Grades from the Missouri Tigers’ win over North Texas, and looking ahead to Texas A&M
The Missouri Tigers got a much-needed win on Saturday, defeating North Texas 48-35 to improve to 3-3.
Here are our grades for all three Mizzou units, the best highlight of the game and a look ahead to next weekend’s home contest against Texas A&M.
PLAY OF THE GAME
The play that stands out the most from this game is easily the first defensive score of the season. Defensive lineman Mekhi Wingo intercepted the ball at the 40-yard line and took it to the house after Trajan Jeffcoat deflected a pass from North Texas quarterback Austin Aune to extend the Mizzou lead to 41-14 in the fourth quarter.
GRADES
Offense: B. Missouri got its run game going again in the win over North Texas, as the offense rebounded from a bad performance last weekend. The Tigers had 314 yards on the ground, led by Tyler Badie, who recorded a career-high 217 rushing yards. However, the unit did struggle at times in the second half, particularly in the third quarter, when it went three and out on three consecutive drives.
Defense: C+. On paper, giving up 35 points and 491 yards of offense seems like a pretty poor defensive performance, but it was much better than what we had seen from Mizzou in recent weeks. It’s also worth noting that a major chunk of that came in the fourth quarter, at which point the game was well in the Tigers’ favor. The Mizzou defense had a lot of positives though: The Tigers forced three turnovers, had three sacks, produced 10 tackles for loss and allowed North Texas to convert just five of 15 third-down attempts.
Special teams: A. The special teams unit continued to be the most consistent unit for Mizzou this season with another solid performance on Saturday. Kicker Harrison Mevis nailed both of his field goals, of 48 and 40 yards respectively, and the punting unit averaged 47.2 yards on five punts.
NEXT UP
Missouri resumes SEC play with its third straight game at Faurot Field in Columbia on Saturday, Oct. 16, playing host to Texas A&M at 11 a.m. Central Time. The game will air on the SEC Network.
This story was originally published October 10, 2021 at 9:48 AM.
