Best wins of the Eliah Drinkwitz era: No. 4
I’m reaching the final stretch of my look at the best wins of the Eliah Drinkwitz era as I reach No. 4.
If you want to look back to what I’ve already ranked, here are the stories I’ve already published:
No. 4: Beating Oklahoma, 30-23, in 2024
A rivalry renewed! The first matchup in 13 years! Drew Pyne!
The Tigers hit a bye week after their second loss of the season. And even with the extra week, Missouri was unsure of the availability of starting quarterback Brady Cook.
He had put in so much work after the hospital-game win against Auburn to be ready to start against Alabama. But that game ended very early for him with an unrelated injury. He had hit his hand on multiple helmets following through on throws.
As the game with Oklahoma approached, the water remained muddy. But it seemed less and less likely that Cook would play.
And for the first time in the past 35 games, Cook did not start for the Tigers.
So Missouri went into the game relying on Pyne, who had posted a 6-for-12 day for 42 yards and three interceptions in relief against Alabama.
The start of the game didn’t look much better. Pyne did a much better job of not giving the ball away, though.
His first drive went three-and-out, losing six yards.
The Tigers quickly recovered a fumble, forced by Daylan Carnell, to get the ball back.
The second drive gained 11 yards, but still ended in a punt.
Then Oklahoma ate almost six minutes of clock to run out the first quarter because of a fake punt that went for a 43-yard gain. One of the biggest plays of the day.
Through 15 minutes, Pyne was 3-for-3 for -4 yards.
Oklahoma ended the extended drive with a 40-yard field goal to take the lead early in the second quarter.
Pyne’s third drive was almost entirely on the ground as Marcus Carroll, Jamal Roberts and Pyne combined to run five times for 14 yards. Pyne completed one pass to Marquis Johnson for 5 yards.
He was 4-for-4 and into positive yardage with 1.
But the drive ended, this time not with a punt, but with a fourth-and-1 sweep handoff to Burden, who ran backward trying to get the corner.
Oklahoma once again worked its way into a field goal to go up 6-0 with 7:58 left before halftime.
Starting to come back
The next Missouri drive ended in another punt, but was highlighted by a 10-yard Luther Burden run.
But Luke Bauer’s punt was muffed and the Tigers got a chance to start again on the Oklahoma 28.
Pyne completed his longest pass yet, an out route to Theo Wease to get within the 10, gaining 19 yards.
But three plays later, the Tigers sent out Blake Craig for a 25-yard field goal to cut the lead to 6-3 with 3:26 left before halftime.
Missouri’s defense forced a three-and-out. Then the Tiger offense was able to gain some yards on the ground before punting with 10 seconds left.
But in those final 10 seconds, Jackson Arnold completed a 14-yard pass to Deion Burks to get within range for a 56-yard field goal as time expired.
Oklahoma took a 9-3 lead into the break.
Second half
Neither offense got anything going on its first drive out of halftime. But then the Tigers finally put something together and ended a streak of 20 consecutive drives without a touchdown.
Pyne hit Brett Norfleet on the sideline for 11 yards, then Carroll and Roberts ran three times for 11 yards.
On third-and-6, Pyne fired an in to Burden for a 13-yard game. Two plays later, he hit Burden for 7 more yards and another first down to get to the Oklahoma 10.
The next two plays went backward because of a fumble, but then came Wease.
On third-and-goal from the 13, Pyne tossed a screen to Wease on the right side and he weaved his way through a host of defenders.
For the first time, the Tigers were in front 10-9 with 5:43 left in the third.
That lead lasted into the final break.
The final 10 minutes
Early in the fourth, the Tigers put it together again with the help of a short field caused by another Oklahoma fumble, also caused by Carnell and recovered by Tre’Vez Johnson.
Starting at the 30, the Tigers worked to a third-and-goal from the Oklahoma 5. Pyne came through again, finding Norfleet in the back of the end zone to extend the Tiger lead to 16-9 with 8:47 left to play.
Then came one of the craziest endings I’ve ever seen.
Oklahoma drove 75 yards to score as Taylor Tatum took a sweep handoff and threw it back to Arnold, who worked down the sideline for an 18-yard touchdown, tying the game with 3:18 left to play.
Disaster struck when Roberts lost a fumble. Billy Bowman recovered it at the Tiger 43 and ran it back for a touchdown, putting Oklahoma back in front with 2:00 left to play.
But even without Cook in the game, the Tiger resiliency shined through.
The final 2 minutes
Pyne started a game-tying drive with a post to Wease over the middle for 28 yards. Then on third-and-10, a defensive holding saved the Tiger drive and moved Missouri to the Oklahoma 37.
The Tigers faced a third-and-16 just a few plays later and Pyne tossed one of his best passes of the night. He hit Burden where only he could catch it along the sideline for a 33-yard gain, getting the Tigers to the OU 10.
Then two plays later, he bested that pass with a throw to Wease floated just over the hands of an OU defender along the sideline as Wease made a perfect catch to tie the game with 1:04 left to play against his former team.
Oklahoma tried to retake the lead, but with 40 seconds left, Arnold dropped back, took a couple of steps to his right and looked into the flat.
But as he brought his arm back to throw, Triston Newson rocked him, knocking the ball loose and allowing Zion Young to recover the ball and score a 17-yard fumble return touchdown to put the Tigers in front by the final margin with 19 seconds left. It was Oklahoma’s sixth fumble of the game and Missouri’s fourth fumble recovery.
Stats
The Tiger defense did everyting it needed to, holding Arnold to 74 passing yards, while keeping Oklahoma at 122 rushing yards.
Pyne did his job in the end, completing 14-of-27 passes for 143 yards and three touchdowns. Roberts led the rushing game with 13 attempts for 54 yards, while Noel had 31 yards and Carroll had 25.
Wease caught four passes for 70 yards and two touchdowns against the team he spent the first three years of his college career with, while Burden had five catches for 55 yards against the team he originally committed to in high school.
The Tigers had rebounded from their second lost and beat Oklahoma in a rivalry renewed. Cook returned the next week and would play the rest of the season, meaning Pyne ended his tenure in Columbia with a comeback win and a final pass that was perfectly placed to Wease for a touchdown.
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