Here's how Mizzou football showed it has left past struggles behind in win over Kentucky
LEXINGTON, Ky. — It’s why Darius Robinson came back.
For a moment, Mizzou football looked a lot like the Missouri football in recent years that suffered into late November fighting for a postseason berth.
But this Tigers team, which overcame a brutal first quarter to beat No. 24-ranked Kentucky 38-21 on Saturday night in front of a sold-out crowd at Kroger Field, made their latest statement they're made of sterner stuff.
“When I was thinking about coming back to college, this is what I envisioned," said Robinson, a team captain and defensive end for MU. “I envisioned us being a team that can start fast, win games early and get momentum. And to think that last year against Arkansas (in the regular-season finale), I mean we’re fighting for our lives out there just to go to a bowl game, and now we're here.”
“Here” is 6-1 on the season, guaranteed a bowl game and showing scant signs of slowing down.
It would have taken a brave soul to guess that was coming after a quarter in Kentucky.
UK (5-2, 2-2 Southeastern Conference) running back Ray Davis put the Tigers in a hole with 71 yards from scrimmage and a touchdown on two drives. The Wildcats found the end zone without a hint of hassle on both possessions. Missouri, meanwhile, was stumbling. The Tigers’ offense had answered with two possessions that turned seven plays for 15 yards and an interception.
So what did the visitors do? They outscored Kentucky by 31 points the rest of the way with a complete-team effort.
That was, after all, what their coach had asked of them.
Eli Drinkwitz spoke at length about the need for the team to have each other’s backs after mistakes. He wanted his team to play more complimentary football; for offense, defense and special teams to get in sync and make up for the other’s mistake.
And with their backs against the wall, that was exactly what happened.
Enter: Luke Bauer, a fourth-year punter who only assumed the starting role three weeks ago against Memphis.
On fourth and 10 just inside the Kentucky half, he held the ball out over his foot and fooled all of Lexington. He paused, reached back and delivered a 39-yard touchdown pass to freshman Marquis Johnson.
“That's all we needed. We just needed something to believe in,” Drinkwitz said. “And that's what good football teams find a way to do. All three phases, when somebody is not performing on one of those phases, step up.”
The Tigers needed every bit of their newfound resolve.
After the rancid start, Missouri’s defense went on a run, holding Kentucky to six straight scoreless possessions, including safety Joseph Charleston’s forced and recovered fumble on the first play of the second half.
And when the Wildcats did score to reclaim the lead midway through the third quarter, the Tigers followed up with three turnovers — Marcus Clarke and Kris Abrams-Draine picks and a turnover on downs — on their next four plays to essentially ice the game.
On the other side of the ball, the offense never hit the heights of the past four weeks.
But despite Brady Cook’s lowest passing yard total of the season (167 yards on 29 attempts) and Luther Burden III’s lowest receiving-yard total of the season (15 yards on two catches), the Tigers walked off Kroger Field with 38 points.
“This was the type of game we knew it was going to be. We knew it was going to be a street fight, back and forth,” Cook said. “They obviously did a great job of limiting explosive plays. … They covered really well, made it really hard on me, made it really hard on the offense. We just found a way to get it done.”
That seemed to be the motto.
“You know you get these games on the road, you've got to counterpunch. The momentum is away from you and you’ve got to counter punch and settle in, and that's what we did. … Everybody just settled in like ‘OK, we belong here, we're gonna be fine,’” Drinkwitz said. “And I'll just be honest, it's surreal right now. It was 14-nothing, and we looked like dog in the first quarter. And now we're talking about a 38-21 win. That is a tribute to that team and staff in that locker room.”
South Carolina is next on the docket, coming to Columbia, Missouri, for MU’s homecoming game next Saturday. Missouri’s penchant for the fight means it has played its way into an unlikely scrap for the SEC East.
That hasn’t been a common sentence in CoMo.
Robinson has seen the change. Gone are the days when there are people who he couldn’t talk directly to in the locker room, he said. Gone are the days, in what is likely to be his final season before declaring for the NFL Draft, that the Tigers are fighting tooth and claw for a game after November ends.
“We’ve got an opportunity to be 7-1 and my whole career has been 1-and this, 2-and this, 3-and this,” Robinson said. “The opportunity to be 7-1 is beyond impressive. But I knew with everybody coming back to school, I knew that everybody has the right mindset, with our coaches, that this is possible.”
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Here's how Mizzou showed it has left past struggles behind in win over Kentucky
