How Mizzou engineered (another) second-half comeback to beat Iowa in Music City Bowl
In a season defined by fourth-quarter comebacks, Missouri once more found a rabbit in its hat and performed some magic, overcoming a two-score deficit to defeat Iowa 27-24 in the Music City Bowl on Monday at Nissan Stadium.
Quarterback Brady Cook turned in his best outing of the season in his final game as a Tiger, completing 18 of 32 passes for 287 yards and two touchdowns. Cook also accounted for 54 of MU’s 89 total rushing yards on 14 attempts.
His 287 yards passing marked a season high, eclipsing his previous mark of 268 on Nov. 23 at Mississippi State.
Cook was named the Music City Bowl MVP for his performance. It was the feather in the cap of a storied collegiate career for the fifth-year senior from St. Louis, who finished his MU career with 9,876 all-purpose yards — third-most in program history — and 8,721 passing yards — fourth-most in program history.
“Journeys aren’t always meant to be together forever. And so, he’s going to start his own path and his own career, and I have no doubt he’ll be successful in the NFL,” Mizzou coach Eli Drinkwitz said of Cook. “He’s going to get a chance, and just like we all found out, don’t ever count him out. And I’m sure he’ll be a starting quarterback someday in the NFL. And hopefully, he’ll let me come watch him play.”
Cook managed the feat despite his best weapon, wide receiver Luther Burden III, opting out to prepare for the NFL Draft and his second-best target, receiver Theo Wease Jr., only playing in the first half.
Starting tight end Brett Norfleet — who had season-ending knee surgery — and wide receiver Mookie Cooper — who suffered a season-ending injury in October — were also unavailable.
Wease was knocked out of the contest on the Tigers’ final offensive play of the first half. After juggling a Cook pass across the middle of the field, Wease was hit by Iowa defensive back Xavier Nwankpa and suffered what the team categorized as an upper-body injury. Wease finished his final contest as a Tiger with five receptions on 10 targets for 75 yards and an 8-yard touchdown.
“Theo Wease, what an unbelievable job he did in the first half. He laid it all on the line for us,” Drinkwitz said.
Also contributing a touchdown catch was sophomore wideout Marquis “Speedy” Johnson, who assumed lead-receiver duties in the absence of Burden and Wease and parlayed the opportunity into seven receptions for 122 yards.
Johnson figures to be a top receiving target alongside transfer Kevin Coleman Jr. in 2025.
“As those guys (Burden and Wease) move on, it’s really about Marquis and Josh (Manning)‘s turn next. And we’re really, really excited,” Drinkwitz said. “It was easy to recruit a quarterback when you can send them tape of Marquis and Josh.”
Johnson’s 7-yard touchdown catch with 13:28 left in the second quarter tied the score at 14-all, but Iowa (8-5) scored 10 unanswered points to put the Tigers in a 24-14 hole.
Manning’s 4-yard touchdown run with 1:49 left in the third quarter cut the deficit to 24-21, and Blake Craig capped Mizzou’s rally with two fourth-quarter field goals.
Craig broke the record for the longest field goal in Music City Bowl history with a 51-yarder that tied it with 10:10 to go, and he broke his own mark with a 56-yarder at the 4:36 mark.
MU forced a three-and-out on the following drive, and its defense held steady for the remainder of the contest as the Tigers claimed their sixth one-possession victory of the season.
Linebacker Corey Flagg Jr. came up with the key stop on to preserve the victory. On fourth-and-1 from the Mizzou 46-yard line with a little more than a minute remaining, Flagg jumped over Iowa center Tyler Elsbury and grabbed quarterback Brendan Sullivan — wrapping him up long enough for defensive end Zion Young, safety Daylan Carnell and several other Tigers to wrestle him to the ground well short of the line to gain.
“How about that fourth-and-1 stop? Just incredible,” Drinkwitz said.
Drinkwitz improved to 2-2 in bowl games in five seasons at Mizzou. The Tigers’ 2020 bowl game, also the Music City Bowl against Iowa, was canceled because of a COVID outbreak within the MU program.
The 19th-ranked Tigers finished their season 10-3. Mizzou achieved back-to-back 10-win seasons for the first time since 2013-14 and only the third time in program history.
“The win total isn’t important, but being ranked to finish is. To start the season and finish the season ranked is a heck of an accomplishment for this senior class, and it’s something that they should take a lot of pride in,” Drinkwitz said.
Copyright 2024 Columbia Missourian
This story was originally published December 30, 2024 at 9:25 PM with the headline "How Mizzou engineered (another) second-half comeback to beat Iowa in Music City Bowl."