How Mizzou football's Harrison Mevis booted No. 15 Kansas State back across border

By the time the rest of the Mizzou football team caught up to him, Harrison Mevis was fist-pumping his way across the goal line in the opposite end zone from where his walk-off kick sailed through the goalposts.

Checks out, right? After all, he wasn’t in the Kansas State half to begin with.

The “Thicker Kicker’s” SEC-record-breaking 61-yard field goal as time expired Saturday in Columbia booted the No. 15 Wildcats back across the state line with a 30-27 loss to the Tigers.

The fans tumbled out of the stands to be part of some chaos unseen in these parts for a Missouri moment. Most of the Tigers’ sideline sprinted toward the hero of the moment, and as Mevis crossed the K-State goal line — a 49-yard dash if you’re counting — a pileup toppled onto him.

“They all tackled me,” Mevis said. “That hurt.”

Not for long, you’d wager.

“You know, I’ll take one for the team,” he added. “These guys deserve it.”

Missouri is 3-0. It has its first ranked win on Faurot Field since 2020, downing the reigning Big 12-champion Wildcats (2-1).

For plenty among the Mizzou crew, that feeling of redemption was at hand.

Even Mevis, for all his heroics, isn’t exempt there.

The kicker who for the longest time seemed impenetrable, unflappable and oftentimes damn-near invincible has had his fair share of struggles over the past 12 months.

There was the missed kick from 26 yards — more than half the distance closer than the Kansas State-killing kick, it’s worth noting — as time expired against Auburn last year that eventually cost the Tigers the game. Last week, in a scrape-it-out win over Middle Tennessee, he missed the first PAT of his college career, which could be pinned on a holding issue. That followed two missed field goals against South Dakota.

But Mevis is process-oriented, and he believes in the way he attacks his practice.

He often uses golf analogies when explaining his kicking routine to the media, calling his holder like his caddy and likening his repetition-based role to the pre-shot process of a Tour player. Mevis did it again in the aftermath of Saturday’s heroics, saying a 56-yard attempt and a 61-yarder may be “a different club” but at its essence is the “same kick.”

Mevis explained how he’s grown over the years, learning what he needs to change during the mental process of kicking a game-winner versus your plain-old 3-pointer.

“I've learned that I'm different than other kickers,” Mevis said. “I’ve learned over the years what I need to do, how I perform at my best.”

He mentioned how he adjusted on the sideline after missing a 53-yard attempt, kicking the same direction, earlier in the game against Kansas State. Mevis caught the ground first on that attempt, so he took some extra reps with a kicking net for a deep shot.

He’s so detail oriented, when asked what the difference will be to kick in an enclosed dome next week when Missouri faces Memphis in St. Louis, he mentioned how he’d heard that air conditioning has minimal effect on a kick.

There’s a reason Mevis was never replaced, nor has that consideration even entered reasonable discussion.

MU defensive end Johnny Walker said post-game he has the “strongest leg in the world.”

Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz said Mevis is “as tough as nails.”

He had to be.

The circumstances leading up to the kick bordered on the bizarre.

The Tigers took a delay of game penalty on first down with six seconds left on the game clock, seemingly unaware that the clock had run down, pushing any potential field-goal attempt five yards further back.

“I’d have preferred the 56-yarder,” Mevis joked post-game.

Then Missouri tried to buy some yards by running a play, but Cook’s pass was tipped and almost intercepted.

Then it was Mevis’ turn.

“He does everything the right way,” Drinkwitz said. “Game on the line and he makes it. Beautiful. That’s redemption.”

If you ask his teammates, it’s like it was never a question that Mevis would trot out for a 61-yarder. Brady Cook said he had a conversation with the kicker before he walked out, telling him that this was the “Mevis opportunity.”

Wide receiver Mookie Cooper said new teammate Theo Wease Jr. didn’t know if Mevis had it, having not seen him in that situation before — situations like the 56-yard, game-tying kick at Boston College in 2021, or the 56-yarder against Georgia last season.

“I knew he had it,” Cooper said.

A conference record-setting length or not, so did Harrison Mevis.

He knew long before the ball had gone its stunning, improbable, conference-best 61 yards, and long before anyone else in the stadium.

“I kind of know before anyone else, just the way it comes off my foot,” Mevis said. “I almost have a better idea than most people if it would go in.

“It felt good.”

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Missouri football: "Thicker Kicker" Harrison Mevis boots Kansas State