Missouri football finished its regular season 10-2 after beating Arkansas 48-14 in Fayetteville during a Black Friday rivalry. The Tigers reached 10 wins for the first time since the 2014 season.
This Battle Line Rivalry, first starting in 2014, has not shown to be much of a rivalry between the two teams. Since Missouri joined the SEC, Missouri has won the trophy eight times in 10 games. The trophy is going to stay in Columbia for another year, and there are clear reasons why. Missouri dominated in all three aspects of football Friday: offense, defense and special teams. The Tigers started the game off red hot with 41 unanswered points. Arkansas didn’t score until the fourth quarter. Missouri running back Cody Schrader showed again why he is the leading rusher in the SEC.
“Cody [had] another 220 yards. I mean it’s time to start talking about him being the best player in the country” said coach Drinkwitz. Schrader had a Heisman-like performance with 217 yards rushing, 192 in the first half, and one touchdown.
Schrader’s teammate, Brett Norfleet had a very efficient day in the red zone with two touchdowns. These two touchdowns happened within 12 seconds of each other thanks to a fumble on the kickoff by Arkansas wide receiver Isaiah Satenga.
“It was all about getting home [to the QB]” said Missouri defensive back Chuck Hicks about the defensive game plan. The Tigers’ defense stepped up immensely after giving up 31 points to the Florida Gators. Missouri forced five fumbles during the game and recovered four of them. Jay Jernigan captured one of the recoveries and took it to the house for a big man touchdown.
Missouri’s Ty’Ron Hopper was a game-time decision but was ruled out during warmups. Triston Newsome filled the Butkus Award finalist’s role seamlessly with 15 tackles and 2 tackles-for-loss. “You can’t really say enough about his performance,” said Drinkwitz.
The Razorbacks missed the presence of veteran quarterback KJ Jefferson. Jefferson came out of the game during the first quarter after suffering a leg injury. The backup Jacoby Griswell replaced Jefferson for the rest of the game. The Razorbacks did not reach the Missouri side of the field until the end of the third quarter. Drinkwitz said that the defense did not change their approach after Jefferson left the game stating that it “was the game plan the whole time.”
The bright spot for the Razorback offense was freshman running back Isaiah Augustave who finished with 80 yards rushing and a touchdown. Augustave only had two rush attempts during the first half, but was Arkansas’ spark of the second. Arkansas may not have many positive takeaways from the game, but if the transfer portal doesn’t snatch him, Augustave may be a dynamic part of a one-two punch next year with the future healthy running back Rocket Sanders.
Even though there is only one game left in the season, Missouri defensive back Chuck Hicks still has that underdog mindset and says that Missouri “still has more to show.”
“We’re trying to prove to the world that we belong,” said Hicks. The Tigers put themselves in one of the greatest spots to do so with the whole country watching during a New Year’s Six Bowl.