Mizzou football takes care of business as other East teams lose for first time.
The Mizzou football team came out in front of a sold-out homecoming crowd and defeated Ole Miss 38-27 on Saturday night at Faurot Field.
Mizzou’s victory was big as it should jolt the Tigers into the Associated Press Top 25 — we’ll see about that. But it was even bigger as the Tigers now are the only SEC East team without a loss in conference.
That’s right. As we head into Week 8 of the college football season, the Tigers sit alone as the only undefeated SEC East team.
Both No. 7 Florida and No. 3 Georgia fell in their respective conference games, paving the way for the Tigers to stand alone. No. 1 Alabama and No. 5 LSU also are undefeated in the SEC West.
I get Mizzou has only played two games in conference, and both the Gators and the Bulldogs were 2-0 just like Mizzou is now, but for now, it’s the Tigers, a team that has started slow in the SEC over the years, as unblemished. Not those guys.
And in any case, the upset to Georgia happened to be by South Carolina, a team Mizzou defeated already. Florida fell to LSU later in the night.
The Tigers are 5-1 and 2-0 in the SEC after they held the Ole Miss offense in check in the first half.
Ole Miss came out with a fast score, jumping to a 7-0 lead, but Mizzou scored 28 unanswered before the Rebels founds some momentum again on offense.
Mizzou had some big plays that led to the victory in the second half.
Larry Rountree III’s 41-yard burst and Dawson Downing’s 54-yard run were two big touchdowns that helped extend the lead.
The defense started to give way to the Ole Miss rushing attack that led to open passes. The Tigers, playing without star linebacker Cale Garrett, did well containing the run early, but the coaches have plenty of film for the team to do better heading into next week.
As the Tigers built their lead, Kelly Bryant found his groove. Bryant, starting Saturday after taking a nasty hit to the knee last week, was 22 of 35 for 329 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
Johnathon Johnson led the way with eight catches for 110 yards. And Rountree was the best ball carrier of the night. Rountree’s 126 yards paved the way for Mizzou to stave off the upset and move on to its three-game road streak.
Mizzou gave up 143 yards and two touchdowns to Ole Miss freshman quarterback John Rhys Plumlee. He was as good as advertised as a runner, but he was taken out several times in favor of former starter Matt Corral in a two-quarterback system.
The Tigers wrapped up a five-game home streak with five wins. Mizzou goes on the road next week to battle Vanderbilt before a matchup at Kentucky.