Missouri trounces Delaware State 79-0 after shortening the final two quarters

In a performance that would have made Tecmo Bowl Bo Jackson blush, Missouri crushed overmatched Delaware State 79-0 on Saturday at Memorial Stadium.

The Tigers, 2-2, outgained the Hornets 698-140 despite pulling their offensive starters late in the first half and playing 10-minute quarters in the second half.

“It was really fun,” said freshman Dimetrios Mason, who finished with team highs of eight catches and 120 yards. “We knew that this was a weaker team, but we still wanted to work hard and play just like it was Georgia or somebody hard. … This was like another practice with a different team that doesn’t know our schemes, so that part was really good.”

After initially declining to shorten the game, Delaware State, 0-3, agreed to shave 5 minutes off each quarter in the second half during halftime, which arrived with Mizzou ahead 58-0 and owning a 506-133 edge in total yards.

The Hornets are a struggling Football Championship Series program and were paid $525,000 by Mizzou to play in front of an announced crowd of 53,472.

“(Director of football operations) Mike McHugh came up to me in the second quarter and said, ‘Hey, respectfully, let’s have this discussion,’ ” first-year coach Barry Odom said. “He said there was an opportunity to shorten it up and (asked), ‘If you can, would you want to?’ I said, ‘Yeah, we should, if we can.’ So, he ran across the field and talked to their director of operations, who talked to their coach (Kenny Carter) and then Mike went to the officials, so I don’t know how that went down but it sounded like a lot of communicating.”

Missouri’s 79 points scored are a program record for the modern era, which began in 1936. It’s also considered the school record, according to the official media guide.

The old official scoring record was 69 points against Kansas in 1969, Nevada in 2008 and Western Illinois in 2011.

Technically, however, the Tigers beat the Engineers Eleven 90-0 in the third game in program history on Dec. 1, 1890.

That opponent was composed of students from MU’s engineering department, but it counts as an official win on the school’s ledger. It’s unclear why it isn’t also the team record for points.

There’s no dispute that sophomore quarterback Drew Lock tied his own school record with five touchdown passes.

Lock, who also threw five touchdowns two weeks ago against Eastern Michigan, finished 26 of 36 for 402 yards in less than one half of play.

It was his second career 400-yard game and the 12th in program history.

Four of Lock’s five touchdowns, a record also matched by Chase Daniel (four times) and Maty Mauk (twice), went to junior wide receiver J’Mon Moore.

Moore, who tied Dorial Green-Beckham’s record for touchdown receptions in a single game, finished with a career-high eight catches for 114 yards.

He was one of three Mizzou receivers to top 100 yards — including freshman Dimetrios Mason, who snagged eight catches for 120 yards, and sophomore Emanuel Hall, who had seven catches for 122 yards and a touchdown.

The last time three Tigers each had at least 100 yards receiving, Jeremy Maclin, Chase Coffman and Tommy Saunders were shredding Nevada’s defense during a 2008 game.

Freshman Damarea Crockett led the rushing attack with 12 carries for 115 yards and two touchdowns, while sophomore quarterback Marvin Zanders added 83 yards and two touchdowns rushing.

“I’ve been thinking about that moment ever since I got here,” Zanders said of his first career TD. “In the spring game, when I scored that touchdown there, I’ve just been waiting for my opportunity to get in the game and get one under my belt in live action. It felt good.”

Junior Ish Witter kicked off the one-sided mismatch with the only points Mizzou would need, a 2-yard touchdown only 1:47 into the opening quarter.

The Tigers led 30-0 after the opening period with Moore catching touchdowns of 4, 6 and 9 yards.

Freshman kicker Tucker McCann, who missed an extra point after the second touchdown, also added a 31-yard field goal.

Crockett scored untouched on runs of 2 and 11 yards in the second quarter sandwiched around a 1-yard touchdown to Moore.

Hall added a 35-yard touchdown reception with 2:16 left before halftime.

Zanders scored on runs of 11 and 14 yards in the second half, bookending his 2-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Eric Laurent.

Laurent’s touchdown was supposed to be a running play, but Delaware State left him uncovered when he split wide to the left.

“I tried to make it as subtle as possible when he went out there,” Zanders said. “We just kind of made eye contact.”

Redshirt freshman safety Ronnell Perkins was ejected for targeting in the second quarter, negating a fourth-down conversion on a fake-punt pass by Corey Fatony. Perkins will be eligible to return for the LSU game.

Missouri 79, Delaware State 0

TableStyle: SP-byperiodsCCI Template: SP-byperiods

EXL

First Quarter

MIZ: Witter 2 run (McCann kick), 13:17

MIZ: J’.Moore 4 pass from Lock (kick failed), 9:19

MIZ: FG McCann 31, 5:41

MIZ: J’.Moore 6 pass from Lock (McCann kick), 4:15

MIZ: J’.Moore 9 pass from Lock (McCann kick), 2:26

Second Quarter

MIZ: Crockett 2 run (McCann kick), 11:02

MIZ: J’.Moore 1 pass from Lock (McCann kick), 7:23

MIZ: Crockett 11 run (McCann kick), 5:29

MIZ: E.Hall 35 pass from Lock (McCann kick), 2:24

Third Quarter

MIZ: Zanders 11 run (McCann kick), 5:57

MIZ: Laurent 2 pass from Zanders (McCann kick), 3:18

Fourth Quarter

MIZ: Zanders 14 run (McCann kick), 8:24

TableStyle: SP-footballstatsCCI Template: SP-footballstats

RUSHING: Delaware St., Waters 7-31, Alleyne 9-21, S.Bendolph 3-6, Lain 1-0, Rivera 2-(minus 4), Hannah 1-(minus 5), Epperson 3-(minus 5). Missouri, Crockett 12-115, Zanders 7-83, R.Williams 9-51, Witter 9-40, (Team) 2-(minus 21).

PASSING: Delaware St., Lain 7-15-1-82, Rivera 2-4-0-7, Epperson 3-9-1-7. Missouri, Lock 26-36-0-402, Zanders 2-2-0-17, Fatony 1-1-0-11.

RECEIVING: Delaware St., Scott 2-32, Sua-Godinet 2-29, Waters 2-11, Alleyne 2-7, I.Williams 2-4, Rutherford 1-10, Hannah 1-3. Missouri, Mason 8-120, J’.Moore 8-114, E.Hall 7-122, C.Black 2-29, J.Johnson 1-22, Sherrils 1-11, Scales 1-10, Laurent 1-2.

MISSED FIELD GOALS: None.

AP-WF-09-24-16 2315GMT

This story was originally published September 24, 2016 at 6:21 PM with the headline "Missouri trounces Delaware State 79-0 after shortening the final two quarters."