Missouri Tigers blow out Murray State to open highly anticipated 2024 football season
The position of intrigue entering Missouri’s Week 1 matchup against Murray State on Thursday was running back. The Tigers returned a majority of the offense’s production from a season ago, but the ‘How can you possibly replace Cody Schrader?’ question lingered throughout the offseason and into the season opener.
Transfer portal additions Nate Noel and Marcus Carroll wasted no time in providing an answer in the Tigers’ 51-0 victory over Murray State. The running back duo nicknamed “Thunder and Lightning” by coach Eli Drinkwitz each scored their first Missouri touchdowns in a 28-point first quarter.
Following an opening-drive touchdown on a 16-yard pass from quarterback Brady Cook to wideout Luther Burden III and a fourth-down stand by the Tigers’ defense on Murray State’s first offensive drive, Noel took three consecutive runs out of the backfield and made the last one count.
The Appalachian State transfer found the end zone on the third run, taking a pitch 9 yards for the Tigers’ second touchdown in the game’s first 5:12.
“It felt great,” Noel said. “We practiced (that play) for a couple of weeks so we really mastered it and I felt confident going into it.”
Noel, who picked up 48 yards on the ground on 11 carries, played the first two drives and the first play of the third drive before Marcus Carroll received his turn in the backfield. Carroll picked up where his counterpart left off, taking his first carry of the game up the middle for 20 yards.
Cook followed the gain with a 12-yard connection with Theo Wease Jr., setting Missouri up on the 1-yard line. Carroll had no trouble finding the end zone on the following play for his first score of the season, extending the Tigers’ advantage to 28-0 at the 3:38 mark of the first half.
“It was kind of exactly what I expected with Marcus Carroll,” Drinkwitz said. “He’s gonna be really tough to tackle when he gets his pads downhill. You’re going to have to really bring a sack lunch to keep hitting him.”
Noel and Carroll combined for 83 yards on the ground in just two quarters of play, as Missouri turned to its bench as the offense continued to roll. As a team, the Tigers rushed for 189 yards on 37 attempts.
“It’s great because everybody has their own role,” Noel said. “Everybody knows what they need to do and whenever somebody new goes in, the speed doesn’t change. We’re just going to keep coming at you with a new fresh back.”
Cook accounted for 22 of the rushing yards on four rushes, including a 3-yard touchdown run to close out the first half and send the Tigers to the locker room ahead by five scores.
In the last Missouri drive that featured the team’s starters, redshirt-freshman kicker Blake Craig drilled a 39-yard field goal on the first attempt of his collegiate career to push Missouri ahead at 38-0 with 8:50 remaining in the third quarter.
“I thought (Blake) did a great job with the extra points and the kickoffs,” Drinkwitz said. “I thought he did a really, really nice job and it was just great for his confidence.”
On the first drive featuring the Tigers’ backups, Jamal Roberts took over as the running back and rushed for an 8-yard touchdown on his first carry. Sophomore Tavorus Jones and true freshman Kewan Lacy both got touches late in the game. Jones rushed six times for 16 yards, while Lacy generated 42 yards on the ground on five attempts.
“Lacy is going to have a career, man,” linebacker Corey Flagg Jr. said. “He has a nose for the game and (running backs) coach (Curtis) Luper is going to get him right.”
Craig made all six extra-points attempts and a pair of field goals in the fourth quarter — one from 22 yards and another from 27.
Cook was strong enough throwing the ball to handle Murray State’s defense, but he struggled with his accuracy, namely on the deep ball. He overthrew Marquis Johnson and Burden in the first half; had he connected, both likely would have resulted in touchdowns.
Cook did open the contest efficiently, leading the Tigers down the field quickly on the first drive. He found Burden, who made a man miss before high-stepping into the end zone for the first touchdown of the season.
Cook finished 19-for-30 with 218 passing yards, one passing touchdown and a rushing touchdown. Burden III caught three passes on five targets for 39 yards and a touchdown. The offense’s lone misstep came early in the second quarter when the pair did not connect on a sweep, resulting in a Murray State fumble recovery.
“That was Kirby (Moore, OC)’s play and he doesn’t want to run it,” Drinkwitz said. “We’ve been joking with him in the offseason about how he is never going to call it, so he called it tonight. He’s pissed at us right now. We will never run that play again, which is too bad because it’s a good play.”
But overall, the good far outweighed the bad.
It wasn’t just the Tigers’ offense that scored touchdowns. Early in the first quarter, the defense joined in on the fun when St. Louis native and Clemson transfer Toriano Pride Jr. jumped Racer quarterback Jayden Johannsen’s pass, intercepting it and returning it 25 yards for a pick-six. Johannsen completed 7 of 13 passes for 27 yards, while the Racers’ running game did not fare much better (58 rushing yards on 35 carries).
“I was happy to see my boy Toriano go out there and make a big play,” defensive tackle Chris McClellan said. “I was extremely happy and I was trying to chase him down and give him some love afterwards.”
The second of the two takeaways for Missouri’s defense came in the third quarter when McClellan burst through the offensive line and leveled Johannsen, forcing a fumble in the process. Defensive end Joe Moore III recovered the fumble, leading to Roberts’ touchdown run.
Mizzou’s defense finished Thursday’s opener with two sacks, six tackles for loss and four pass breakups. Linebackers Triston Newson and Corey Flagg Jr. led the team with five tackles apiece.
For Corey Batoon, who made his debut as Missouri’s defensive coordinator, it could not have gone much smoother. In addition to the two takeaways, the Tigers’ defense pitched a shutout against the Racers, giving them their first shutout of an opponent since they blitzed Vanderbilt 41-0 in 2020. It also represented the team’s first shutout in a season opener since 1998.
“That was the first time we have held a team under 100 yards since 2019,” Drinkwitz said. “Can’t say how good of a job (Batoon) did tonight.”
The Tigers’ win over the Racers is their 17th straight victory over nonconference opponents at Memorial Stadium, a streak that dates back to 2017. Missouri has a chance to extend that streak again next week, when it hosts Buffalo at 6 p.m. on Sept. 7.
Copyright 2024 Columbia Missourian
This story was originally published August 29, 2024 at 11:04 PM.