STARKVILLE, Miss. — Same team, same mistakes, new opponent. This time, though, No. 19 Missouri’s (3-1, 0-1 in Southeastern Conference) opponent, No. 24 Mississippi State (4-0, 2-0), made the Tigers pay, handing them their first loss of the season, winning 31-24.
Overcoming mistakes of such nature is achievable against FCS, Group-of-six and even Big 12 opponents, like Missouri did in its first three games. But in the SEC, where “it just means more,” that task becomes much more difficult. And in the case of the Tigers’ duel with Mississippi State on Saturday, it was too difficult.
Troy fired the warning shot in Week 3. Mississippi State delivered the knockout blow — a 48-yard deep ball to Anthony Evans to set up a touchdown seconds later.
The Tigers allowed explosives and struggled with penalties, just as they had against Kansas and Troy. A 43-yard touchdown to Sanfrisco Magee in the first quarter and eight penalties called against the Tigers exemplified that.
Mizzou held the Bulldogs to a scoreless, five-play first drive, but after failing to convert on fourth down on its first possession with the pigskin, let Taylor connect Magee for the deep ball to jump out to a 7-0 lead. The play was nearly identical to Troy’s 56-yard touchdown at the end of the first half in Week 3, the only difference being Santana Banner in coverage against MSU opposed to Sione Laulea against Troy.
Taylor finished 27-of-38 passing for 360 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.
Despite the Bulldogs’ general offensive success, their offensive line couldn’t handle the pressure from breakout MU sophomore Daeden Hopkins. He finished with two sacks, pushing his season total to a team-high six. Hopkins’ 3.5 sacks were just 0.5 off of tying Mizzou’s single-game record of four, held by a three-way tie between Justin Smith, Antwaun Bynum and Bobby Bell.
Missouri’s scoring drives were on short fields: a field goal that began at Mizzou’s 49-yard line, a touchdown that began at MSU’s 27 thanks to Trajen Greco’s interception and a touchdown that began at MSU’s 43 thanks to DaMarion Fowlkes’ 54-yard kick return. The that didn’t was courtesy of Austin Simmons captaining a five-play, 75-yard drive that ended with a touchdown to Cayden Lee.
Simmons finished 23-of-39 passing on the night, throwing for 295 yards and three touchdowns. He was sacked two times and threw another near-interception in the second quarter but ended the night with a clean sheet.
His connection with fellow Ole Miss transfer Lee, while apparent through the first three games of the season, was at its best against MSU. Lee hauled in 11 receptions for 156 yards and two touchdowns — the first score earned via a nifty spin move and the second gifted from a beautifully placed ball by Simmons to the corner of the end zone. Lee picked up three third-down conversions.
Simmons also found Donovan Olugbode for the wideout’s fifth touchdown of the season — Olugbode finished with four receptions for 54 yards. The run game, on the contrary, struggled, tallying 119 yards on 3.4 yards per carry.
Missouri will next host No. 21 Florida, who’ll surely rise in the rankings after thumping No. 4 Ole Miss 52-28 in the swamp, at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.
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