Following Missouri football’s 49-14 defeat against Georgia in 2020, head coach Eli Drinkwitz delivered a message that still rings relevant a year later. The most pressing theme? Closing the gap between the Tigers and the upper-echelon of their own division.
Earlier that December afternoon, Missouri trailed the Bulldogs just 21-14 at halftime. In the next 30 minutes, Georgia rattled off 28 unanswered points to turn an intriguing late-season SEC matchup into a rout.
For Missouri, closing that gap doesn’t mean it needs to defeat perennially top-ranked Georgia every year, but it should be finding a way to give those games meaning well into the fourth quarter, not just through three drives.
Flash forward to 2021. The Tigers had nothing to lose when they traveled to Athens, Georgia, for a Saturday afternoon matchup against the No. 1 team in the country at their place. Missouri (4-5, 1-4 SEC) took an early lead against Georgia (9-0, 7-0 SEC) before the hosts took control, scoring 40-consecutive points in a 43-6 win at Sanford Stadium.
“I was proud of the effort, but we got to play cleaner,” Drinkwitz said.
It takes a lot of luck for a visitor to win in Athens — just ask former South Carolina head football coach Will Muschamp, whose team held the Bulldogs to 17 points, but still needed then-kicker Rodrigo Blankenship to miss his first two field goals of the season to pull off a 20-17 upset win in 2019.
That was the last time any team beat Georgia at their place. Before that, you have to go back to a loss against Georgia Tech in 2016.
The last –– and only –– time Missouri defeated the Bulldogs as a member of the SEC actually came in northeast Georgia back in 2013. That season, quarterback James Franklin led Missouri to a 41-26 win against the then No.7-ranked Bulldogs. Missouri needed to pull something equally as special out of its hat to stay competitive this Saturday, but they simply couldn’t conjure rabbits.
Faced with a talent disadvantage on paper and on the road as nearly 40-point underdogs, Missouri entered Saturday with one perceived advantage: unpredictability. Starting redshirt sophomore quarterback Connor Bazelak went down with a soft tissue injury in the Tigers’ 37-28 win against Vanderbilt on Oct. 30 and Drinkwitz never officially announced his backup. The starting quarterback position remained a question mark until freshman quarterback Tyler Macon ran onto Dooley Field to take the first snap of the afternoon.
Macon finished the afternoon with 74 yards on 6-13 passing, but his best moments came early on the ground. On Missouri’s second drive, the young quarterback’s 20-yard third-down scramble helped move the chains on a drive that ended with a 36-yard field goal to put the Tigers in front.
But Macon served just as a starter in formality. Drinkwitz flipped between Macon and redshirt freshman quarterback Brady Cook all afternoon. Macon led the first two drives, Cook came in for the third and then Drinkwitz went back to his “starter.” However, in the second half, it was Cook who took a majority of the snaps.
“Both of them had good and bad [moments],” Drinkwitz said. “We weren’t really able to consistently throw the football with them, which is something we’ll have to work on.”
Missouri’s defense started the afternoon well, forcing Georgia to punt on its first drive, but came undone on fourth down the very next drive. Under duress, redshirt senior quarterback Stetson Bennett placed a 35-yard ball on a platter for redshirt freshman wide receiver Arian Smith in the corner of the end zone to give the Bulldogs a 7-3 advantage.
The Tigers defense dared Bennett to beat them through the air all half long, and he did. After the earlier fourth-down touchdown, Bennett threw a 47-yard pass to sophomore wide receiver Jermaine Burton, which set up a one-yard touchdown run by junior running back Zamir White to put the Bulldogs up 16-3. Bennett finished with 255 passing yards and two touchdowns in just over one half of action. Junior quarterback JT Daniels took a majority of Georgia’s second-half offensive snaps and threw for 82 yards, one touchdown and an interception.
With two backup quarterbacks starting, Missouri turned to its ground game. Macon and Cook combined for 74 yards on the ground, while senior running back Tyler Badie finished with 41 yards on nine carries –– a far cry from his 294-total-yard output against Vanderbilt last weekend. The senior struggled to find much daylight against a Georgia defense that has allowed an average of 80.7 rushing yards per game this season.
Defensively, Missouri held the Bulldogs to just 168 rushing yards, which is below average for head coach Kirby Smart’s offense. While the Tigers found some success stopping the run, they sacrificed in other areas.
“When you [sell out to stop the run], you’re susceptible to giving up pass yards,” Drinkwitz said. “Credit to [Georgia], who made a couple of really good plays and really good catches.”
Missouri gave up 337 yards through the air and were consistently picked apart by Bennett, Daniels and Georgia’s talented stable of receiving options.
Things took a turn for the worse for Missouri in the second half, as Georgia found its stride and the Tigers couldn’t move the ball until deep into garbage time. Missouri had a chance at a late touchdown, but its last-ditch drive stalled once in the red zone.
Saturday afternoon’s matchup between the hedges played out as many Missouri fans expected, especially when taking into account the talent gap between Georgia and Missouri at nearly every position. Now, with three games remaining, the focus shifts to making a bowl game.
“Unfortunately we can’t win the SEC East, but we can still make a bowl game,” sophomore defensive back Jaylon Carlies said. “We have to get a couple more wins to be bowl eligible and that’s our goal for the rest of the season
Last year, Drinkwitz discussed “closing the gap,” something that starts with recruiting and building on positive momentum. On Saturday afternoon, the Tigers showed that they are far from accomplishing that goal in its 37-point loss to Georgia.
Missouri now begins a two-game home stand next Saturday with a 3 p.m. matchup against South Carolina at Faurot Field. After that, it has another stiff test against Florida.
“We got a three-game season left and our backs are against the wall,” Drinkwitz said. “Everybody is pushing in the same direction and we need to get to a bowl game. That’s what our total focus is.”
Edited by Mason Arneson | marneson@themaneater.com
