Mizzou notebook: Drew Lock guzzles South Carolina fans’ frustration

When Missouri junior running back Ish Witter darted up the gut and untouched for a 25-yard touchdown in the second quarter on Saturday of Missouri’s 31-21 loss at South Carolina, it touched off a furor in the student section at Williams-Brice Stadium.

Debris started raining into the end zone, including a water bottle that nearly hit Tigers quarterback Drew Lock.

But Lock, a sophomore from Lee’s Summit, didn’t freak out.

Instead, he picked up the now half-empty bottle and poured the rest of the liquid through his facemask.

“I thought I’d try to have a little fun, show a little extra emotion for the guys and, hopefully, get us a little riled up and have some fun,” Lock said.

Asked if it was, in fact, water, Lock laughed, “We’ll leave that to — we’ll leave that to not talking about it.”

Fans in the student section threw more garbage on the field during the ensuing extra point and again as Mizzou ran off the field at halftime, but freshman running back Damarea Crockett found the atmosphere more awe-inspiring than intimidating.

“That’s probably the rowdiest student section I’ve seen. That’s the rowdiest stadium I’ve been in,” Crockett said. “It was a great atmosphere. It was way louder (than LSU and Florida) on the field. That’s the first game I couldn’t hear anything Drew was saying, and I was right behind him.”

Linebackers rise to challenge

Mizzou already was without senior linebacker Michael Scherer, who underwent knee surgery Thursday to repair a torn ACL and MCL in his right knee, and senior linebacker Donavin Newsom, who sat out with a strained left quadriceps.

Newsom managed to play one series, but wasn’t a factor as converted cornerback T.J. Warren, a redshirt freshman, and sophomore Terez Hall soaked up most of the reps at strong-side linebacker.

That depth was further tested when freshman Cale Garrett was ejected for targeting on the first play of South Carolina’s second series.

Junior linebacker Eric Beisel filled the void with the game of his life — a career- and game-high 14 tackles, including two for a loss.

“Eric is a tremendous player, a tremendous athlete,” said junior defensive end Charles Harris, who finished with eight tackles and two sacks. “I look forward to playing with him in the future and just thriving as a defense.”

Going streaking

Missouri’s 11-game conference losing skid is the longest since a 12-game slide during the 1932-1934 seasons.

The Tigers lost against Kansas and Nebraska to close the 1932 season and went 0-5 in Big Six play in 1933 and 1934 under Frank Carideo.

The Tigers snapped the conference losing skid with a 6-6 tie at Iowa State on Oct. 26, 1935, but finished 0-2-3 in conference during the 1935 season under Don Faurot.

Mizzou opened the 1936 conference season with a tie at Kansas State before snapping an 18-game winless streak a few weeks later with a 10-0 win against Iowa State.

MIZZOU’S LONGEST CONFERENCE LOSING SKID

This story was originally published November 5, 2016 at 10:24 PM with the headline "Mizzou notebook: Drew Lock guzzles South Carolina fans’ frustration."