The Missouri Football team fell once again on Saturday afternoon this time to Kentucky by a score of 35-21. Missouri drops to 2-6 on the season with an 0-4 record in the SEC conference. The Tigers have now lost their last four games and have been outscored by a combined score of 168-87.
Kentucky dominated almost the entire game. They ran for 377 yards and had 582 total yards of offense. The Wildcats had a couple big plays early in the game that set the tone for the afternoon. Early in the first quarter, Kentucky running back Boom Williams ran for a 60-yard touchdown. Shortly after the second quarter began, Kentucky quarterback Stephen Johnson connected with wide receiver Jeff Badet on a 65-yard touchdown and the floodgates were officially open with Kentucky leading 35-7 at one point early in the fourth quarter.
Both sides of the ball for Missouri struggled in the game and Missouri Head Coach Barry Odom was not pleased with the play of his team.
“We are not playing very good football. We need to look in the mirror and find a way to get it fixed,” Odom said after the game.
The Tigers only little bit of momentum on the afternoon was halted when freshman kicker Tucker McCann missed a 24-yard field goal on the first drive of the 3rd quarter. One bright spot for the Tigers was freshman wide receiver Dimetrios Mason had two receiving touchdowns. The first one was 27-yard catch and the second was 57-yard catch and run off a pass from sophomore quarterback Drew Lock.
The Tigers defensive play calls today came from Odom instead of Defensive Coordinator DeMontie Cross who had previously been calling plays this season. Odom called plays when he was the defensive coordinator for Missouri last year under Gary Pinkel. Odom confirmed to the media after the game that he was the one making the play calls for the defense.
“I ended up calling it today…There was a reason that I wanted to get involved…. I want to continue in that role,” Odom said.
Whether Missouri in the game was running more of their old defensive scheme that Odom ran last year or the new scheme that Cross implemented this season is up for debate amongst the players. Some said it was more like the scheme that they ran last year.
“It was more like last year,” senior defensive tackle Rickey Hatley said.
“It was similar to the past years,” senior defensive back Aarion Penton said.
Other players said it was a combination of both schemes.
“It’s a combination of both…. same schemes, same ideas,” redshirt junior Joey Burkett said.
“We ran a little bit of both, it was about 50-50,” redshirt junior linebacker Eric Beisel said.
“I don’t know how much they want me to say about that, but I would just say Coach Odom calling plays is going to be different…. but it’s still the same stuff.” junior defensive back Logan Cheadle said.
The Tigers linebacking core is dealing with several injuries right now. Senior leader Michael Scherer was lost last week with a torn ACL. Terez Hall was unable to play after being re-injuring his ankle in practice on Wednesday and Donvain Newsom left the game early with an injury. In addition, Cale Garett is playing through injuries to his wrist and finger. All the injuries forced the Tigers to move TJ Warren from his normal defensive back position to more of a nickel linebacker spot. Burkett says while the injuries are tough, they have no excuses.
“Not fun, but next man up is what we got to do,” Burkett said.
The Tigers will look to snap a 10 game losing streak in SEC play when they go on the road and face South Carolina next week. Game time is set for 3pm and will be broadcast on the SEC Network.
 
(Featured Image: Ben Krakow)