Each fall, the University of Missouri likes to remind those who will listen about its history: The school invented Homecoming.
The tradition dates back to 1911 –– when then-MU football coach and athletic director, Chester Brewer, invited alumni back to Columbia for the football game against Kansas –– and lives on today, where each year, the university hosts numerous events, culminating in Saturday’s football game.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there weren’t any official Homecoming traditions in 2020. There weren’t any parades, late-night festivities or even house decs. However, the year-long absence of the school’s arguably most cherished traditions meant more pent-up excitement for the biggest week of MU’s fall calendar.
On Saturday afternoon, alumni returned in droves to Columbia for the festivities and filled Faurot Field for the program’s largest home crowd of the season to date. Missouri football rewarded them with a 48-35 victory against North Texas and improved to 3-3 on the season.
“Coach [Curtis Luper] talks about not getting beat twice,” senior running back Tyler Badie said. “We had to put that Tennessee game in the past. Today, we came out focused on this game.”
Missouri won yet another football game thanks to a steady diet of Badie. Head coach Eli Drinkwitz schemed the New Orleans native into every facet of his game plan Saturday afternoon, designing creative run plays, but also turning him into a weapon in the passing game.
Badie scored his first touchdown on a 12-yard jaunt just four minutes into the game and exploded from there. He finished with three touchdowns, all in the first half, and contributed 226 all-purpose yards.
“He’s probably the least talked-about great player in the country right now,” Drinkwitz said.
Redshirt sophomore quarterback Connor Bazelak contributed 160 yards and two touchdowns, making multiple impressive throws and reminding fans why Drinkwitz named him the starter two games into last season.
Up 7-0 midway through the first quarter, Bazelak rolled to his right and fired a ball to Badie for a toe-tap touchdown in the front corner of the end zone. In the second quarter, he delivered a perfectly placed 41-yard deep ball to redshirt freshman wide receiver JJ Hester, extending the Tigers’ lead to 21.
However, the offense that clicked throughout the first half and helped Missouri build a 31-7 lead completely fell off in the game’s final 30 minutes. The Mean Green outscored the Tigers 28-17 in a second-half performance, reminiscent of when SEMO outscored the Tigers 28-21 in the second half on Sept. 18. Outside of a 60-yard touchdown run by graduate running back Dawson Downing in the fourth quarter, Missouri’s offense failed to record a single second-half touchdown.
“It just wasn’t good enough,” Drinkwitz said. “We had some mistakes that we need to fix.”
A recently rejuvenated defense served as a bright spot on the afternoon, at least in the takeaways department. Defensive coordinator Steve Wilks’ unit forced three turnovers, which included a pick-six from freshman defensive tackle Mekhi Wingo, plus a fumble recovery and an interception from sophomore defensive back Kris Abrams-Draine.
Another positive? For the first time since Week 1, Missouri held an opponent to fewer than 200 rushing yards. Its defense gave up just 186 yards, and North Texas senior running back DeAndre Torrey, who entered the afternoon averaging 129 rushing yards a game, finished with just 85 yards on 24 carries.
Still, the Tigers’ defense allowed 491 total yards and busted several times in pass coverage, leaving North Texas players wide open for chunk plays or even easy touchdowns.
“We weren’t able to sustain drives, and then we gave up some explosive plays on defense late in the game,” Drinkwitz said. “We’ll have to go back, correct that and look at where [those errors] came on film.”
Both redshirt senior offensive lineman Case Cook and redshirt freshman wide receiver Mookie Cooper made their return to the Tigers’ starting lineup after missing the game against Tennessee. Cook slid back in at guard to a unit that allowed only one sack. Cooper finished with three receptions for 19 yards and thought he scored his first touchdown in black and gold late in the first quarter, until an illegal motion penalty negated the play.
Missouri learned plenty about itself in its 62-24 loss to the Volunteers, especially internally. It led to a week in which Drinkwitz scrapped the team’s usual depth chart and dismissed defensive line coach Jethro Franklin. Saturday offered a slight reprieve, even if the result wasn’t all too convincing.
The Tigers now have a week to reassess before they enter the heart of their SEC schedule, which begins with a cross-division matchup against Texas A&M, scheduled for 11 a.m. at Faurot Field Oct. 16.
“At the end of the day, you have to take pride in what you do,” Badie said. “Everyone needs to put forth that maximum effort to say that they belong on the field. I felt like everyone did that and it showed today.”
Edited by Mason Arneson, marneson@themaneater.com
