Mizzou’s SEC skid reaches 11 straight at South Carolina

The Columbia Cup didn’t make the return flight Saturday with Missouri, which also officially buried its bowl dreams at South Carolina’s Williams-Brice Stadium.

The Tigers, who didn’t score in the first or fourth quarters, coughed up the Gamecocks’ season-high for total yards (428) and lost the turnover battle by three.

Thus, Mizzou, a team first-year coach Barry Odom readily admits has a razor-thin margin for error, gave itself no chance during a 31-21 loss, the program’s 11th straight SEC defeat.

“When you have two evenly matched teams and you don’t win the turnover margin, we play as poorly as we did in the kicking game and, when you get on the other side of the 50-yard line six times and come away with zero points, it’s going to be hard for us to win a football game,” Odom said.

The Tigers’ conference skid is the second-longest in the program’s 126-year history, topped only by a 12-game losing streak during Big Six play from November 1932 to November 1934.

If there’s a bright side, it’s that Mizzou was more competitive than it had been in losses against LSU, Florida and Kentucky — all games in which Odom’s squad trailed by at least four touchdowns.

Sophomore quarterback Drew Lock helped energize the offense by going 23 of 40 for 302 yards, including a game-tying 9-yard touchdown to junior tight end Kendall Blanton early in the third quarter, but it was an interception on the next drive that helped doom the Tigers.

Mizzou, 2-7, was driving with a rare chance to take a second-half lead in a conference road game and had momentum after senior defensive tackle Josh Augusta converted on fourth down with a 2-yard plunge.

The homecoming crowd of 73,817 was silent as Lock lobbed a deep pass for freshman wide receiver Dimetrios Mason, but Williams-Brice roared back to life as sophomore cornerback Rashad Fenton picked off an underthrown ball at the goal line.

“It was an ugly ball,” Lock said. “I got the signal on my part mixed up. I should have gone to the field instead of the boundary on that one, so you can put that one on my shoulders.”

The Gamecocks, 5-4, proceeded to march 98 yards on nine plays for the game-winning touchdown.

Lock’s counterpart, South Carolina freshman Jake Bentley, who was making his third career start and finished 22 of 28 for 254 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions, sparkled on the drive.

He was 4 of 5 for 54 yards, but it was another Gamecocks true freshman, running back Rico Dowdle, who hammered the nail in Mizzou’s coffin with a 20-yard touchdown, spinning off Tigers sophomore safety Cam Hilton and splitting two more defenders near the goal line.

South Carolina senior kicker Elliott Fry added a 24-yard field goal midway through the fourth quarter for insurance, which proved unnecessary when Missouri missed two fourth-quarter field goals and Lock was picked off for the second time with 29 seconds remaining.

“I feel that everybody on our team continued to play hard throughout the whole game,” said sophomore linebacker Brandon Lee, who finished with 11 tackles, including two for a loss with a sack. “We’ve had seven losses this season, but this one’s a little bit easier to beat just because you know that every person that was out on the field with you gave it everything they have.”

South Carolina took control in the first quarter when Mason’s fumble deep in Mizzou territory, the fourth this season by wide receivers, led to a 6-yard touchdown run by senior wide receiver Deebo Samuel, who finished with game-highs of nine catches for 125 yards.

Mizzou knotted the game with two longish touchdown runs — 29 yards by freshman running back Damarea Crockett, who had 13 carries for 82 yards, and 25 yards by junior running back Ish Witter, who totaled 11 carries for 80 yards — sandwiched around a lucky bounce for the Gamecocks.

Bentley’s pass to Dowdle — who finished with 169 totals yards, including 27 carries for 149 yards rushing — went for a 17-yard touchdown despite bouncing off junior linebacker Eric Beisel’s back left shoulder.

“Once it hit my shoulder, I tried to swat it down and had no idea where the ball was at,” said Beisel, who finished with a career- and game-high 14 tackles. “When I looked down, (Dowdle) had it in his hands. That felt awful.”

After Witter’s touchdown, Lock was nearly hit by a water bottle thrown from the South Carolina student section as he ran off the field.

Calmly, Lock picked up the half-empty bottle and guzzled down what remained before skipping off the field.

As salty as Mizzou played in the first half, South Carolina took a 21-14 halftime lead on Bentley’s 6-yard scoring strike to sophomore tight end K.C. Crosby in the second quarter’s closing minutes.

Mizzou knotted the game up again on the opening drive of the third quarter with Lock’s touchdown to Blanton, but the offense went silent from there.

Both teams had a player ejected for targeting — Missouri freshman linebacker Cale Garrett and South Carolina junior cornerback Chris Lammons — but junior safety D.J. Smith’s fourth-quarter targeting was overturned.

South Carolina 31, Missouri 21

TableStyle: SP-byperiodsCCI Template: SP-byperiods

EXL

First Quarter

SC: Samuel 6 run (Fry kick), 7:25

Second Quarter

MIZ: Crockett 29 run (T.Adams kick), 12:55

SC: Dowdle 17 pass from Bentley (Fry kick), 8:39

MIZ: Witter 25 run (T.Adams kick), 6:01

SC: Crosby 6 pass from Bentley (Fry kick), 2:59

Third Quarter

MIZ: Blanton 9 pass from Lock (T.Adams kick), 12:34

SC: Dowdle 20 run (Fry kick), 3:24

Fourth Quarter

SC: FG Fry 24, 7:35

A: 73,817.

TableStyle: SP-footballstatsCCI Template: SP-footballstats

EXL

RUSHING: Missouri, Crockett 13-82, Witter 11-80, Zanders 1-6, Lock 9-3, Augusta 1-2, Laurent 1-(minus 10). South Carolina, Dowdle 27-149, Da.Williams 4-24, Turner 6-8, Samuel 2-7, (Team) 1-(minus 2), Bentley 9-(minus 12).

PASSING: Missouri, Lock 23-40-2-302. South Carolina, Bentley 22-28-0-254.

RECEIVING: Missouri, Mason 8-88, J’.Moore 6-54, Blanton 4-42, Culkin 2-43, Floyd 1-37, Black 1-33, J.Johnson 1-5. South Carolina, Samuel 9-125, Edwards 4-47, Hurst 3-20, Dowdle 3-20, Dawkins 1-34, Crosby 1-6, Da.Williams 1-2.

MISSED FIELD GOALS: Missouri, T.Adams 44, McCann 31. South Carolina, Fry 46.

AP-WF-11-06-16 0123GMT

This story was originally published November 5, 2016 at 6:45 PM with the headline "Mizzou’s SEC skid reaches 11 straight at South Carolina."