Missouri holds off Ole Miss rally, moves to first in SEC East


By Aaron Moser
Missouri may have defeated Ole Miss 38-27 on homecoming, but that wasn’t the only thing the Tigers accomplished Saturday night in front of a sellout crowd. After Georgia and Florida lost Saturday, the win put the Tigers are now the leaders of the Southeastern Conference East division.
Neither one of those two feats had not been realized since 2014. 
The crowd was electric from the beginning, and Missouri forced a three and out on Ole Miss’ first drive. Even so, Johnathon Johnson, who is filling in at punt returner for the injured Richaud Floyd, muffed the ensuing punt.
Ole Miss took advantage and opened up the scoring with a John Rhys Plumlee pass to Scottie Phillips in the back of the end-zone for a 21-yard TD pass. 
Missouri responded with a Tucker McCann 31-yard field goal, but neither team would score again in the first quarter. 
At the beginning of the second quarter, Kelly Bryant found Tyler Badie on a screen pass for a 17 yd TD. After another field goal from McCann, this time from 48 yards, the Tigers led by just five, 12-7.
With 4:38 left to go in the half, Ole Miss Head Coach Matt Luke subbed in Matt Corral at QB and he helped lead the Rebels down the field to a first and goal at the 10 yard line. The Missouri defense held for four straight downs and that key goal line stand kept the score 12-7 entering halftime.
The immediate drive out of halftime, Larry Rountree III broke off a 41-yard touchdown run, and a complete momentum shift took place. From then on, the Tigers led by two scores or more. 
On the next Missouri offensive possession, the offensive line gave Bryant plenty of time to setup a beautifully thrown 49-yard wheel route to Tyler Badie. The Tigers would settle on that drive for a 39-yard field goal. 
With just above five minutes remaining in the third quarter, Dawson Downing took a hand off, tight end Albert Okwuegbunam set up a block, and Downing broke loose for his first TD of his career. He capped off the 54-yard run by stretching across the goal line with a Rebel defender draped over him.  
Rountree III explained postgame that the whole Missouri sideline went crazy for Downing’s first TD. 

Photo courtesy of staff photographer Justin Parmer.

Throughout the second half, the Rebels alternated Plumlee and Corral at QB, and they put up 13 points in the fourth quarter, but in the end it was too little too late.
Plumlee lead the Rebels in rushing with 143 yds and two tochdowns. Larry Rountree III finished with 126 yards rushing and 2 touchdwons for the Tigers.  
Elijah Moore and Johnathon Johnson were the favorite targets of their respective QBs, as they both finished with 8 receptions. Moore had 102 yds receiving and 1 TD, Johnson finished with 110 yds receiving. 
Saturday was the last of five straight home games for the Tigers, and they travel to Nashville next week to take on Vanderbilt to begin a streak of three straight SEC road contests. 
After Vanderbilt, Missouri will journey to Lexington and face Kentucky before a meeting between the hedges with Georgia. 
Head coach Barry Odom maintained that the Tigers have to continue to go 1-0 every week and not worry about outside factors. It is clear, however, that Missouri controls its destiny in the SEC East. 
Edited by Garrett Jones | sports@kcou.fm
 
 
 
Missouri defeated Ole Miss 38-27 on Homecoming, but it was not the only thing the Tigers accomplished Saturday night. An announced sellout crowd filled Memorial Stadium, and with Georgia and Florida losing on Saturday, the Tigers are now the leaders of the SEC East. 
Those two feats had not been realized since 2014. 
The crowd was electric from the beginning, and Missouri forced a three and out on Ole Miss’ first drive. However, Johnathon Johnson, who is filling in at returner for the injured Rashaun Floyd, muffed the ensuing punt and Ole Miss recovered it at the 29 yard line. 
Ole Miss took advantage and opened up the scoring with John Rhys Plumlee finding Scottie Phillips in the back of the endzone for a 21-yard TD pass. 
Missouri responded with a Tucker McCann 31-yard field goal, but neither team would score again in the first quarter. 
At the beginning of the second quarter, Kelly Bryant found Tyler Badie on a screen pass for a 17-yard TD. After another field goal from McCann, this time from 48 yards, the Tigers led by just five, 12-7.
With 4:38 left to go in the half, Ole Miss head coach Matt Luke subbed in Matt Corral at QB and he helped lead the Rebels down the field to a first and goal at the 10 yard line. The Missouri defense held for four straight downs and that key goal line stand kept the score 12-7 entering halftime.
The immediate drive out of halftime, Larry Rountree III broke off a 41-yard TD run, and a complete momentum shift took place. From then on, the Tigers led by two scores or more. 
On the next Missouri offensive possession the offensive line gave Bryant plenty of time to setup a beautifully thrown 49-yard wheel route to Tyler Badie. The Tigers would settle on that drive for a 39-yard field goal. 
With just about five minutes remaining in the third quarter, Dawson Downing took a right hand off, TE Albert Okwuegbunam set up a block and Downing broke loose for his first TD of his career. He capped off the 54-yard run by stretching across the goal line with a Rebel defender draped over him.  
Rountree III explained postgame that the whole Missouri sideline went crazy for Downing’s first TD. 
Throughout the second half, the Rebels alternated Plumlee and Corral at QB, and they put up 13 points in the fourth quarter, but in the end it was too little too late.
Plumlee lead the Rebels in rushing with 143 yards and two TDs. Larry Rountree III finished with 126 yards rushing and two TDs for the Tigers.  
Elijah Moore and Johnathon Johnson were the favorite targets of their respective QBs, as they both finished with eight receptions. Moore had 102 yards receiving and one TD, Johnson finished with 110 yards receiving. 
Saturday was the last of five straight home games for the Tigers, and they travel to Nashville next week to take on Vanderbilt to begin a streak of three straight SEC road contests. 
After Vanderbilt, Missouri will journey to Lexington and face Kentucky before a meeting between the hedges with Georgia. 
Head Coach Barry Odom maintained that the Tigers have to continue to go 1-0 every week and not worry about outside factors. It is clear, however, that Missouri controls its destiny in the SEC East.
 

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