Mizzou plays inspired game but loses 40-34 to Kentucky

Facing third and 10 early in the fourth quarter, Missouri quarterback Drew Lock found wide receiver Johnathon Johnson on a slant route for a 75-yard touchdown, to tie the game at 34-34 with slightly over 14 minutes left.

The play was the latest punch Missouri had returned against Kentucky in a shootout after MU’s offense took nearly a quarter to get itself going.

But despite the improvements on both sides of the ball and a week off, Missouri dropped to 1-4 on the season with a 40-34 loss to Kentucky on Saturday night.

“I’m hurt for our guys,” Tigers coach Barry Odom said. “That’s going to sting for a little while.”

Despite giving up 40 points, Missouri’s defense played one of its best games of the season, stopping the Wildcats (4-1) on numerous drives and having others end in field goals when Kentucky had the field position to easily go for a touchdown.

The Tigers’ defense also put Missouri in a position to win in the final minute, holding Kentucky to a 20-yard field goal when the Wildcats had the ball at Missouri’s 1-yard line when a touchdown would have all but put the game away.

Missouri only got one shot to win the game, though, as roughly 18 seconds of time was burned off after senior receiver J’Mon Moore secured a first down at the Wildcats’ 28-yard line.

Moore said after the game a Kentucky player knocked the ball out of his hands when Moore went to hand it to an official, who took his time to spot it. Moore said he never got an explanation.

“I know what I saw,” Odom said. “And I know how the ball was placed and not placed.”

Lock took one shot to pull off the win for Missouri but was hit while throwing, ultimately giving the Tigers their fourth consecutive loss.

Despite the loss, Lock, a junior, had one of his best games against an FBS opponent, throwing for 355 yards and three touchdowns, with many of his best throws coming on third down.

After trailing 10-0 towards the end of the first quarter, Missouri got its first first down with 3:33 left, with junior Ish Witter carrying the offense. The Tigers drive ended with a missed field goal by Tucker McCann, but the drive showed that the Tigers would be able to run the ball on a Kentucky defense that came into the game as the No. 3 defense in the country against the run.

Lock found Moore halfway through the second quarter for a 50-yard score and never really looked back.

“In this offense once you get one big play everybody kind of works off of that,” junior wideout Emanuel Hall said. “Once we scored the first touchdown I think we moved the ball pretty well.”

Missouri trailed 20-7 toward the end of the first half after a career-long 71-yard touchdown by Wildcats running back Benny Snell.

Lock trotted his offense out with just 40 seconds left in the first half and connected with Hall for a 58-yard touchdown on the first play of the drive. Missouri went into the half down six but would start the second half with the ball.

The Tigers continued to utilize the run in the second half, with Damarea Crockett and Witter rotating carries. Odom said he called more plays for Witter since he had the hotter hand of the two.

Witter finished the night as Missouri’s leading rusher with 139 yards on 17 carries.

Kentucky extended its lead to 10 points after another touchdown by Snell, but Lock and the offense once again had an answer: Lock found Hall for a 48-yard completion that put Missouri at the 1-yard line. Lock ran the ball in himself, making it a three-point game and McCann would tie it up a few minutes later on a 25-yard field goal.

Kentucky quarterback Stephen Johnson found Garret Johnson for 64 yards early in the fourth quarter that put the Wildcats in front again.

Lock found Johnson less than 30 seconds later to tie the score again in what had turned into a boxing match between the two offenses.

Kentucky hit a 53-yard field goal with 9:40 left in what would be the decisive blow.

Missouri would drive to the Kentucky 28-yard line the following drive but was forced to attempt a 45-yard field goal after Lock threw an incomplete pass to tight end Albert Okwuegbunam.

The loss was Missouri’s closest this season, and MU showed signs of improvement on both sides of the ball: The offense clicked on all cylinders, and the defense provided stops and forced turnovers to give the team a chance to win.

Odom acknowledged after the game that there are no moral victories despite being 1-4 on the season. But he added that he thought his team showed improvement to build on as it heads to Georgia next week to face a top-10 team in the Bulldogs.

“I know what this team needs,” Odom said. “They need to build on that and gain some confidence and show them the strides that we’ve made. We’re close. We have to find a way to ... break down that wall.”

This story was originally published October 7, 2017 at 10:53 PM with the headline "Mizzou plays inspired game but loses 40-34 to Kentucky."