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Sunday grade card: Missouri vs. Kentucky

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Each Sunday, PowerMizzou.com will hand out a position-by-position grade card for Missouri from Saturday's game. Here are the marks from the Tigers’ heartbreaking, 15-14 loss to Kentucky.

Quarterback: Drew Lock’s reputation throughout his college career has been that he cannot make the essential plays against good defenses. Saturday offered perhaps the most striking chapter yet in that narrative. Sure, Lock was without wide receiver Emanuel Hall again, but the fact that the offense couldn’t get a single first down in the second half — when just one first down on the last few drives would have won the game — reflects poorly on its senior quarterback. GRADE: F

Running backs: Damarea Crockett made a few impressive plays and eclipsed the 2,000-yard mark for his college career during Saturday’s game. Larry Rountree III made a nice effort to reach across the goal line on a first-quarter touchdown. But, again, when Missouri needed to keep drives alive during the second half, no one managed to make a play. The running backs deserve as much blame for that as anyone. GRADE: D

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Running back Damarea Crockett scored one of Missouri's two touchdowns against Kentucky.
Running back Damarea Crockett scored one of Missouri's two touchdowns against Kentucky. (Jordan Kodner)

Wide receivers: Johnathan Johnson made some nice catches, especially in the first half. But once again, it was evident that without Hall on the field, Missouri’s pass-catchers couldn’t win one-on-one matchups and provide Lock with some easy completions. Also, have we mentioned yet that the Tigers didn’t get a first down the entire second half? GRADE: F

Tight Ends: See above. Albert Okwuegbunam followed up his big week against Memphis with a clunker, catching just two passes for 20 yards. Kendall Blanton didn’t play due to a knee injury, and no one made an impact in his absence. GRADE: F

Offensive line: Missouri rushed for 14 yards across eight second-half possessions. It threw for 35. Actually, the half was nearly worse for the unit, as Kentucky’s star pass-rusher Josh Allen twice stripped Lock. Both times, Missouri was able to recover the fumble, but the sacks derailed Missouri’s possessions. GRADE: F

Defensive line: Missouri’s defense actually played well for 59 minutes, especially against the run. Kentucky entered the game averaging 5.3 yards per carry, but averaged fewer than half that number Saturday, with 2.6 yards per tote. The defensive line also generated two sacks after being maligned for its pass-rush for most of the season. Missouri didn’t lose this game because of its defensive line. GRADE: A

Linebackers: Cale Garrett was everywhere Saturday. He finished with 14 total tackles, and he was involved with all three stops on Kentucky’s fourth down attempts. Terez Hall also played well, recording a sack and a tackle for loss. The one knock on the linebackers was allowing Kentucky receiver David Bouvier to release freely off the line of scrimmage on what resulted in a 27-yard gain on the Wildcats’ final possession. GRADE: B

Missouri's defense defended Kentucky's running game relatively well.
Missouri's defense defended Kentucky's running game relatively well. (Jordan Kodner)

Secondary: A week after passing for just 18 yards in an entire game, Kentucky threw for 294 yards against Missouri. Let that sink in for a moment. Now, some of that total resulted from the Tigers selling out to stop the run, which allowed Kentucky to complete a several easy, quick completions in the first half. But when the game was on the line, the Missouri secondary yet again left players open. You can take issue with the pass interference penalty assessed to DeMarkus Acy that extended the game, but Missouri’s defense never should have allowed Kentucky to get to that point. GRADE: F

Special Teams: In a game in which every point clearly mattered, Missouri left 10 points on the board due to special teams. On the Tigers’ first drive of the game, Kentucky’s Darius West came untouched through the line of scrimmage and blocked Tucker McCann’s 43-yard field goal attempt. Then, in the fourth quarter, Kentucky’s comeback was sparked by a Lynn Bowden Jr. 67-yard punt return touchdown. No Missouri player touched Bowden on the return. Barry Odom has repeatedly preached this season that the Tigers have little margin for error, and errors committed by the special teams unit have now bitten the team in several games. GRADE: F

Coaching: Midway through the fourth quarter, Saturday looked like it would be a career-defining game for Odom: his first career win against a ranked team, something he could point to as proof when he says the team has improved in his third season. Instead, it’s looking like a career-defining game for the wrong reasons. For the second time this year, Missouri gagged away a late lead and lost on the final play. The coaches’ decisions to pass the ball on third down and two on Missouri’s final possession, then align the defense in a picket-fence style formation when there were still nine seconds left in the game for Kentucky were head-scratchers, to put it mildly. GRADE: F

Final Overall Grade: F

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