Missouri Football: 3 takeaways from Missouri’s overtime loss at Auburn

Missouri football and Auburn went to overtime on Saturday, but it was the home team that came away with the win and here are three takeaways for Mizzou. 

The Tale of two Tigers began with what appeared to be a blowout victory early on by the Auburn Tigers that became a second-half snoozefest and ended with a wild finish in overtime. With Missouri down by 3 in overtime, running back Nate Peat raced down the sidelines and fumbled the ball into the endzone where Auburn football recovered to seal the victory. Here are 3 takeaways:

1. The Missouri Tigers’ defense stood strong.

Auburn’s offense ran the ball 16 consecutive plays to start the game to jump out to a 14-0 lead. Much like the first quarter of the game versus Kansas State — the Missouri defense took a few big blows but finally settled down and settled in. The defensive front of Isaiah McGuire, Trajan Jeffcoat, Jayden Jernigan, Kristian Williams, and Darius Robinson controlled the line of scrimmage — shutting out the Auburn offense for the next three quarters.

Ty’Ron Hopper had another impressive game for the Mizzou defense. His 10 tackles (3 for losses), 1 sack, and constant nose for the football helped stymie the Auburn offensive attack. Hopper also came up with a big stop on a 4th and 1 late in regulation to give Missouri football a chance to win the game in regulation.

2. Missouri football’s passing attack is very underwhelming.

Brady Cook threw for 179 yards on 14/24 passing. His lone interception occurred in the first quarter trying to squeeze a ball to Luther Burden III on a slant. Outside of two chunk plays to Dominic Lovett of 39 and 40 yards — the Missouri football offense was stagnant through the air all game long. Cook shares some of the blame — misfiring on several passes down the field.

Too often we are still left asking the question, “Where is Luther Burden?” Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero receptions. Zero rushing attempts. Zero yards. An offense that struggles to consistently move the football isn’t getting its best weapon involved in the offense and refuses to be more creative. Make it make sense.

3. Special Teams wasn’t so special versus Auburn.

A missed chip shot field goal to win the game by Harrison Mevis and an offsides penalty on an Auburn 44-yard field goal attempt in overtime doomed the Tigers today. The 26-yard field goal that sailed wide right was Mevis’ first unsuccessful attempt under 30 yards in his collegiate career. Mevis has now missed three of his last four field goal attempts.

Missouri also committed an offsides penalty on an Auburn field goal attempt at the end of first the half. It would not hurt them as Anders Carlson missed a 45-yard field goal to keep the game tied 14-14 going into the half.

The overtime loss drops Missouri to 2-2 overall, 0-1 in conference play. Up next for the Tigers is #1 Georgia at home — a team that they have not defeated since 2013.