An efficient, balanced offensive attack from No. 23 Missouri buried the Bulldogs 39-20 on senior day in Starkville.
Mississippi State (2-9, 0-7) struck first Saturday afternoon on a 38-yard field goal by Kyle Ferrie to cap off the opening drive. But the 3-0 advantage wouldn’t last long, and Missouri (8-3, 4-3) never looked back after taking the lead.
The first score of the day for Missouri came on a 68-yard fumble return by Daylan Carnell, followed by the first of three Marcus Carroll rushing touchdowns to build a 14-3 Tiger lead.
Michael van Buren’s lone touchdown pass of the day, an 11-yard strike to Jordan Mosley, cut the margin to 14-10 after one quarter of play. But Missouri moved on to gradually expand their lead, outscoring Mississippi State 25-10 the rest of the way.
Eli Drinkwitz’s game plan of a heavy rushing attack was made clear in the early going and was never slowed down by the Bulldog defense. The Tigers ran the football 56 times, easily a season-high, for 219 yards and three of their four offensive touchdowns. Running back Nate Noel spearheaded the attack, rushing 25 times for 95 yards.
A remarkably efficient day for Brady Cook, who was playing in his second game back after missing two weeks due to injury, perfectly complimented the ground game for Missouri. When the Tigers did go away from the rushing approach, Cook shined in a 15-for-20, 268-yard day that included a touchdown and no interceptions.
Jeff Lebby’s freshman quarterback, van Buren, improved after a rough outing in Knoxville last week, staying clean in the turnover category and throwing for 191 yards with one touchdown. Alongside the young signal caller, running back Davon Booth was again a workhorse, depositing a second straight 120-plus yard game after rushing for 124 yards and a touchdown in just 12 attempts.
But an inability to effectively finish drives or slow down Missouri when it mattered most resulted in Mississippi State’s second straight loss. Their final shot at an SEC victory this season will be as significant underdogs against bitter rival No. 9 Ole Miss in Black Friday’s Egg Bowl.
The annual matchup between the Bulldogs and Rebels will kick off at 2:30 p.m. CT and will air on ABC as well as participating SuperTalk Mississippi stations.
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