The old adage in sports is that it’s not how you start, but how you finish. The cliche has never rung truer than Saturday night in Norman for the Missouri football team.
The No. 1 Oklahoma Sooners showed resiliency in a 38-28 trouncing of the Missouri Tigers on Saturday. Mistakes and inconsistency plagued the Tigers (2-2, 0-1 Big 12 Conference), who saw an early 11-point lead evaporate under an OU (3-0, 1-0 Big 12) assault of 21 unanswered points.
“We always want to start fast and that’s something we did,” Missouri sophomore quarterback James Franklin said. “But we need to start fast and then we need to keep going fast and keep that up-tempo to finish strong.”
Missouri gained 532 yards of offense, but struggled to convert those numbers into points on the scoreboard. MU reached the red zone only twice all game, and placekicker Grant Ressel missed two 46-yard field goals that could’ve made the game closer.
“The past few years, that doesn’t happen,” coach Gary Pinkel said. “So, with a great football team (like OU), certainly every chance you get, every opportunity you get you’ve got to take advantage of. And unfortunately, we didn’t do that.”
Franklin racked up 291 yards through the air, but only completed 48 percent of his passes and generally looked out of sync all night. After completing his first five passes for 124 yards in the first quarter, Franklin only managed to complete 39 percent of his passes the rest of the game.
Junior wide receiver T.J. Moe said after the game that missed opportunities and costly mistakes had more to do with the result than Franklin’s performance.
“James was making good throws, we just couldn’t put it all together,” Moe said. “We made some great plays, and would then have two or three that would knock us back a few yards. On third-and-17, it’s hard to continue the drive.”
Meanwhile, Franklin’s counterpart showcased why he’s been in Heisman talks for the last two seasons. OU quarterback Landry Jones was sharp all night, throwing for 448 yards and three touchdowns on the Missouri secondary. Sooners receiver Ryan Broyles caught all three scores, part of a 13-reception, 144-yard performance.
Senior safety Kenji Jackson gave credit to the two Sooners, but said fault lied with the Missouri defense’s inability to match the pace of an Oklahoma offense that gained 592 yards.
“We didn’t do as well as we could,” Jackson said. “We really wanted to beat the tempo and match the tempo. We were doing a good job on a couple series but then we couldn’t get lined up, and when you can’t get lined up you get beat.”
No single stretch of the game illustrated the Tigers’ struggles better than midway through the second quarter. The Missouri defense stiffened up and made three consecutive stops, yet the Tigers couldn’t muster up any momentum on offense and punted four times straight. Pinkel said that stretch negatively affected the whole team.
“Especially in that second quarter, we got worn out,” Pinkel said. “What happens is, you get three or four plays, and you get a big play in there… and it takes its toll. The other side of that is, on offense (we were going) three and out, so it works on both sides of that.”
Missouri will get a week off to rest and regroup before playing Kansas State on Oct. 8 in Manhattan, Kan. Pinkel said the team has to work on one specific facet of its game this week.
“We’ve just gotta be more consistent,” Pinkel said. “You’re not going to be a good football team unless you play consistently. That’s not error-free, that’s not going out and not making mistakes. You’re going to make some mistakes. You’ll never be a great team until you become more consistent.”