No. 13 Missouri Tigers football squandered the cushion against No. 9 Ole Miss, falling () in Oxford. The loss marked their eighth straight against ranked SEC opponents on the road.
The script went according to plan for Mizzou to open the game: a forced punt on the Rebels’ first drive followed by a 10-play sequence finished off with three points. But the Tigers fizzled out while Ole Miss found consistency.
Mizzou finished the contest with seven punts, one turnover on downs, a garbage-time interception
and a missed 23-yard field goal attempt by Blake Craig in the second quarter after a 9-play drive.
On the other side, the Rebels scored touchdowns on three of their five remaining first half drives. (They finished the game with 483 yards of total offense, moving the ball against the Tigers in a similar way to the Week 4 loss against Mississippi State.
Former Mizzou running back Kewan Lacy got Ole Miss moving on the ground before missing some time with a minor injury in the second quarter. His running mate Makhi Frazier carried the load until Lacy returned in the second half. The duo combined 31 carries for 223 yards.
The Tigers’ defense only allowed a combined 79 rushing yards in the past two weeks. The difference in Oxford was a Heisman contender under center.
Trinidad Chambliss is objectively a better quarterback than the likes of Aaron Philo and Marcel Reed – Mizzou was well aware. Corey Batoon’s defense blitzed early and often to try to get Chambliss flustered. It worked for a short period, as he started the game 2-for-7, but he adapted fast and made big plays when it mattered.
Chambliss was 6-for-9 on third downs when the ball was put in his hands. As a team, the Rebels’ offense was 9-for-14 on third downs.
Chambliss finished the game completing 20 of his 36 pass attempts for 241 passing yards and four total touchdowns. His three passing touchdowns all came in the first half and were to three different receivers.
The Tigers’ offense had ample opportunities, but had an inability to stretch the field. They got the ball down 21-3 with 2:13 to go in the first half, went eight plays for 28 yards and punted. The defense forced a fumble and two punts in the third quarter, but Mizzou only accumulated 73 yards, punted three times and turned the ball over on downs on another.
It was a game of exponential decay for an offense that, by the numbers, didn’t have a horrible day. But raw numbers don’t mean anything without capitalization.
The Tigers had 378 yards of total offense compared to their 438 yards per game average. In his return to Oxford, Austin Simmons went 25-for-44 for 339 yards. Donovan Olugbode also got going with nine catches for 127 yards after not logging a single target last week. Mizzou’s run game finally being halted didn’t help keep drives alive.
Jamal Roberts took 20 carries for 39 yards, and no other running back could get going. His running style of patiently bruising defenses until he finally found a big crease didn’t work in a game where the Tigers were buried early.
The blowout loss is going to loom with currently ranked foes like Texas, Georgia and Kentucky on the horizon, but this might be the perfect time for the bye week. How Drinkwitz can regroup his players will determine whether or not a playoff push is still viable.
