Mizzou football wins in another dominating performance, but starting quarterback Kelly Bryant was hurt in the first half.
The Mizzou football second half was secondary to the news of Tigers starting quarterback Kelly Bryant.
Mizzou took a commanding 42-7 lead into halftime and won the game 42-10, but Bryant was hurt on the final offensive play of the first half with a knee injury.
Here is the play, which was a touchdown pass to Jalen Knox:
Here's the hit on #Mizzou's Kelly Bryant's left knee: pic.twitter.com/ZGwngEEt3a
— Peter Baugh (@Peter_Baugh) October 5, 2019
Bryant went to the locker room and was examined. He never came back on the field despite reports that he was on crunches on the sideline. That was returner Richaud Floyd, not Bryant.
The injury was the biggest news throughout the second half. Speculation about the knee is all Tiger fans could read and tweet about.
After the game, coach Barry Odom provided a somewhat positive update, but left it up in the air:
Barry Odom meeting with the media now: "I don't have any injury updates at this point. Kelly is getting checked out now. He was in great spirits. Our docs seemed like it was good news but I don't want to go there until it's confirmed."
— Dave Matter (@Dave_Matter) October 5, 2019
Mizzou football players weren’t as mum on Bryant’s knee as the coach.
Per Peter Baugh of The Athletic, wide receiver Jonathan Nance said Bryant was “good. Everything’s fine:.
Yes, the hit looked dirty. The play even got some Mizzou fans blocked by the Troy football twitter account. Troy defensive tackle Travis Sailo went low on Bryant and was penalized. You can’t do that.
But hopefully the result of the play doesn’t cost Bryant the rest of his collegiate career. There still is a lot to play for, and Mizzou now sits at 4-1 with a 1-0 record in the SEC.
Mizzou still has a chance to accomplish everything it wants to.
The report on the knee is the only thing people care about right now. Bryant gives the Tigers leadership and has been solid behind center this season. He can throw, run and looked to be finding his groove as the Tigers enter the month of October and the important part of their schedule.
Mizzou played backup Taylor Powell the whole second half and the Tigers were pretty vanilla.
Odom says if Taylor Powell has to play Missouri won't change the playbook, says MU called only three different plays in the second half, wanted to run as much clock as possible
— Dave Matter (@Dave_Matter) October 5, 2019
Odom was asked at the postgame press conference if Bryant will play against Ole Miss. He said he was hopeful but doesn’t know yet.
Maybe by the end of the night he will, and hopefully the Tiger fanbase can breath a little easier.
As for the game itself, the Tigers defense stopped one of the better offenses so far this season. Cale Garrett was the star on defense once again, grabbing two interceptions and scoring his third TD of the year.
Mizzou plays Ole Miss at 6 p.m. next weekend.