The Missouri Tigers (2-1) beat the Abilene Christian Wildcats (2-1) to retake a winning record. The Tigers returned home today to defend their home on Mizzou’s Family Weekend. The day game’s hot and sunny conditions did not hurt the Tigers’ approach to win the game.

The Tigers opened up scoring with the first chance they got with Freshman Wide Receiver Luther Burden III taking a punt return 78 yards to the house. Burden finished his performance with six catches, 58 receiving yards and 111 return yards. Burden briefly exited the game after suffering an injury returning a punt, but was able to return and finish the game. 

Brady Cook turned in another dual-threat performance, throwing 292 yards with three touchdown passes and running for 42 yards on six carries. Cook completed 21 out of 30 passes for a 70% clip. However, Cook still seems to struggle with the deep ball and relies heavily on the screen pass. His favorite target today was Dominic Lovett who had a monster 132 yards receiving and two touchdowns. 

Missouri’s rushing attack continues to struggle. Although they finished the game with 193 ground yards, they were stuffed behind the line of scrimmage eight times and benefited greatly from three 20+ yard breakaways to inflate the final total. The Tigers are still looking to find a clear-cut RB1, following the loss of Tyler Badie to the NFL Draft. Cody Schrader led the team with 54 yards on 10 carries. 

Harrison Mevis, Mizzou’s fan favorite kicker, had a particularly rough day with his leg. Mevis was 2/4 on FG attempts, missing a 52 yard attempt and a 39 yard attempt. Mevis redeemed his long miss by nailing another 52 yard attempt with three minutes to play in the final quarter to seal the game for the Tigers. 

Defensively, the Tigers had a solid outing. They limited the Wildcats to 17 points and forced two turnovers. However, they did allow 308 total yards. Linebacker Ty’Ron Hopper was camped in the Wildcats’ backfield, leading the team in tackles and tackles for loss. 

The Tigers won a game they were favored in, however did so in fashion closer than most fans would like. The question remains if the Tigers will be able to hold up against the rest of the SEC; a question that will be answered next game when the Tigers open up conference play against the Auburn Tigers (2-1) in an road matchup.