‘It was strange:’ Inside MU’s weird, wet and costly third quarter against South Carolina

Mother Nature didn’t realize she was foreshadowing the Missouri third quarter when she put some storm clouds over Williams-Brice Stadium at the start of the second half, but the rain she sent was symbolic of the quarter the Tigers were about to have.

When it rains, it pours for Barry Odom’s team.

Missouri took the field with a nine-point lead and the ball coming its way at the start of the third quarter. By the end of it, the Tigers would be trailing by nine on self-inflicted penalties and mistakes that ultimately swung the game in South Carolina’s favor, 37-35.

“It was a strange third quarter,” Odom said.

With a chance to extend the lead to two possessions, Missouri did the exact opposite on its first drive of the second half. Drew Lock threw a 4-yard pass to slot receiver Johnathon Johnson and then a pair of incompletions for a three-and-out.

Having lost just 41 seconds of time, South Carolina took over and slowly started making its way down field. Running back Rico Dowdle accounted for 19 yards with a pair of rushes and an 11-yard catch. On fourth and 3, Gamecocks quarterback Michael Scarnecchia found Bryan Edwards for an 8-yard gain to keep the chains moving.

At Missouri’s 28-yard line, the Tigers gave South Carolina a free play thanks to a false start, and Scarnecchia capitalized again. He found Shi Smith for a 20-yard gain to get South Carolina into the red zone.

Filling in for junior Jake Bentley, who was out with a knee injury, Scarnecchia looked like a seasoned veteran. He threw for 249 yards and three touchdowns while completing 57 percent of his passes.

Odom had said on Tuesday that he expected Bentley to play, but said Saturday that Missouri prepared for all three signal-callers.

“I figured Bentley would play a little bit, see how it went, (Scarnecchia) and (freshman Dakereon Joyner), maybe in some quarterback, run-game action out of him,” Odom said. “We spent time on all three. I felt like plan-wise they didn’t really change much with (Scarnecchia).”

Scarnecchia cut Missouri’s lead to two points after finding star wideout Deebo Samuel for an 8-yard strike with 9:34 left in the quarter. Missouri still led 23-21 when it got the ball back, and the offense seemed up for the challenge.

Junior tailback Damarea Crockett took the second play of the drive 59-yards after he stepped out of bounds on his way into the end zone.

With first down from the South Carolina 10-yard line, Missouri handed over 5 yards on a false start by Albert Okwuegbunam the following play. Crockett ran for no gain the following play, but pushed Missouri back another 15 yards from an unsportsmanlike penalty he drew for throwing a punch.

“I thought that the penalty that really knocked us back,” Odom said. “You get knocked back 20 yards, you’re not playing very good football.”

After an incomplete pass from Lock, center Case Cook gave the Gamecocks another 5 yards from a blatant holding penalty.

Offensive tackle Paul Adams watched Cook’s penalty on the stadium’s video board and shook his head over the Tigers mistakes.

“That’s not holding,” he said. “That’s just running your feet.”

In the huddle, Okwuegbunam told his teammates through the rain to “keep our heads straight,” before their play started to snowball.

It didn’t work.

Forced to punt, Corey Fatony dropped the snap and ended up taking a 13-yard loss, which gave South Carolina the ball at its own 46- yard line.

“This is how this game works,” Okwuegbunam said. “There’s momentum. It can go good for you and it can go bad for you.”

Missouri’s defense didn’t let the Gamecocks get far, but the field position and a few completions were enough for a 42-yard field goal that gave South Carolina its first lead of the day.

Lock would quickly help the Gamecocks’ cause, as he threw a pick-six three plays later to extend the South Carolina lead to 31-23.

Lock, a Lee’s Summit native was looking for true freshman running back Tyler Badie. But Lock did not know, until it was too late, that Badie had tripped.

“Just a bad play by me,” Lock said. “I need to put it in the dirt. I’m expecting him to slip out the side, he ended up falling. I ended up seeing it mid-release that he fell. I just have to put it in the ground.”

Missouri’s run game stepped up again on the ensuing drive. Starting from their own 42-yard line before Larry Rountree III went on a 41-yard run into the Gamecocks’ red zone.

The Tigers got as close as the 2-yard line but were unable to get in the end zone because of incompletions to Jalen Knox and Okwuegbunam.

“As an offense we never folded,” Okwuegbunam said.

McCann attempted a 25-yard field goal that appeared to kick up more water than air. Five plays later the quarter ended and the sun started to come out.

Odom worried about what the miss did to McCann’s mentality, which seemed unaffected when he hit a go-ahead 57-yard field goal with 68 seconds left in the game to give Missouri a 35-34 lead.

Adams said Missouri felt the effects of its play strongly in the locker room after the game, where words were hard to come by after the Tigers had blown the lead in the game’s final minute.

“There wasn’t a lot of talking,” he said. “We were up nine at halftime. When we have a lead like that, you can’t let it wither away.”

Alex Schiffer

Alex Schiffer covers University of Missouri athletics for The Star.

This story was originally published October 6, 2018 at 7:35 PM.