Aggies Lose To Missouri
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COLLEGE STATION, Texas — When it’s rainy and cold, perhaps the run really is the best offensive game plan.
Missouri proved that Saturday night in the second half while pulling away from No. 24 Texas A&M 34-27 in front of an announced crowd of 104,756 at Kyle Field.
With rain and temperatures hovering in the high 40s, the Tigers utilized the legs of tailback Russell Hansbrough, who rushed for 199 yards, including 149 in a smashing third quarter.
Missouri tailback Marcus Murphy, who rotated with Hansbrough, rushed for 88 yards. Each tailback had 20 carries. Third-teamer Ish Witter scored the Tigers’ final touchdown to complete a 28-point third quarter.
The victory allowed the Tigers (8-2, 5-1) to stay atop the SEC East Division standings. They need to finish the season with wins over Tennessee and Arkansas to reach the SEC championship game for the second straight year.
A&M, which thought it had its season back on track after an upset of Auburn last week, fell to 7-4 and 3-4 in SEC play. The Aggies have a bye week, then will finish the regular season against LSU on Thanksgiving night.
The Aggies had one final chance to tie the score with just under three minutes to go. But Mizzou’s defense held on a fourth-and-1 play from the Tigers 2. A&M freshman quarterback Kyle Allen rolled to his right and threw a screen pass to tight end Cam Clear, who was just behind the middle of the A&M offensive line. But the Missouri defense tackled the
6-foot-6, 277-pound Clear, a little-used target, for a 1-yard loss.
“That was a play we’d practiced a lot,” A&M coach Kevin Sumlin said. “They made a play. I thought Cam would be big enough … to at least get the first down if not the touchdown.”
The Tigers, needing only one third-down conversion, ran out the clock, with quarterback Maty Mauk taking a knee on the final two plays.
The damage was done in the third quarter when Mizzou was able to gash the ailing A&M defense. When healthy, the Aggies ranked only 13th out of 14 SEC teams in total defense. They were missing two starters from their line coming into the game and linebacker Josh Walker broke his foot in the second quarter.
Mizzou coach Gary Pinkel said he told the Tigers at halftime to “stick to it” and run the same plays as the first two quarters.
“Russell Hansbrough did a lot of good things,” Pinkel said. “Maty probably had his best day.”
Down 13-6 at half, the Tigers ran for 202 yards in the third quarter on only 14 carries. Hansbrough had touchdown runs of 49 and 45 yards on consecutive drives to tie the score at 20, then give Missouri the lead at 27-20. On its first drive of the second half, Hansbrough’s 33-yard run set up Mauk’s 16-yard touchdown pass to receiver Darius White.
Hansbrough’s third-quarter performance alone was more than he’d ever gained in a game during his career.
Sumlin said the injuries “had to effect us some, but we needed other players this time of the year who had to step up and play.”
Mauk had another take.
“We came out here and we executed,” he said. “That’s what you have to do.”
