Missouri Football: Tigers hang on late, lose to South Carolina

The Missouri Tigers lost a nail biter to South Carolina, 37-35, on a Saturday afternoon that saw the game extend an extra hour due to bad weather.

I’m not sure how Mizzou recovers from this loss, but it will be at least two more weeks until the Tigers sniff an opportunity to win, with Alabama up next. For now, the Tigers’ hold a record of 3-2, but that will be short-lived. Looking at the quality of opponents and wins so far, it’s easy to understand why fans feel despondent.

Clearly, the Tigers missed their deep threat in Emanuel Hall, and complement in Nate Brown, but the Tigers still made things work – sort of – with the trio of Johnathon Johnson, Albert Okwuegbunam, and Jalen Knox serving as Lock’s primary passing targets.

The Tigers played exceedingly well on the ground among Damarea Crockett, Larry Rountree, and Tyler Badie, combining for 6.2 yards per rush. Rountree and Crockett each shared a touchdown apiece, while Crockett finished the day with 154 yards on 20 carries, his seventh career 100-yard game.

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Crockett was arguably stripped of a touchdown by the officiating crew, who overturned the original call of a score, alleging the junior running back stepped out of bounds enroute to a 73-yard touchdown.

The Tigers went into halftime with a nine-point lead, a far cry better than last year, when Missouri was upended by the Gamecocks, 31-13. Just before kickoff though, a real “Mizzou thing” happened: The skies opened up, and for the last two quarters, it became monsoon season in Columbia-East.

I had a bad feeling the rain would not bode well for the Tigers’ chances of maintaining their respectable lead, and that’s how the rest of the game went, as a monsoon of errors ensued. At one point, the Gamecocks built an eight-point lead, and it seemed Mizzou had a slim chance to respond.

Surprisingly, the Tigers came from behind, showing this team has resilience, but just couldn’t execute in the red zone, having to settle for field goals on six-of-nine trips.

So, who’s to blame for this loss? I’ve seen some calling for head coach Barry Odom’s job (again), and while there’s some merit to that, there is still plenty of blame to be shared among the entire team.

Kicker Tucker McCann had a missed field goal, but made up for that with a 57-yard attempt late in the fourth quarter to push Mizzou ahead of South Carolina. Receivers had their share of dropped passes, and Lock had at least one interception, as well. Furthermore, the defensive secondary disappeared at critical points of the game.

Next week, the Tigers travel to where all teams go to die: Tuscaloosa; there, they’ll just let Alabama run wild. If the Tide is gracious, it may spot Mizzou seven points. After that, the schedule becomes more competitive for Missouri, and offers the Tigers opportunities to win, but more play like today, and the Tigers are in for a long season.

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