Where does Missouri go after its devastating 15-14 loss to No. 12 Kentucky?

What was going to be Barry Odom’s best win as Missouri’s head coach quickly turned into his worst loss.

The Tigers’ 15-14 devastating loss to No. 12 Kentucky on Saturday came to the familiar tune seen in three of Missouri’s four losses this season.

Excluding the Tigers’ 39-10 loss at Alabama, Missouri (4-4) has looked like the better team for a majority of the games against Georgia, South Carolina and now Kentucky (7-1).

And it all goes the same way. The defense fails to get a stop when it has to, Missouri lets the team back into the game through a combination of penalties, fumbles or interceptions and then loses in spectacular fashion.

It was more of the same in Saturday’s devastating 15-14 loss to the No. 12 Wildcats, which leaves the Tigers once again picking up the pieces with No. 9 Florida on deck.

“I’m tired of learning how to win,” senior offensive lineman Kevin Pendleton said. “These type of games keep on happening. We got the result we deserved.”

Missouri’s kryptonite hasn’t changed more than halfway through the season, despite the team saying it’s learned from its mistakes. The Tigers spot teams points, struggle in the third quarter and can’t deliver in the clutch. The snowball effect is always in play.

On Saturday, after an impressive showing in the first half, Missouri went into halftime up 14-3 with the ball coming its way at the start of the third quarter. With a chance to give the defense some breathing room against Benny Snell and Kentucky, Missouri’s offense went three and out, which started a trend that would continue the rest of the game.

The same thing had happened against South Carolina. Missouri outplayed the Gamecocks the entire first half before a monsoon hit in the third quarter and the Tigers suddenly couldn’t score. A 57-yard field goal by Tucker McCann appeared to seal the game with a minute left, before a defensive collapse put South Carolina in position to win on a last-second field goal.

Against Georgia, Missouri played competitively in the first half but spotted the Bulldogs over 10 points thanks to a fumble, a blocked punt and a missed field goal. It couldn’t get out of its own way.

The Tigers’ defense performed admirably against a tough Kentucky run game. Missouri held star tailback Snell to 67 yards rushing and, except for a 28-yard catch, kept him in check. Missouri held the Wildcats to a combined 3 for 17 on third and fourth downs combined.

Odom’s troubles began with 5:18 left in the fourth quarter after a 67-yard punt return touchdown by Lynn Bowden Jr. cut the Tigers’ lead to 14-9. Kentucky got the ball back with 4:10 left, after another three and out by the Tigers. but Missouri got a much-needed turnover on an interception by DeMarkus Acy.

The Tigers took control with 2:38 left in the game and had a pair of 4-yard runs by Damarea Crockett for its first two plays of the drive. On third and two, Missouri elected to throw the ball rather than run it to eat more clock, because Odom figured Kentucky was going to use another timeout anyway.

“We weren’t going to gain clock,” he said.

The resulting play was an incomplete pass from Lock to Johnathon Johnson that forced the punting unit back onto the field.

Kentucky took the field for its final drive with 1:24 left and quickly started heading down field. After getting sacked on first down, quarterback Terry Wilson completed four straight passes for a combined 68 yards to get to Missouri’s 33-yard line. Wilson was sacked the following play by Terez Hall with nine seconds left.

But Wilson found Lynn Bowden Jr. for a 17-yard catch at MU’s 10-yard line with four seconds left. Missouri appeared to have secured the win after Wilson fired an incomplete pass to Ahmad Wagner, but the play was called back after a pass-interference penalty on Acy. The call gave Kentucky an untimed down from Missouri’s 2-yard line. Wilson found C.J. Conrad the following play for the win.

“The only way I imagined (us losing) is if we’d done something stupid,” senior linebacker Brandon Lee said. “And that’s what we did.” Missouri’s players said after the game that they’re confident the team will recover in time for next week’s game against the Gators. After all, they’ve already done that two other times this season.

Defensive tackle Terry Beckner Jr. said the team can’t worry about the past and has to look forward. Pendleton added that the team is running out of time to get its act together and that there’s a disconnect in its play that needs to be addressed immediately.

“We don’t have a choice,” he said. “We can’t afford the same result.”

Alex Schiffer

Alex Schiffer covers University of Missouri athletics for The Star.

This story was originally published October 27, 2018 at 9:46 PM.