Way to cement your legacy in the Border Showdown, Robert Woodyard Jr.
One or two plays can change the outcome of an entire game, and a fumble and an interception within three minutes of game time helped Mizzou go the distance in a 38-21 win over Kansas to remain undefeated in the young season.
Prior to the 13:49 point of the third quarter, MU found itself in a seesaw battle with KU. The Tigers had a pair of field goals blocked, lost a fumble, and were tied at 14 with their biggest rival, in their house.
But the momentum of the game shifted quickly in the third stanza. On a two-yard gain by Jayhawks quarterback Isaiah Marshall on a power read, Woodyard, at the last second, punched the ball out for the first forced fumble of his collegiate career. It matched the total of forced fumbles by the Tigers linebacker room from last season (Jeremiah Beasley – 1).
The play swung Mizzou’s win probability from 55.9% to 66.1% per ESPN Analytics. Five plays later, Mizzou scored, going up 21-14.
The next Kansas offensive play, Woodyard read Marshall’s eyes perfectly, dropping into the seam where Carson Bruhn was running, and picking off the redshirt sophomore’s pass for his first-career collegiate interception.
Mizzou’s win probability then jumped from 78.7% to 85.5%; it sure felt higher watching live. It took Xai’Shawn Edwards just two plays after to find the end zone.
“We talk about going on a run,” Eli Drinkwitz said.
Drinkwitz also referenced the middle eight (The last four minutes of the first half and the first four of the second) as an important part of MU’s success.
“It’s obviously the difference in the game,” Drinkwitz said. “We took their best punch in the first half, and now we landed one. We talk about as a team we gotta go on runs in order to win games, and that’s what we did.”
To show how much of a rarity of a sequence Woodyard’s was, he became the first Tiger since Anthony Sherrils against Tennessee in 2017 to force and recover a fumble and tally an interception in the same game, per Eli Hoff of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
It wasn’t just two plays against KU either
The two plays will go at the front of the highlight tape for Woodyard, but it represents the type of night he had for the Tigers as they won in Lawrence for the first time since 2001, and just the fifth time in the last 20 tries at Booth Memorial Stadium.
He was all over the field, finishing with the second-most tackles on the team. While he was targeted seven times in coverage, per Pro Football Focus, the little things flashed as PFF credited him with a 92.3 run-defense grade and a team-high five run stops.
An aspect that was noticed by the coaching staff last season was when the Tigers played against Auburn, where he collected 11 tackles, 8 run stops, and a pair of pressures.
“When we played against him, that dude was all over the field making tackles, ” Drinkwitz said. “I’ve been waiting for it. Not only is he all over the field making tackles, he’s making interceptions, forcing fumbles. He was a nightmare over there. I’m just proud of him.”
He also recorded a pressure early in the first quarter. On a 3rd and 6, with Marshall rolling to his left, Woodyard easily diagnosed the play, came crashing down, rushing the Jayhawks QB’s progression. What should have been a completion to Keaton Kubecka sailed over the head of the 6-foot-2 receiver.
On Saturday morning, Mizzou released a postgame hype video. The first game clip in it is the exact play described above. You can see Marshall quickly getting rid of the ball before Woodyard lays him out. This also pairs with a shoestring tackle before the line to gain in the same quarter.
What does this all mean for Mizzou?
Woodyard came from Auburn, joining Nicholas Rodriguez, who is the only returning linebacker with significant snaps on the defensive side of the ball in 2025.
Rodriguez didn’t have the drastic game-altering moments, but was around the ball just as much as Woodyard. He led the team in tackles and was just as impressive with his reaction in the run game.
On a night where Mizzou collected 30 pressures, the most by a Corey Batoon-led defense in Columbia, Rodriguez himself had five of them. Seven going to the linebacker room (Bobby Washington Jr. with one).
“Overall, our linebackers played well,” Drinkwitz said.
It’s a position group that had its questions heading into 2026, with the loss of Josiah Trotter, Khalil Jacobs and Triston Newson. Those questions weren’t quite answered in Week 1 against Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
More specifically, one of the biggest questions heading into Lawrence was how would the Tigers operate on the defensive front seven and containing Isaiah Marshall.
But this iteration of the Death Row Defense made life miserable for Marshall, who was never truly in a rhythm all night, going 13-30, with two interceptions and just 23 rushing yards on 20 carries. Kansas finished with just 81 yards rushing.
“We know if we held them under 100 yards, we’d win the game,” Drinkwitz said.
Mizzou addressed a ton on both sides of the ball via the portal this offseason, and plenty showed up in Lawrence. Yes, there are still questions of how good this Mizzou defense will become, but the Tigers on the road handled a mobile quarterback well.
Rodriguez was around the football, and his running mate, Woodyard, was as well, but single-handedly altered the outcome of the game and was rewarded with one of three game balls per Drinkwitz postgame.
Two defensive possessions, two takeaways by Woodyard. Two Missouri touchdowns.
It helped Mizzou win its fifth straight over Kansas for the first time since 1938-42 and improved the all-time series to 58-54-9.
