Notebook: Mizzou finally answers the bell, beats South Carolina

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As South Carolina receiver Bryan Edwards cut toward the middle of the field, found a lane and raced toward the end zone, the 52,012 fans in attendance at Faurot Field Saturday fell silent. When referee James Carter announced that Edwards had not been knocked out of bounds at the one-yard line but had actually scored a touchdown, trimming Missouri’s lead from 10 points to three on the first snap of the second half, the dread in the stadium felt palpable. It was as if every fan in the bleachers had the same though, simultaneously.

Here we go again.

Even though Missouri had largely dominated the game to that point, it was difficult to blame them. The Tigers’ two most recent meetings in an unpredictable, misfortune-filled series against South Carolina had both seen the Tigers blow two possession leads. Missouri had not beat the Gamecocks since 2015, before Barry Odom and Will Muschamp took over as head coach of their respective teams. Plus, losing leads by allowing one negative play to snowball into an avalanche of mistakes has been a theme in losses under Odom, most recently on display Week One of this season, when the the Tigers blew a 14-point lead in a loss to Wyoming.

The feeling of foreboding extended to the Missouri sidelines. Center Trystan Colon-Castillo admitted that Edwards’ 75-yard catch and run, which more than tripled the Gamecocks’ passing output on the day, triggered flashbacks to the past two losses to South Carolina.

“We came out and they scored, I’m like, ‘hey, we gotta score,’” Colon-Castillo said. “This is what’s happened year after year. We let South Carolina back into it.”

But Missouri’s offense didn’t shy away from the memories of losses past. Colon-Castillo said the team embraced the importance of the following drive. A Tiger unit that also struggled to move the ball at times in the first half marched 75 yards in 10 plays, with Tyler Badie finding the end zone on a 21-yard screen pass.

The drive swung momentum back to Missouri’s sideline, and the Tigers never relinquished it, ultimately cruising to a 34-14 victory.

Senior receiver Johnathon Johnson recognized that Missouri lacked that type of response in past meetings with South Carolina. Like Colon-Castillo, he said offensive players weren’t afraid to remind each other of the importance of their first possession of the second half on the field.

“They kind of did that last year, so we knew, like, when that play happened last year, we kind of got down and we went flat,” Johnson said. “So we knew this year that we had to come back and score again. ... Whenever they scored, made a good play, we just knew we had to answer back with a good play.”

“We knew coming out of the half that drive was going to be so important, and then all of a sudden, it was a 75-yard touchdown,” Odom said. “That’s hard. That tests you a little bit. Offensively, they responded, and that shows a sign of maturity and that shows a sign of some mental toughness.”

The drive featured two third-down conversions on completions from quarterback Kelly Bryant, who struggled with accuracy in the first half. Bryant found tight end Albert Okwuegbunam on a third-and-five, with Okwuegbunam bowling through contact to pick up the first down yardage. Later, Bryant hit Jonathan Nance over the middle for a 14-yard gain on third-and-10. Badie capped the drive by running untouched into the end zone, thanks in large part to a pancake block from offensive guard Tre’Vour Wallace-Simms on the edge.

“It was definitely very important for us to score just to shift the momentum back to our side,” Badie said. “And that was just big for us and our fans.”

Missouri entered Saturday expecting a fight from its first SEC opponent of the year, and while South Carolina’s offense largely sputtered, finishing with 16 yards rushing and 11 first downs, the Tigers did have to respond to a few surges from the Gamecocks. With Missouri leading 7-0 in the first half, Badie lost a fumble, allowing South Carolina to take over on the Missouri 23-yard line. A Tyree Gillespie sack on second down and pass break-up on third forced the Gamecocks to attempt a 50-yard field goal, which kicker Parker White missed. Then, on the possession following Edwards’ long score, South Carolina again moved the ball downfield, advancing all the way to the Missouri five-yard line. A touchdown would have cut the Tiger lead to three points. But on second down, defensive end Tre Williams hurried true freshman quarterback Ryan Hilinski, who threw a pass directly into the stomach of senior safety Ronnell Perkins. Perkins sprinted 100 yards to the other end zone for a touchdown.

“The quarterback looked right at me, and it came right to me,” Perkins said with a laugh. “It was the easiest pick I ever had.”

“You talk about momentum, man,” Odom said of the play. “I think if they scored it would have been a three-point game at that point.”

Missouri’s players spoke openly about the importance of not only responding to adversity and protecting a lead, but finally getting over the hump against South Carolina. The only player on the Tiger roster who had experience beating the Gamecocks was Bryant, and his came while playing for Clemson. Following the final horn, Perkins showed almost as much speed racing toward the Mayor’s Cup, the silver trophy presented to the winner of the game, as he had on his interception return.

“It’s been four years since we had that trophy,” he said. “... It means a lot. For this to be my last year — every SEC team that we lost against, I want to go get them. Everybody that we lost to since I been here, it’s my goal before I leave and all the seniors before we leave to go out with a bang.”

Like Perkins, middle linebacker Cale Garrett said he had made it a goal to finally beat South Carolina during his final season in a Missouri uniform. To do so while overcoming some of the same issues that plagued the team during the season-opening loss to Wyoming only served as a bonus.

“Not gonna lie, I was very conscious about the fact that I had never beaten South Carolina before,” Garrett said. “And there were a lot of guys in my boat, lot of seniors who had never beaten South Carolina, and it’s been on some weird things, it’s been on just us letting ourselves down, too. So for us to be able to put together a pretty complete game, I would say that’s something we can hang our hats on and be proud about.”

One of the main reasons Missouri fans were so excited about landing Kelly Bryant after Bryant announced he planned to transfer from Clemson was the rare athleticism he could bring to the quarterback position. The Tigers’ hadn’t had a true rushing threat behind center, and combined with tailbacks Larry Rountree III and Badie, Bryant’s legs figured to be a weapon.

Through the first three weeks of the season, however, Bryant looked hesitant to run, and when he did, he typically didn’t get far. Including sacks, Bryant gained just 26 yards rushing on 24 attempts during his first three games in a Missouri uniform.

Saturday, Tiger fans finally got a glimpse of what Bryant can do as a runner. Bryant finished with 77 yards on 17 carries (90 on 15 carries if you remove sacks). With Missouri’s offense struggling to establish itself in the first half, the team got several big gains from Bryant on both read option running plays and designed quarterback draws. Odom told reporters on Tuesday that the coaching staff had tried to limit Bryant’s carries during the first three games, but they needed him to help spark the offense against South Carolina, and he delivered.

“There’s been a couple built into the game plan the last couple weeks, we just haven’t needed to get to them,” Odom said. “Obviously we needed them today. We were trying to get every inch we could get.”

Johnson said Bryant’s legs add a different dynamic to Missouri’s offense. Badie said that the threat of Bryant rushing ultimately opened up more room for he and fellow running back Larry Rountree III on Saturday.

“It opens up a lot of stuff, as you can see,” Badie said. “The team was kind of focused on me and Larry, and when he pulled it, it was open, and it kept the defense on their feet.”

Ever since Missouri allowed Wyoming to rush for a whopping 297 yards in the season opener, the Tigers have not just improved against the run, they’ve suffocated opposing ground games. In the past three weeks, Missouri has allowed a grand total of 86 yards on the ground.

Saturday’s was the best performance of the bunch, as South Carolina mustered just 16 rushing yards on 24 carries. That’s the fewest yards the Tigers have allowed on the ground in a decade, since Colorado had -14 rushing yards on Oct. 31, 2009.

Odom said the coaching staff placed special emphasis on slowing down South Carolina’s two-pronged rushing attack of Rico Dowdle and Tavien Feaster. The Gamecocks entered Saturday averaging 252 yards per game on the ground.

“We needed to stop the run,” Odom said. “They were averaging 250 on the ground, and we couldn’t let them get both going.”

On his first reception of the day, a 12-yard reception in the first quarter, Johnson eclipsed 2,000 receiving yards for his Missouri career. The senior’s four catch, 52-yard performance places him 10th on the school’s all-time receiving list with 2,044 career yards. He is 734 yards away from becoming the Tigers’ all-time leading receiver.

Rountree, meanwhile, joined the 2,000-yard club during Missouri’s Week Two win over West Virginia. Saturday, he led the Missouri with 88 yards on the ground. In the second half, he passed former teammate Damarea Crockett for 11th on the school’s all-time rushing list. Rountree’s 2,294 career yards place him 904 yards shy of Zach Abron’s school record for running backs.

A season after it finished second-to-last nationally in punt returns, Missouri continues to get big plays in the return game from senior Richaud Floyd. Floyd, who returned a punt 71 yards for a touchdown last week against Southeast Missouri, had returns of 25 and 11 yards Saturday. He is now averaging 18 yards per return on the season.

Odom also expressed pleasure that Missouri did not allow South Carolina to make a big play in the return game. Do-everything kicker Tucker McCann booted all seven of his kickoffs through the end zone for touchbacks and did not allow a return on any of his four punts.

“Tucker had another performance that gave us an advantage,” Odom said.

Despite Odom’s statement Tuesday that left tackle Yasir Durant would start, play and play well against South Carolina, the senior missed Saturday’s game due to a neck injury suffered in the third quarter of last week’s game against SEMO. Odom said he thought Durant would be able to play, but ultimately the medical staff decided against it.

“I thought he was going to be ready,” Odom said. “We got into pregame, he really, really wanted to play. It was a hard decision, but what was right for the kid. He wasn’t 100 percent. But I don’t think it’s going to be long term at all."

Sophomore defensive end Trajan Jeffcoat also missed his fourth game in a row due to an elbow injury. Missouri didn’t appear to suffer any new injuries during the game.