Tigers spread the fault around in total team loss
The last time we saw Kelly Bryant in a meaningful football game, he was putting up 259 yards of total offense in a 28-26 win at Texas A&M that ended up being a key to Clemson’s 2018 national title run. That’s what Bryant did when surrounded by elite talent. On Saturday evening at Wyoming, we saw what he did surrounded by something quite a bit less than that.
Bryant had gaudy numbers in his first game as Missouri’s one-year rental at quarterback. He had 443 yards of total offense, including 423 passing. Both were career highs. He also had two crippling turnovers and got very little help from any of his teammates on either side of the ball.
“No, I don’t think so,” head coach Barry Odom said when asked if Bryant got enough help. “I need to guard on some comments before I really look at some of the video…The other side made some plays too, but we got a long ways to go.”
The quarterback wasn’t in any mood to dissect it after the game. He didn’t care about the ridiculous numbers, only that he fell short of leading his team back from 17 points down in the final 13 minutes.
“He’s going to be really, really hard on himself,” Odom said.
“Just look myself in the mirror and make sure I can do everything I could do,” Bryant said. “I’m just focused on how we can get better and just win next week.”
Bryant’s biggest error in this game was an end zone interception that kept Missouri from scoring at least a field goal. Down 27-17 and rolling out of the pocket to his left, Bryant saw Barrett Banister flash open in the back of the end zone, planted and threw back across the field. The ball never made it to Banister, instead being intercepted by Cassh Maluia. The Cowboys would extend the lead to 17 on the ensuing drive, which was one score too many for Bryant and the Tigers to overcome.
“I shouldn’t have did it,” he said. “We’re down there at least try to get a field goal. Just try to learn from it.”
Bryant got the Tigers two touchdowns and led them to the Wyoming 20-yard line on the final possession. But he lost six yards on a sack and then threw two incomplete passes as his hopes for a miraculous comeback landed somewhere between triple coverage on Johnathon Johnson.
“Just trying to win the game,” Bryant said. “Just trying to throw one up to one of my guys, let them make a play. It didn’t work out the way we wanted it to work out, but like I said, it’s a lesson for us to learn. It’s a gut check for us. We’re going to see what type of team we have next week.”
Quarterbacks get too much credit and too much blame. But even with the mistakes, 443 yards of offense from the position and 31 points are going to win a lot of football games. The help from places Bryant is going to have to get it wasn’t there.
Missouri never established the run, averaging jut 2.7 yards per carry and benching Larry Rountree III in favor of Tyler Badie for most of the second half (which happened, coincidentally or not, after Rountree's back-breaking fumble on the final play of the first half that led to a Wyoming field goal). Albert Okwuegbunam was targeted just four times and caught only three passes. Johnson was in and out of the lineup and Dominic Gicinto didn't even make the trip. The defense faced a team that made itself one-dimensional and gave up 297 yards rushing, including 136 on back-to-back second quarter carries that gave Wyoming a lead after the Tigers had raced to a 14-0 advantage.
“They were pretty physical up front,” linebacker Cale Garrett said. “There were a couple of times where, maybe just a miscue, where one guy doesn’t do a job and we get bit for it. They played on our overaggression.”
“We knew going into the game that they weren’t going to throw the ball a lot,” DeMarkus Acy said. “Credit to those guys. They came out ready to play, ran the ball right down our throat.”
And now, Mizzou is left to pick up the pieces. There are 11 games left. As much as it will feel like it on the flight back to Columbia, the season isn’t over. But a whole lot of wind was knocked out of the sails on Saturday night.
“Nothing is too big for us,” Acy said. “We know this wasn’t the result we wanted, but we want to keep sticking to our seniors, keep supporting them. We’ve got a great group of guys.”
“It’s awful. We lost the game,” Odom said. “Quit talking about it and let’s go do it. And it starts with me.”