Notebook: Tigers roll, make a bowl

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Four games into the season, Missouri ranked 130th in the nation in turnover margin. There are only 130 teams. What a difference a month makes.

Through the first eight games of the season, the Tigers had forced just seven turnovers. In the last three contests, the Tiger defense has taken it away eight times, including two interceptions in a 45-17 demolition of Vanderbilt that moved the Tigers over the .500 mark for the first time under Barry Odom. Brandon Lee took one of those interceptions back 42 yards for a touchdown that put Missouri up 21-0 midway through the decisive second quarter.

"High school," Lee said when asked the last time he had been in the end zone. "I had a couple pick sixes then, but I haven't been in since. It's a good feeling to be back."

"He always tries to say he's a running back," Ish Witter said. "I was like, 'Okay, you can finally come in the running back room now.'"

Missouri would add two more scores before halftime, on a 30-yard pass from Drew Lock to Richaud Floyd and a 74-yard punt return by Floyd. The Tigers led 35-0 at the break and were well on the way to their fifth win in a row.

The offensive numbers were decent. Witter ran for 102, Larry Rountree III added 53 and a touchdown. Lock threw for 235 and had three more touchdown passes, drawing him within one of Chase Daniel’s single season school record of 39 and Albert Okwuegbunam had 116 yards and two scores, tying Jeremy Maclin's freshman record of nine touchdown catches.

But it was the defense that owned this day--at least while the game was in doubt--and that has really been the story of this turnaround. The Tigers gave up at least 30 points in each of their first six games. It was the first time in school history that had happened. In the last five, no team has scored more than 21 against Mizzou.

"Knowing when you can take your shot and really having confidence to go do that," head coach Barry Odom said. "I thought early in the year, we had a little bit of confidence but it was fake. We hadn't earned it yet."

Even after a dreadful third quarter, it was the defense that made the deciding stop. With Vanderbilt having driven to the Missouri nine-yard line and threatening to make it a two-score game, the Tigers forced a turnover on downs to put a win on ice with 10:50 to play. The final stop came when Marcell Frazier hit Shurmur's arm on fourth down to force an incompletion.

"Great first half, not a great third quarter, but we found a way to finish the football game," Odom said. "That shows some maturity and that shows things that our football team has really talked about and worked on. I was glad to see it show up on full display tonight."

Lee was the star on this night, but fellow linebacker Cale Garrett had 12 tackles, including a near beheading of Kyle Shurmur on a second quarter sack. Terry Beckner Jr. continued to dominate at the line of scrimmage in what was likely his penultimate regular season game as a Tiger. Adam Sparks got the first interception of his career and DeMarkus Acy continued an individual in-season turnaround that has mirrored that of his team.

The Tigers' reward? A bowl game.

"There's things that you want to continue to work towards and break down a couple barriers here and there," Odom said. "Tonight was a big one for us."

"We've just got to get one more so we can go to a better bowl game," Witter said.

The biggest obstacle between Richaud Floyd and a career night was the Mizzou sideline. Floyd's first touchdown came on a ball that he caught uncovered at the Vanderbilt six-yard line. Floyd came within inches (centimeters?) of being carried out of bounds by his momentum, but managed to stop in time. With no defender in the neighborhood, Floyd had time to gather himself, turn to the end zone and perform an award-winning ballet to cover the final 18 feet to the end zone that earned him the post-game nickname "Tony Tip Tap" from Brandon Lee.

"Coach Hill preaches never run out of bounds, even in practice and film sessions," Floyd said. "Inches. Less than inches really."

"I like the whole tightrope thing," Lock said. "Fighting away from guys that were grabbing all night. That was their goal was to grab us, to hold us back because they knew we'd fly by them if we could."

Floyd’s second touchdown also came down that same sideline. He fielded a rugby punt on a big hop and had picked up about 15 yards as he tried to turn the corner up the sideline. Enter Brandon Lee’s whose crushing block eliminated a would-be Commodore tackler. Floyd covered the last 60 yards or so being threatened only by the white line. His second punt return for a touchdown this season gave the Tigers a 35-point lead.

"Richaud made it happen," Lee said. "I just laid my body on the line. He set the block up well. I just gave the guy a little nudge and Richaud was tip-toeing up the sideline."

"I looked Brandon in the face right before he made the block," Floyd said. "I knew he had my back."

Floyd joins a group of seven other players with two punt return touchdowns this season. Washington’s Dante Pettis leads the nation with four.

Every season, the Piesman Trophy is awarded to a "big guy" who scores a touchdown. Defensive tackle Terry Beckner Jr. nearly put his name on the list of candidates in the fourth quarter.

Beckner intercepted a pass at the Missouri four-yard line late in the game and headed up field. He made a couple of moves and looked to have a chance to go the distance, but was tripped up at the Vanderbilt 47-yard line after a 49-yard return.

"He was moving," Adam Sparks said. "He got more yards than I did."

"I think he got tired," Odom joked. "He's always telling me he needs the ball more."

"I said it," Beckner said.

Missouri is going bowling. That much we know. The Tigers became just the 14th team in college football history—and the second in SEC history, joining the 1983 Ole Miss Rebels—to start a season 1-and-5 and qualify for the postseason. Now the question becomes where the Tigers will go.

For the second consecutive week, Liberty Bowl representatives were on hand to watch the Tigers play. That game is in Memphis on December 30th and is the closest SEC bowl game to Columbia. With Tennessee and Vanderbilt already having lost seven games after Saturday, the Tigers would be a natural draw for the Liberty Bowl.

The College Football Playoff Bowls will get the first pick of SEC teams. Either two or three will be selected for those games. After that, the Citrus Bowl gets its pick. It would likely take Auburn, Georgia or Alabama if one of them is left out of the playoff bowls. If they all go, Mississippi State or LSU would likely head to Orlando.

After that, six bowls make SEC selections in conjunction with each other and the conference. Those are the Liberty, the Taxslayer, the Texas, the Music City, the Outback and the Belk. South Carolina, Kentucky and Texas A&M are all bowl eligible. Ole Miss is ineligible for a bowl game this year and Florida and Arkansas cannot get to six wins.

*Okwuegbunam is now tied for the freshman school record for touchdown catches in a season with nine. He is now tied with Jeremy Maclin.

"I didn't know that, but that's great. It's definitely really exciting. Our offense really came together. We had some adversity coming out of half and I'm really proud of the guys, especially Drew stepping up, keeping the guys together. He was a true leader today."

"Kendall (Blanton) and Albert, they've got the opportunity to be tremendous," Odom said. "They really don't even know yet, you know what I mean? They're so young and green, but they're starting to figure it out."

"You can't say enough about Albert," Lock said. "Without some of the plays he made tonight, I don't know if we'd end up being winners."

*Missouri became the second team in SEC history (Ole Miss 1983) and just the 14th in college football history to start a season 1-and-5 and earn bowl eligibility.

*The Tigers have scored at least 45 points in five consecutive games. That is the first time in school history that has happened.

*Lock needs one touchdown to tie Chase Daniel's school record for a single season at 39. He needs two to tie Kentucky's Andre Woodson for the SEC single season record of 40.

*Freshman corner Adam Sparks was a one-time Vanderbilt commit before switched to Mizzou. He celebrated against his old team with the first interception of his career.

"I approached it like any other game, but deep down inside I took it a little personal," Sparks said. "Some of the players on the other team that were in my class were like 'Why did you switch?'"

The Tigers travel to Fayetteville on Friday for a 1:30 game against Arkansas. The Razorbacks are 4-and-7 on the season, 1-and-6 in SEC play. The game will be televised by CBS.