One of life’s common rules is that the person or team that screws up least will find success. That mindset served as the foundation for Missouri football’s contest against Florida: a sloppy stalemate that ended in a 24-23 victory for the Tigers in the “Battle for Bowl Eligibility” on Senior Day.
“That was definitely a roller coaster throughout the game,” graduate linebacker Blaze Alldredge said.
Against a defense that allowed 40 points to South Carolina and 42 first-half points against Samford — an FCS team that entered the contest with a 4-6 record — Missouri’s offense mustered just 24 points and 286 total yards.
Meanwhile, Missouri’s defense entered Saturday ranked No. 118 in the FBS in points allowed per game and hadn’t held an opponent under 24 points this season. The Tigers knocked that season-low in points allowed down to 23 with one of their best defensive performances of the season.
What was expected to be a barn-burner turned into a defensive slugfest in which opportunities to find the end zone were plenty, but touchdowns were few.
“I can’t say enough about the job [defensive coordinator] Steve [Wilks] is doing right now,” Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz said. “Those guys are tackling and stopping the run and playing good coverage.”
Was it the defenses standing tall against offenses that both averaged over 30 points per game, or was it the offenses failing to capitalize on early gifts from the opposition?
Florida’s game-opening drive set the tone for the contest’s proceedings. Redshirt junior quarterback Emory Jones attempted a read option run on third-and-3, but bungled the snap and had to fall on it to avoid a turnover, sacrificing two yards and a down in the process. Redshirt senior kicker Chris Howard salvaged the Gator drive with a 42-yard field goal.
On Florida’s next offensive possession, Missouri forced a three-and-out after graduate punter Grant McKinniss pinned the Gators inside their own 10-yard line. Florida redshirt freshman punter Jeremy Crawshaw didn’t have as much luck, booting it off the side of his foot to the Florida 18-yard line.
Missouri’s offense responded with a three-play drive that totaled negative 4 yards. Sophomore kicker Harrison Mevis’ 39-yard field goal ensured the drive ended on a positive note, as he and Howard provided a silver lining to Saturday’s contest with a combined 6-7 on field goals.
“You got to have a guy who’s Mr. Reliable, and we’re very fortunate to have those nine points,” Drinkwitz said.
For most of the contest, both teams went back and forth gifting the other opportunities, but neither could capitalize despite numerous chances to find the end zone. In the combined 11 first-half drives, eight crossed midfield, but those drives only resulted in 15 points collectively.
While credit can be given to the defenses, which combined for 21 tackles for loss and six sacks, they also committed their fair share of blunders. Graduate defensive back Allie Green IV’s egregious pass interference set up Florida at the Missouri 2-yard line in the second quarter.
Florida’s defense countered with a misstep of its own, as Missouri lined up for a fourth-and-1 at its own 21-yard line, goading the Gators into jumping offsides to score a fresh set of downs.
And it worked. Junior linebacker Mohamoud Diabate crossed the line of scrimmage, allowing Missouri to pick up a first down that prolonged the drive and led to a 31-yard field goal from Mevis to put Missouri up 9-6 before halftime.
Missouri couldn’t carry over momentum and failed to score in the third quarter. The Tigers’ first three drives of the second half ended in three-and-outs, and the unit only picked up 7 yards on the three possessions. Redshirt sophomore quarterback Connor Bazelak also completed none of his five pass attempts in the quarter.
But Florida couldn’t muster much during that time either. Florida’s senior running back Dameon Pierce rushed for a 2-yard touchdown early in the quarter to put the Gators up 13-9, but the Gators couldn’t create a wider margin of separation with three consecutive punts.
Finally, after Missouri took the lead on a 41-yard touchdown to junior tight end Niko Hea, Florida drove to Missouri’s 15-yard line. On third-and-1, Jones sprinted out right on a speed option then flipped the ball to a trailing Pierce. Before he made it to the first-down marker, Alldredge forced him out of bounds short of the line to gain.
“I got to make sure that I don’t just shoot up to the running back and allow the quarterback to pick up that short yardage,” Alldredge said. “I’m sitting in between trying to play both. And then once he finishes out the pitch, it just turns into a little bit of a foot race, and luckily I was able to get them down before the marker.”
Alldredge’s stop forced another field goal from Howard, tying the game at 16-16 with 8:30 to go.
After the teams swapped punts, Missouri milked the clock by handing it off to its senior running back and leading rusher, Tyler Badie. Five rushes on six plays brought the Tigers down to the 29-yard line and the clock down to 1:09.
With all of the missed opportunities in regulation, regulation couldn’t end with a satisfying closer, as Mevis missed just his second field goal of the season from 46 yards out, the same distance he hit one from in the second quarter. While both teams failed to find the end zone, they both successfully converted all of their scoring opportunities inside the opponent’s 30-yard line.
While the game can be looked at through the lens of the numerous missed offensive opportunities, it was the Missouri defense that wreaked havoc and forced them. In Florida’s eight drives that crossed midfield, only two resulted in touchdowns.
“With the way we’ve been playing lately, we almost kind of get excited for chances like that,” Alldredge said. “We relish the challenge. We’re like, ‘Okay, put us on the field. Even in this situation, we’re not going to give up anything.’”
The defense making the most of its opportunities kept the struggling offense in the game, and gave the unit a chance to seize its moment in overtime.
With the shortened overtime field, Florida opened the first period with a touchdown on a gadget play that saw redshirt sophomore wide receiver Trent Whittemore throw a touchdown pass to Jones. Bazelak and the offense needed to respond, something they were unable to do in the Sept. 25 overtime matchup against Boston College.
Missouri did just that. After Badie ran for a first down on the first play of the drive, he followed it up with a 13-yard touchdown. Drinkwitz already knew he was going for a 2-point conversion to finish the game right then and there.
“If you have an offense for the second set, you got to go back on offense and then you have to go for two,” Drinkwitz said. “Why [should you] have to go back on offense and then have to go for two? You might as well do it then.”
Drinkwitz put the ball in the hands of Bazelak, who had been booed during the woes of his third quarter performance.
“[He’s] faced a lot of criticism, faced a lot of boos,” Drinkwitz said. “But when we needed him, he stepped up and made the plays we needed to make, and that’s what a quarterback has to do.”
Bazelak took the snap under center from the 2-yard line and faked a handoff to Badie before junior outside linebacker Khris Bogle came bearing down on him. Bazelak threw as he fell down, lobbing the ball up into the air toward the play’s third option, senior tight end Daniel Parker Jr.
Parker settled under it, snatching the ball of opportunity from the air to secure Missouri’s first bowl bid since 2018.
“When the ball was in the air I was scared,” Badie said. “I didn’t know if I was supposed to get the ball or if I messed up, but luckily [Parker] came down with it and we won the game.”
Saturday’s contest was a drawn-out prelude to a Thanksgiving fiasco pitting two drunk uncles deciding to spar over the last dinner roll on the kitchen table — two unrefined entities throwing wild haymakers until someone mercifully landed a blow to put an end to it.
Missouri just happened to be the uncle who landed the knockout to secure the dinner roll of bowl eligibility.
Edited by Kyle Pinnell, kpinnell@themaneater.com
