I tried to go big picture in my column here. Now let's dive into the nitty-gritty.
1) Let's start with the call that is getting all the attention and deserves most of it. By the letter of the law, the roughing the punter call might have been right. I'm not positive, but it might have been. Will Norris didn't touch the football and if you tackle a punter without touching the football, you're going to get called for a personal foul. But by the spirit of the rule? Come on. That ball was 40 yards behind the line of scrimmage and I can't imagine Norris thought the punter was actually going to kick it when he picked it up. I sure as hell didn't. I thought he was going to kick it out the back of the end zone and put the game in the hands of the Kentucky defense. Which is what he should have done. The fact that he didn't probably won Kentucky the game.
"They're rewarded for a huge mistake," Eli Drinkwitz said.
Indeed. Just when I think it's not possible for Missouri to lose a game in a way I've never seen, they prove me wrong.
2) It was not the only call or 50/50 scenario that went against Missouri. After a ruckus on the Kentucky sideline, Missouri got a personal foul and no one from the Wildcats did. That one didn't end up hurting the Tigers because the defense got mad and got two sacks after that. A play that was called a Chris Rodriguez fumble at the 17-yard line was reversed and Kentucky ended up scoring the game-winning touchdown a few plays later. Was it the right call? Ultimately, I think it was. But I also thought there was enough doubt that the call on the field would stand. It did not. A targeting penalty against Kentucky was reversed. I think that was the right call. Many of you said the holding penalty that negated a pass near midfield that would at least have given Missouri a shot at a Hail Mary was a bad call. I have no idea. I didn't see it happen and haven't seen a replay. But that's a lot of 50/50 scenarios. Law of averages would tell you at least one of them would favor Missouri. None did. This team isn't good enough to overcome itself AND bad breaks.
3) Even with all of that, Missouri had the ball with a chance to win the game.
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