Grades from Missouri’s 17-10 win over South Carolina, and a look ahead to Arkansas
There were, let’s just say, some potential heartbreaking memories brought up for Missouri Tigers fans Saturday. South Carolina was driving and looked like it was about to erase a 17-0 deficit and force the team game to go into overtime. Yes, all with a backup quarterback.
To add insult to injury, former Gamecocks quarterback Connor Shaw was watching from the sideline. He was just promoted to South Carolina’s quarterbacks coach after coach Will Muschamp was fired, leaving a vacancy.
But no worries, there wasn’t any stunning comeback as the Mizzou stood firm in the waning seconds for a 17-10 road win over the Gamecocks. Linebacker Devin Nicholson picked off a game-clinching interception to keep the Gamecocks from bringing back up painful defeats.
That leaves Mizzou and first-year coach Eliah Drinkwitz at 3-3 and holding steady at third place in the SEC East. Drinkwitz had some words for his detractors as MU continued to pick up wins nobody expected them to have.
Mizzou now enters a rivalry game against Arkansas. While fans have long scoffed at the relatively new relationship of the Battle Line Rivalry, perhaps there will be a little more going for it this year with the relationships between the two programs.
Here are this week’s grades for the offense, defense and special teams, along with a look ahead to Arkansas.
PLAY OF THE GAME
Backup Gamecocks quarterback Luke Doty was marching, nearing midfield in a comeback attempt.
But he didn’t get farther as his pass was picked off by Devin Nicholson, who ran about 10 yards before sliding onto the ground. Nicholson retreated to the sideline, where he donned MU’s “turnover robe” as the offense knelt out the rest of the clock in victory formation.
GRADES
Offense: C-. The offense looked like it was on its way to a productive night against a struggling South Carolina defense. The first half came and went with the Tigers leading 17-0. Then the second half happened.
Mizzou had five possessions in the second half, all of which ended in punts (minus the end-of-game victory formation drive). The Tigers were shut out in the second half and couldn’t milk clock all the way down when they needed to.
Defense: A. The unit was missing defensive coordinator Ryan Walters because of contact tracing, but the defense did not miss a beat. They contained the Gamecocks well, which forced them to make a quarterback change.
While Doty played decent against the MU defense, improvising on the fly, it didn’t lead to many points. Drinkwitz said the defense needed to get a turnover at halftime, and that’s exactly what completed Mizzou’s third win of 2020.
Special teams: A. Punter Grant McKinniss had the best game of his relatively short Mizzou career as he was called upon often for seven punts, five of them coming in the second half. Two of those punts ended up pinning the Gamecocks inside the 1, including the final possession of the game. It was a stellar night for the grad transfer.
Kicker Harrison Mevis converted his lone attempt, a chip shot from 20 yards out. Punt returner Cade Musser even helped out, picking up 17 yards on a pair of returns.
NEXT UP
The Tigers (3-3) get an upstart Hogs (3-5) team which was projected to win even fewer games than Mizzou under first-year coach Sam Pittman. But they have strung together some quality wins and should feature a solid rivalry game come Saturday.
Coaching roots. The obvious connection here is Arkansas defensive coordinator Barry Odom, who just last year led the Tigers to a 6-6 record. Keep in mind, too, that Drinkwitz has ties to the state growing up in Alma, Arkansas. Drinkwitz was reportedly in consideration for the Hogs job before landing in Columbia.
Location, time switch. The Battle Line Rivalry was supposed to be at Arrowhead Stadium this year but was moved to Memorial Stadium in Columbia because of the pandemic. In another subtle change, the game will be on Saturday, kicking off at 11 a.m., instead of Black Friday, as it had been the past few years.
This story was originally published November 22, 2020 at 8:41 AM.