Mizzou dominates the trenches to beat South Carolina
The Tigers looked dominant at times.
They out gained South Carolina 456-293. Missouri held more than a 10-minute advantage in time of possession. The Tigers had nearly 300 more rushing yards than the Gamecocks.
But the game came down to 10 Tiger points in the fourth quarter as Missouri came back from a late deficit to beat the Gamecocks 29-20 and regain the Mayor’s Cup.
“That’s the thing that’s disappointing,” Missouri coach Eliah Drinkwitz said. “You look up our stats and our numbers, and our time of possession is dominant. And yet the scoreboard’s not. It’s because we’re giving up explosive plays down the field for touchdowns. We’ve got to get that off the tape.”
The Tigers entered the fourth quarter trailing 20-19 after regaining possession after a South Carolina field goal with 18 seconds left in the third.
Missouri ran just one play to take the game into the fourth with the Tigers on their own 31.
Then came the offense.
Beau Pribula hit Marquis Johnson on an out route for 13 yards, then Ahmad Hardy ran for 4 more. Pribula then hit Joshua Manning on a screen designed to look like a swing pass to Hardy for another 12 yards to get past midfield.
Hardy had runs of 6 and 4 for another first down, then Pribula scrambled for a gain of 11. Two plays later, Jamal Roberts took a run to the left, slipped a tackle at the line of scrimmage, lowered his shoulder into another defender and ran in a 16-yard touchdown.
The score put the Tigers up 26-20 with 9:32 left to play after Pribula ran in a two-point conversion.
“Ultimately, at halftime, I told our guys, ‘If we will just sure up the boots and we’ll continue to run run the ball, we’ll win the game.’” Drinkwitz said. “Because in the fourth quarter, you’ve got to run to win.”
Finishing the game
But the game wasn’t over.
The Tiger defense that had struggled to stop the pass all day would have to contain LaNorris Sellers and the Gamecock offense.
And it did.
Sellers’ first pass fell incomplete, then his second pass went for just three yards. Sellers attempted a deep pass on third down, but it fell incomplete and the Gamecocks had to punt.
The Tigers started at their own 21 and put together a nine-play drive that stalled at the South Carolina 22.
With the chance to go up two scores, the Tigers sent out true freshman kicker Robby Meyer for a 40-yard attempt. Drinkwitz had said to the TV broadcast crew Meyer’s limit would be a 35-yard kick after he missed a 41-yard attempt in Week 3.
But Drinkwitz had a specific message for Meyer, who had missed an extra point in the first quarter.
“I didn’t say anything after the missed extra point,” Drinkwitz said. “But after the timeout, I just looked at him and said, ‘We believe in you.’”
Meyer drilled the kick and put the Tigers up by two scores with 1:34 left to play.
The Tiger defense came back out and forced a turnover on downs to ensure the Mayor’s Cup Trophy stayed in Columbia, Missouri, after it had a one-year stop in Columbia, South Carolina.
Initial lead
The game didn’t get off to a fast start.
The Tigers failed to score a touchdown on their opening drive for the first time this season and the teams traded punts through the first quarter.
Missouri began its second possession at its own 1 with 4:02 left in the opening frame. But that’s when the Tigers started to fall into their rhythm.
Pribula hit Johnson on a comebacker, then scrambled for 14 yards to get away from the Tiger end zone. Two plays later, Hardy broke free for a 27-yard gain. Then Pribula found Brett Norfleet down the sideline for 25 more.
The Tigers were within the South Carolina 12 at the end of the first quarter.
After changing sides of the field, Pribula found Manning on an 8-yard crossing route in the front of the end zone.
“We’re completely dialed in on what we have to do this week,” Pribula said. “And that’s all that matters. We don’t look down the road and we don’t look behind us either. It’s one week at a time and we did a great job staying focused this week.”
The Gamecocks quickly responded as Sellers hit Vandrevious Jacobs for a 49-yard touchdown. It was the first of many deep passing plays allowed by the Tigers.
“I’m going to be on some secondary coaches’ rear ends,” Drinkwitz said. “Because this is getting ridiculous how porous our pass defense is. And that’s got to get shored up in a hurry.”
The Tigers retook the lead with a long drive that ended with a 23-yard Meyer field goal to go up 9-7 with 5:54 left in the first half.
Trailing
Sellers responded once again with an efficient drive, needing only four plays to go 70 yards. He hit Jacobs for 15, then Brian Rowe for 15 more before finding Rowe again on a 24-yard touchdown to give South Carolina a 14-9 lead with 2:30 left in the first half.
But the Tigers continued to shine in the two-minute drill as they have through the first three games.
Pribula led a 11-play drive to gain 71 yards, setting up a 22-yard Meyer kick to cut the deficit to 14-12 going into halftime.
South Carolina added to their lead with a Wiliam Joyce 32-yard field goal with 8:27 left in the third.
Then Hardy posted the play of the day to put the Tigers in front.
After opening the Tiger drive with a 38-yard run, Hardy had consecutive runs of 4 before Roberts came on to get a first down that brought the Tigers to the South Carolina 27.
Pribula then scrambled for a gain of 17 the Tigers had goal-to-go at the 5.
They gave the ball to Hardy and he ended up on his back on top of the pile, but his legs kept churning.
“Honestly, I didn’t even know I was off the ground until I started spinning,” Hardy said. “And my legs started kicking. So I was like, ‘Oh well I’m not down.’ I got excited, so I just kept running.”
He spun back to his left off the right side of the pile, got his legs churning again and lowered his shoulder into a defender at the goal line and took in a 5-yard touchdown.
He has reached 100 yards and scored in all four games where he has suited up for the Tigers.
“Let’s be honest, I mean, the dude’s running through people like he’s a dump truck,” Drinkwitz said. “I mean, he’s a Clydesdale amongst a bunch of Phillies. It’s unbelievable.”
The Gamecocks responded with a long drive leading to a Joyce field goal with 18 seconds left in the third to send the game to the fourth with the Gamecocks in front.
Stats
- Pribula went 16-of-27 passing for 171 yards, one touchdown and one interception. He added 72 rushing yards on nine carries.
- Hardy finished with 22 attempts for 138 yards (6.3 yards per carry) with a touchdown.
- Roberts had 13 carries for 76 yards (5.8 yards per carry).
- Johnson was the primary receiver with seven catches for 80 yards.
- Josiah Trotter led the Tiger defense with 11 tackles, including a tackle for loss.
- The Tigers had eight tackles for loss and five sacks.
- Khalil Jacobs ended with five tackles, one sack and 1.5 for loss, while Nicholas Rodriguez had five tackles, one sack and two pass breakups.
Up next
Missouri (4-0, 1-0 SEC) advanced its home winning streak to 14 games and will remain at Faurot Field for two more before hitting the road for the first time.
Next is a matchup with UMass (0-3) at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.
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