No. 23 Missouri Tigers football took a trip to Norman, Oklahoma, to face off against the No. 8 Oklahoma Sooners Saturday. While the Tigers’ defense played about as well as one could hope in a hostile environment, the offense wasn’t a sufficient complement.
After winning the renewed rivalry game in 2024, Mizzou fell 17-6 on the road, moving to 7-4 on the season and 3-4 in Southeastern Conference play.
The main storyline coming into the matchup was who would start under center. Graduate quarterback Beau Pribula earned the nod after making a rapid recovery from a dislocated ankle against Vanderbilt Oct. 25.
“I was really proud of the courage that he showed,” head coach Eliah Drinkwitz said postgame. “I thought he ran hard, I thought he distributed the ball well.”
Aside from throwing two interceptions, Pribula was effective in moving the ball through the air, completing 20-of-36 pass attempts for 231 yards. He found senior wide receiver Kevin Coleman Jr. seven times for 115 yards, but was refused in Sooner territory.
Stalled drives around midfield and errant throws that were either picked off or incomplete stopped Pribula from getting the ball into the end zone.
“We just didn’t execute,” Drinkwitz said. “Execution is a lot of different things. It’s whether we put (players) in a position to execute or we’re running stuff that (the defense) anticipates is coming.”
Pribula also lacked big plays. Oklahoma redshirt junior quarterback John Mateer and the Sooner offense, on the other hand, had no trouble breaking off big plays.
The floodgates crashed open on the Sooners’ fourth drive of the game on a 9-yard pass through the air from Mateer to redshirt junior wide receiver Isaiah Sategna lll, which he took 78 yards after the catch for a house call. That play gave Oklahoma a 7-3 lead that wasn’t let go.
On their first three defensive drives prior to letting up the touchdown, the Tigers forced two three-and-outs and three punts.
The final score and stat sheet were not indicative of how the game went on both sides of the ball for Mizzou. When a team leads in both total offensive yardage and time of possession, it would normally result in a win and more than six points scored, but that was not the case for the Tigers.
While the pass game was somewhat successful for Mizzou – barring the pair of interceptions – the rushing attack was held to a season-low 70 yards. Sophomore running back Ahmad Hardy took 17 carries for 57 yards. His running mate, redshirt sophomore Jamal Roberts, fared even worse taking 10 carries for just 14 yards.
Already in an uphill battle against a talented Oklahoma roster, the run game needed to be successful for the Tigers to have a chance. The Sooners’ front seven proved to be too overwhelming and left Mizzou’s backfield duo demoralized in an uncharacteristic outing.
The Tigers have no choice but to shift focus to ending the regular season on a high note in Fayetteville, Arkansas, against the Razorbacks. Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. Nov. 29.
