Eli Drinkwitz: Missouri 'needed' fake punt to get momentum going vs. Kentucky
Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz had some tricks up his sleeve in the first half of Saturday’s game against Kentucky. Already down 14-0 in the second quarter and facing fourth-and-10 from the Wildcats 39-yard line, the Tigers line up to punt — or so it seemed.
Luke Bauer took the snap and instead of kicking it away, rolled out to pass. Not only did he get enough for the first down, but he found Marquis Johnson downfield as the receiver ran into the end zone to get Missouri on the board for the first time.
That ended up being the first of 17 unanswered points for the Tigers as they capped off the half with a 18-yard touchdown from Brady Cook to Theo Wease to take a 17-14 lead into halftime.
“We needed the fake punt right there and then we responded,” he said. “Our defense has settled in. It’s gonna be a fourth-quarter game, We’ve gotta go get the run fits corrected. We’ve gotta run the ball a lot better in the second half and we’ll see how it goes.”
As Drinkwitz admitted, the Tigers could have been much better on offense. The Tigers managed just 59 yards rushing in the first half and quarterback Brady Cook ended the half with less than 100 yards passing.
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Still, the fake punt seemed to ignite something in Mizzou moving forward. The Tigers went on to score on their very next two drives of the half, beginning with a field goal and closing things out with the touchdown from Wease with 15 seconds remaining.
Not only that, but the defense also stepped up in a big way to force punts on the final three Kentucky drives of the half. That seemed to carry over into the start of the third quarter as the Tigers forced and recovered a fumble on the very first play. That allowed them to take over in field goal range and later increase their lead to 20-14.
In all, that makes it a 20-point swing for Missouri after it gave up touchdowns to Kentucky on the first two drives of the game. If the Tigers can just get their ground game going, they’ll find themselves with a good chance to win this game.
That would snap a two-game losing streak for the Tigers in this series, including a 21-17 home loss from last season. Kentucky has won seven of the past eight meetings between to two schools.