook went out the only way he knew how, too.
After Arkansas scored to take a 21-20 lead with 4:14 left to play, Cook had a message for his defense that had just allowed the score.
“Our defense got scored on, Corey Flagg was running off and I told him, ‘Hey, I’m gonna go score and then you guys get a stop to win the game,’” Cook said.
And that’s what he did.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Cook said.
After a short run and an incomplete pass, Cook found Luther Burden on third-and-9 for Burden’s lone catch of likely his final game in Columbia, keeping the drive alive.
Cook then completed an 18-yard pass to Brett Norfleet on a catch-and-run in the flat.
Then Marcus Carroll, who spent his Senior Day rushing for 90 yards and two touchdowns to give him 12 scores on the season, added a 5-yard run.
Cook found Theo Wease on a 10-yard pass to get to the Arkansas 30, then on second down, Cook took off on a quarterback draw, splitting the defense and going untouched on a 30-yard touchdown to retake the lead with 1:44 left to play.
“Good ole quarterback draw,” Cook said. “You guys have been seeing that for three years with me and shoot, I mean, the seas just parted. They brought a pressure up the middle, Jamal Roberts picked him up perfectly and it was there. I just ran.”
Cook then took a pitch from Roberts on a jet motion and tossed the two-point conversion to Burden to create the final margin.
“For Brady to have that quarterback draw for a walk off, I think it’s pretty special,” Drinkwitz said.
But the game wasn’t over, as Cook had told the defense, it would need to get one final stop.
Arkansas quarterback Taylen Green made play after play to keep the drive alive, completing an 18-yard pass to Isaac TeSlaa on fourth-and-12, then finding Andrew Armstrong for 25 yards on third-and-10 to set up three plays from the Tiger 32 with less than 15 seconds left.
The first attempt to Isaiah Sategna fell incomplete, then Green heaved a well-placed ball to Sategna in the front-right corner of the end zone, which would have put the Razorbacks ahead with 6 seconds left if not for senior safety Joseph Charleston charging in to bat it down.
“I thought he picked it, but I guess the ball went out of bounds,” Drinkwitz said. “... Joseph’s broken both of his hands this year and had to have surgery on both thumbs, played with a cast pretty much all year. And, I mean, just showed up every day.”
The final play was a desperation heave into a hoard of Missouri defenders, which graduate safety Sidney Williams was credited with batting down.
It finished off an undefeated home season for the Tigers, the first since 2010, and the first time Mizzou ever won seven games at Memorial Stadium in one season.
“We’re always searching for things that we can accomplish that haven’t been accomplished before,” Drinkwitz said. “For us to do something like that this year is a really remarkable thing.”
The Tigers had come back again, as they have time and time again through the 2024 season.
But you can only come back if you fall behind.
Missouri took the lead on its second offensive drive, following the first of Arkansas’ two lost fumbles.
Johnny Walker forced the fumble on a strip sack and Sterling Webb recovered, giving the Tigers the ball at the Arkansas 40.
Missouri ran eight plays that counted, all rushes - the Tigers did attempt two fades on free plays that fell incomplete and defensive penalties called them off - ending with Carroll running in a 2-yard touchdown to put the Tigers up 7-0 with 2:23 left in the first quarter.
The snow that had come down hard on Columbia through the morning had stopped, but the players still had their fun with it.
Arkansas responded with a long drive, highlighted by a 12-yard pass from Green to Armstrong and another to TeSlaa. Green had a 20-yard run called back due to holding, then a Rodney Hill 9-yard touchdown was called off due to holding, but Ja’Quinden Jackson, who ran for three touchdowns on the day, finished the drive with a 2-yard score to tie the game with 9:36 left before halftime.
Neither offense scored the rest of the way, but Missouri did get a final drive with 1:42 left that was halted when Arkansas defensive lineman Landon Jackson had to be taken off the field and into an ambulance on a stretcher.
The Tigers ran three plays after the injury, but never had a chance to score, keeping the game tied going into halftime.
Arkansas stormed out of the break, forcing a three-and-out on Missouri’s first drive, then going 50 yards in six plays, setting up a Jackson 12-yard touchdown to take a 14-7 lead with 11:41 left in the third.
Missouri put together a long response drive, but when attempting to go for fourth-and-1 from the Arkansas 6, a false start pushed the Tigers back into a 28-yard Blake Craig field goal attempt. Craig hit it to cut the lead to 14-10 with 3:06 left.
The penalty might have been a blessing in disguise as it seemed like the Cook designed run right wasn’t going to get the first down.
The Tigers got the ball back when Walker forced his second fumble, which senior linebacker Flagg recovered.
“Coach said we need a turnover,” Walker said. “So I just thought that’d be a good time.”
Missouri then took the lead early in the fourth after putting together a long drive, led by Carroll again and ending with his second touchdown, a 1-yard run with 13:45 left, to take a 17-14 lead.
After a punt gave Missouri the ball at its own 10, Wease broke free on a 70-yard catch-and-run on a hitch route, setting up a Craig 34-yard field goal to create a 20-14 lead with 9:39 left to play.
But Arkansas answered with a 12-play, 80-yard drive, ending with Jackson running in a score from the 9, to set up the final Cook game-winning touchdown.
Now, Missouri (9-3, 5-3 SEC) will have to wait until next Sunday to find out where it will go bowling.
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