Missouri 52, Connecticut 12; Key moments, players and grades

Keys to the game

Missouri: Drew Lock. The Lee’s Summit High grad continued his strong play at quarterback. He threw for five touchdowns with no interceptions. Lock’s completion percentage has been an issue throughout his career, and on Saturday it was 83.8 percent, a career-high. Connecticut’s pass defense is one of the worst in the country, so Lock’s performance is no surprise but with Missouri being down a running back in Damarea Crockett, Lock needed to put the ball in the air and delivered.

Connecticut: Offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee. Though he’s out of eligibility, Lashlee had some great play calls that just didn’t translate on the field. The Huskies attempted a double-pass in the first half that Missouri has used before and simply couldn’t connect despite the Tigers buying the fake. On some other plays the Huskies had Missouri’s defense exposed but either overthrew the open man or had the pass dropped. Had Connecticut executed the plays the scoreboard would have looked a lot different.

Lock found Moore in the end zone for a 4-yard touchdown on the team’s second drive to give the Tigers a 7-2 lead. Missouri never looked back after that and had a well-balanced attack all night. Ish Witter and Larry Rountree carried the run game while Lock torched Connecticut’s secondary.

Grades

A

Lock’s performance along with strong play from J’Mon Moore and Albert Okwuegbunam, who leads the nation in touchdowns for a tight end, propelled the offense as it continues to put up video-game numbers.

A

Missouri’s pass rush was a constant factor, something it hasn’t been for most of the season, with the Tigers having five sacks and nine tackles-for-loss. Terry Beckner and Marcell Frazier both had pass break-ups that nearly turned into touchdowns, and Logan Cheadle was a constant factor for a secondary that has had holes throughout the year.

B

Missouri’s special teams did something fairly unique at the end of the team’s first drive; it scored for the other team. A high-snap to punter Corey Fatony — one that only an NBA center could have caught — sailed into the end zone, which lead to a safety. On the flip side, Tucker McCann looked good in his return from a one-game suspension and didn’t miss a field goal or extra point.

This story was originally published October 28, 2017 at 9:39 PM with the headline "Missouri 52, Connecticut 12; Key moments, players and grades."