‘Kind of like a movie moment’: Inside Missouri football’s Hail Mary play at Vanderbilt
Trailing Vanderbilt 14-10 with 4 seconds left in the first half, Missouri football had one play left to put up points.
With excellent protection giving him enough time to drop back from the 45-yard line, quarterback Connor Bazelak threw up a prayer towards the end zone, where a crowd of players from both sides were waiting.
Wide receiver Keke Chism leaped and reeled in the ball over the helmets of multiple defenders, giving the Tigers a crucial touchdown to regain the lead. He then ran to the other side of the end zone, waving his arms as teammates surrounded him in amazement and the contingent of fans who had traveled for the road game roared.
“It was kind of like a movie moment,” Chism said. “I was running in the end zone and by the time I turned around and seen the ball in the air it was like everything just kind of slowed down. And the main thing was just timing my jump and then I was able to make a play ... Man, it was an amazing feeling.”
The touchdown gave the Tigers a much-needed momentum swing going into the halftime break. They never trailed the rest of the way in the 37-28 victory over Vanderbilt. It was the Tigers’ first conference win in five tries and improved Mizzou to 4-4 overall and 1-3 in SEC games.
Leading up to that play, the offense hadn’t scored since the 6:59 mark of the first quarter, either punting the ball away or turning it over on its previous four drives.
After defensive back Jaylon Carlies tackled kicker Joseph Bulovas on a field goal fake on fourth-and-7, Mizzou got the ball back with just 15 seconds left in the half. Carlies said the Tigers had been going over the possibility of Vanderbilt running that play all week, so they were ready for it.
“I would have been very upset if they converted the fake because I’m pretty sure anybody watching at home in Columbia could have told you it was going to be a fake there,” safety Martez Manuel said.
Just one game ago, Mizzou coach Eliah Drinkwitz was met by loud boos and disapproval from his home crowd when he ran the clock out at the end of the first half against Texas A&M. He wasn’t doing that this time around, not with the team in desperate need for a first conference win and trailing to a similarly struggling Commodores team.
“What happens right before half usually carries you off,” Drinkwitz said. “That’s why I’ve been — well, that’s why there’s a philosophy about how we play before half. And so it was a good deal for us.”
Fifteen seconds. Go time.
On first-and-10 at the MU 39, Bazelak threw it to wide receiver Barrett Banister on an out route for a gain of 10 yards. Ten seconds.
Tyler Badie was targeted on the next play. The running back caught the ball up the middle and purposely slid down at the 45-yard line. Four seconds. Timeout.
“That’s just an intelligent football play by Tyler Badie,” Drinkwitz said. “Being in the middle of the field, if he tries to get two more yards the clock’s going to run out, we’re not going to have a next play. So he surrendered himself, went down, clock stops, we were able to use our last timeout and get the perfect play call on.”
The head coach said the Tigers were aiming to get into field goal range, but they were five yards shy of where they felt comfortable by the time that timeout was called. So, Drinkwitz went with the Hail Mary.
That’s when Chism, who transferred to Missouri from Division II Angelo State last season, came up with the biggest catch of his career.
“He always talks about, ‘I came here to catch the ball. I came here to get jump balls,’” Badie said. “I’m like, ‘This is your opportunity. You do what you have to do.’ So I’m just proud of him for making that play and being a big spark for our offense.”
“We needed a play to be made,” Chism added. “I knew that was my time for this offense to step up and make a play to swing the momentum going into the half.”
