Amid largely successful season, Missouri Tigers’ defense gets pass for letdown vs. Vols
Give Missouri’s defense a pass for last week’s performance.
Not that the Tigers can act like Tennessee’s 66 points and 724 yards never happened. It did, and it was awful. But Mizzou has built enough credentials throughout the season to call last weekend’s showing against a very good Vols offense a bad day at the office, and leave it at that.
“With what we’ve put on tape until this point, they know that wasn’t us,” defensive coordinator Blake Baker said. “I think they’ll bounce back really, really quickly. I haven’t seen any heads hang.”
Saturday’s game against New Mexico State is the first opportunity to prove last week was an aberration. Kickoff at Faurot Field is 6:30 p.m., and the game will be broadcast on ESPNU.
“We haven’t played that way in a while,” defensive end Isaiah McGuire said. “We know that’s not us or our standards. We have to focus and bounce back.”
No previous SEC opponent had scored more than Georgia’s 26 points against Missouri. In Missouri’s second game this fall, Kansas State hung 40 on the Tigers, but that was helped by four straight MU turnovers.
The Vols simply put a beatdown on Missouri, especially in the second half, when they scored the game’s final 38 points.
The first of those points became the game’s biggest moment. Tennessee wide receiver Jalin Hyatt lined up in the backfield behind a tackle. He broke free and was wide open when Hendon Hooker hit him for a 68-yard touchdown just two plays after the Tigers had cut the margin to four.
“Tennessee did a good job hiding him,” Baker said. “I should have called a timeout. I saw it and I’m trying to yell it from the sideline over 100,000 people. They’re not going to hear me there. That kept me up Saturday night.”
Two games remain for Mizzou. After New Mexico State, the Tigers play host to Arkansas on Nov. 25, a Friday. MIssouri, 4-6, needs victories in both games to be assured of eligibility for bowl selection.
The Tigers’ defense picked up good news this week when head coach Eli Drinkwitz said senior linebacker Chad Bailey doesn’t plan to go through Senior Day activities. Drinkwitz said Bailey plans to return to Columbia next season.
Bailey, in his fifth year at Mizzou, is one of several MU players who are eligible to return as super-seniors because of the disruption the COVID-19 pandemic caused in their college careers.
“So right now, he is not walking on Senior Day because he wants to finish out his opportunity to play football (at Missouri),” Drinkwitz said. “Really excited about that. A young man whose best football is still ahead of him and continues to improve and be a leader on our football team.”
Bailey is having an excellent season, with 37 tackles, including 4.5 for loss, in eight games.
“Any time you can get a guy with as much experience back as Chad, it’s huge,” Baker said. “It’s huge from him setting the standard for the new freshmen and transfers who are coming to come in. He’s lived it. He’s been a captain, starting mike linebacker. he’s had a really good year.
“I’ve been ultra-impressed with him. I’m excited he’s coming back.”
This story was originally published November 16, 2022 at 4:52 PM.