Mizzou found the winning play

“We came into the game knowing it was gonna be a dog fight,” Missouri receiver Kevin Coleman said. “We’re on the road, first away game. We knew it was gonna be a fight, we had to stick together and play four quarters of football.”
Almost right.
It was a rock fight, the Missouri Tigers and Auburn Tigers both struggled to score and Missouri found a way to win in the end.
It just took more than four quarters.
In double overtime, Mizzou walked away from Jordan-Hare Stadium with a 23-17 win.
“What a gutsy win,” Missouri coach Eliah Drinkwitz said. “Incredibly proud of the staff and the players. … It was really, really ugly. But we just kept fighting and fighting.”
After the teams traded missed field goals in the first overtime, Missouri’s offense came back out for the second go round.
This time, Mizzou found its way into the end zone.
On third-and-10, Beau Pribula found Coleman over the middle for 12 yards, then Pribula ran for another 6 before Jamal Roberts got the visiting Tigers to the goal line with another 6-yard run.
Two plays later, Pribula dove across the goal line head first for a 3-yard touchdown to put Mizzou in front 23-17.
“That was great, it was great,” Pribula said. “Finally cracked through and scored a touchdown when we needed it.”
The 2-point conversion fell to the turf, so the Mizzou defense came back out needing a stop.
And as it had for most of the day, it got it.
The visiting Tigers pushed Auburn back three yards on the first play, then stopped two plays for a combined five yards.
On fourth-and-8, Mizzou almost landed pressure on Jackson Arnold, but Arnold was able to get the ball to an offensive lineman, who Mizzou stopped for no gain. The game was over, and instead of last week’s outcome where the Tigers weren’t able to find the winning play, this week, the resiliency shined through.
“I just thought there was a refusal to lose,” Drinkwitz said.
Ugly start
Missouri has never started well on the road in the five-plus years Drinkwitz has been at the helm.
And that didn’t change Saturday.
Mizzou knew it might be a problem, which is why it simulated a road game during fall camp. But that didn’t change the fact Auburn easily drove down the field on the opening series, moving 75 yards in 12 plays to score.
And just like last week, the Mizzou defense helped out its opponents early.
Mizzou had Auburn on fourth-and-2 on the initial drive, but a pass interference was called, allowing the home Tigers’ drive to continue, leading to the score.
“We had self-inflicted issues,” Drinkwitz said.
Mizzou didn’t start any better on offense than it had on defense. After converting a third-and-10 with a 15-yard pass to Coleman, Mizzou stalled and had to punt.
The visitors nearly fell behind 14-0 when a deep pass from Arnold to Cam Coleman had Mizzou corner Toriano Pride beat, but Coleman dropped the pass.
On the next play, Pride made up for it. Arnold sailed a pass straight into Pride’s arms for his first interception of the season. It also ended a streak of 324 consecutive passes without an interception. Former Mizzou QB Brady Cook maintains the SEC record for most consecutive passes without an interception at 366.
“I think that turnover that Pride had to save Brady Cook’s streak was really big,” Drinkwitz said. “And I think that kind of flipped the momentum.”
Taking advantage
Missouri took over at the Auburn 30, but was unable to complete the drive with a touchdown. The visitors settled for a 24-yard Robert Meyer field goal to cut the Auburn lead to 7-3.
Finishing drives remained an issue throughout the game for Mizzou, but the Black & Gold did finish its next series.
After forcing a three-and-out, Mizzou started on its own 35.
Ahmad Hardy got Mizzou a couple of first downs, then Pribula hit Marquis Johnson for a big gain. A Pribula pass to Joshua Manning set Mizzou up on the 2 and Hardy ran in an easy touchdown to give Missouri a 10-7 lead with 10:21 left before halftime.
Mizzou was driving again with a chance to extend the lead going into halftime, but Pribula’s pass to Manning along the sideline was caught instead by Auburn corner Kayin Lee. It was Pribula’s sixth interception in the past five games.
“You’ve got to move on,” Pribula said. “There was more game left to be played and we had to win the game.”
Auburn then drove the field and was in position to tie the game going into halftime, but a 40-yard field goal was wide right, so Mizzou took a 10-7 advantage to the break.
Third quarter
Mizzou started with the ball out of halftime and was on the move, converting two third downs. But a second-down sack knocked the visiting Tigers off schedule and Mizzou was forced to punt.
The teams traded punts, leading to an Auburn drive with 5:33 left in the third, starting at its own 14.
The home Tigers drove the field, once again with the help of a 15-yard Mizzou penalty. This time the call was unnecessary roughness on a hit out of bounds that turned an upcoming third down on the Mizzou 44 into a first-and-10 at the Mizzou 29.
Auburn did the rest of the work, scoring one a 1-yard touchdown with 35 seconds left in the third.
Attempting a comeback
Mizzou’s offense looked feeble, to the point a one-score lead looked insurmountable at times.
The visitors went three-and-out on their first drive after falling behind.
Then Auburn put together consecutive long plays, a 23-yard run and a 37-yard pass, to set up a 22-yard field goal. The kick extended the lead to 17-10 with 10:31 left to play.
The next Mizzou drive achieved two first downs. But a negative run put the Tigers behind the sticks and they never recovered. Mizzou punted with 8:16 left to play.
The Missouri defense forced a three-and-out and got Mizzou the ball back at its own 40.
This time, the Tigers came through with the help of Auburn penalties.
On second-and-10 from the Mizzou 40, the Black & Gold attempted one of its first deep heaves of the night and Johnson drew a pass interference call. After the play, an unnecessary roughness penalty was added.
Instead of third-and-10 from its own 40, Mizzou had first-and-10 from the Auburn 30.
Pribula then hit freshman Donovan Olugbode and Olugbode worked his way to a 27-yard gain to set up first-and-goal.
Hardy ran in his second touchdown, reaching the ball across the goal line just before losing control of it when he hit the ground.
The score counted and Mizzou had tied the game at 17 with 5:07 left to play.
“Going on the road in this environment, I knew it was going to be ugly,” Drinkwitz said. “But you’ve got to find a way to make a play to win the game.”
Holding on
The Missouri defense went back on the field needing a stop to allow the visitors to try run out the clock.
On third-and-10, Arnold found a wide open Perry Thompson for a 34-yard gain and it seemed like Auburn was set to take the lead.
But Mizzou stopped the next three plays for a combined 1 yard and Auburn was forced to punt with 3:04 left.
Mizzou looked to drive for the win from its own 8, with Pribula hitting Manning for 12 yards, then Coleman for 14.
He added a 10-yard pass to Olugbode and a 15-yard completion to Jamal Roberts. After a 10-yard pass to Johnson, Mizzou was at the Auburn 30.
But the next three plays netted -18 yards. Pribula was sacked for a loss of 7, then heaved a pass backward that went out of bounds for a loss of 6. A false start took the Tigers the final 5 backward and they were well out of field goal range.
On third-and-28, Pribula tossed up a prayer, which was taken in by Auburn corner Jay Crawford for Pribula’s seventh interception in five games.
“That last play, he was just trying to give us a chance to get into field goal range,” Drinkwitz said.
Auburn kneeled out to send the game to overtime.
Stats
- Pribula went 23-of-40 passing for Mizzou for 252 yards and two interceptions, he also rushed 16 times for 28 yards.
- Hardy had 58 rushing yards on 24 attempts.
- Olugbode was Mizzou’s leading receiver with five catches for 69 yards, while Manning had five catches for 63 yards and Coleman had four receptions for 61.
- Arnold was 18-of-30 passing for Auburn for 207 yards and an interception. He also rushed 17 times for 14 yards.
- Jeremiah Cobb led Auburn with 111 rushing yards on 19 attempts.
- Coleman led Auburn with 108 receiving yards on six catches.
- Josiah Trotter led Mizzou with eight tackles, including two tackles for loss and a sack.
- Zion Young had two sacks for the visiting Tigers, who totaled five as a team.
- Mizzou went 8-of-17 on third downs, while Auburn was 6-of-16.
- Mizzou won the time of possession battle 32:47-27:13.
Up next
Missouri (6-1, 2-1) which became bowl eligible for the sixth consecutive season, all six seasons of Drinkwitz’s tenure, with the win, will play at Vanderbilt (6-1, 2-1) at 2:30 p.m. Saturday on ESPN.