ORLANDO, Florida — In the shadow of its own goal post, with momentum fading, the Missouri offense dug in.
Sophomore quarterback Maty Mauk took the snap and handed it off to junior running back Russell Hansbrough. Hansbrough juked an incoming Gopher defender and darted up the middle of the offensive line. He sidestepped another would-be tackler and raced through the open field for a 78-yard touchdown run.
“We battled,” Missouri coach Gary Pinkel said. “It was the same scenario we found ourselves in all year.”
Hansbrough’s score gave Missouri a two-possession lead and was the sugar on top of the No. 16 Tigers’ 33-17 Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl victory over the No. 25 Minnesota Golden Gophers (8-5).
After a wild start that included two interceptions on the team’s first two drives, Mauk came out in the second half and barrelled his way through the Gopher defense on an 18-yard touchdown run to reclaim the lead.
“That’s Maty being Maty right there,” senior receiver Bud Sasser said. “He’s not about to dive in the end zone. He’s going to lower his shoulder.”
Mauk ended the night completing 12-of-19 passes for 97 yards and connected with Sasser for touchdown passes. The first was a 25-yard pass in the second quarter to give Missouri a halftime lead and the other was a seven-yard back corner fade to close out the fourth quarter.
“He’s always going to be open,” Mauk said of Sasser. “If he’s not, he’s gonna go up and make a play with the football. I just had to give him a chance.”
Pinkel also pulled a few trick plays out from under his sleeve. Junior defensive back Ian Simon recovered an onside kick to open the second half that led to a 33-yard field goal.
Then Pinkel made an even more daring call when sophomore defensive tackle Harold Brantley broke a couple of tackles and raced up field for 19 yards on a fake punt. The gutsy play deep in Missouri’s own territory flipped the field and allowed the Tigers to march down into the redzone.
“I don’t want to make any predictions, but there’s a lot more to come,” Brantley said.
But the star of the night was senior defensive end Markus Golden. He racked up 10 total tackles, including four tackles for loss in his last ever appearance for the Tigers. He also tacked on 1.5 sacks and a forced fumble en route to winning the Citrus Bowl’s Most Valuable Player award.
The win brings Missouri to 11-3 on the season and marks the most successful two-year stretch in program history (23-5 since 2013). The victory also marks Mizzou’s third consecutive bowl win.
Sophomore defensive end Marcus Loud knew that was cause for a celebration. He snagged an orange from atop the trophy and took a massive bite as he ran off of the field and into the tunnel. The victory was sweet. But he had something even sweeter waiting for him.
“Sweet! I’ve got a box of Twinkies at home,” he said.
