Missouri suffers first loss of 2024 at Texas A&M. The grades, like the game, are ugly
No. 9 Mizzou walked into College Station — after a bye week — cruising along on the road to the College Football Playoff. The latest roadblock for the Tigers was Texas A&M at the always daunting Kyle Field.
After Saturday’s game, that road certainly isn’t closed. But it got much more narrow in a 41-10 MU defeat.
The Tigers never had much control on Saturday. The Aggies scored on their opening drive; running back Amari Daniels had a 25-yard run down to the 1 and punched it in on the next play. A&M took a 24-0 lead into half and added to it with Le’Veon Moss’ 75-yard rushing touchdown to open the second half.
“Just a really poor performance by my football team, and it starts with me,” head coach Eli Drinkwitz said. “I apologize to our fans. It’s my responsibility for us to be better.”
Here’s our grades from Saturday’s loss…
Mizzou offense
At least the Tigers avoided a shutout.
Quarterback Brady Cook’s season-long struggles on deep passes went under the spotlight Saturday, and this time, an opponent was able to take advantage. Cook went 13-for-31 (186 yards) while being sacked six times. On the ground, Mizzou could only put together 68 yards.
The Tigers ended the first half with 79 yards of offense (A&M had 305 yards at half). Not much more can be said. The Tigers’ offense was absolutely bottled up.
Grade: F
Mizzou defense
The Tigers allowed 512 yards of total offense.
Listed as a game-time decision, QB Conner Weigman got the start for the Aggies and ended up throwing for 276 yards (18-for-22) while allowing Moss to take complete control of the defense with 138 yards and three touchdowns.
Grade: F
Mizzou special teams
Nothing special on this side today, but certainly the best of the three units. Kicker Blake Craig made a field goal from 23 yards as well as his PAT attempt, and punter Luke Bauer averaged 45.6 yards with his five punts.
Grade: C
Area of improvement
Mizzou will take this entire game as an area to grow, and we’ll see how Drinkwitz and Co. respond next week against UMass. One area in particular, would be third-down conversions.
In a game where the Tigers were down 24 at half, MU was never able to build any offensive momentum and turn drives into points. MU went 0-for-5 on third downs in the first half, and also had a turnover on downs on the first drive.
The Tigers finished 5-for-15 on third down and 1-for-4 on fourth.
Play of the game
The game was all but put away at this point, but the Tigers showed some sign of life with Cook’s 59-yard touchdown pass to Theo Wease Jr. in the third quarter.
That broke a 34-0 shutout. The Tigers added a field goal by the end of the game.
