There has been an aura of excitement around the Missouri football program for decades that basically boils down to the weird things that are going to happen to this team. That’s only a problem when chaos occurs. In today’s edition of Crazy Southeast Conference batshit football, we discovered a tackle box for a ball player extending from Mizzou’s home in Columbia to St. Louis, more than 100 miles away. It’s a bit of an exaggeration, but only a little bit. And officials called a settlement box half the size of the Show-Me Bang that cost the Tigers their best chance to win.
Missouri’s defense had its lights off for most of Saturday’s SEC East game against Kentucky, with significant qualifying implications. Wildcats quarterback Will Levis is a consensual top 10 pick in next year’s NFL Draft and, worst of all, the third highest rated player in scouting positions behind Bryce Young and CJ Stroud. He looked to be walking ahead of Missouri, a credit to how well the Tigers’ defense has played for most of the season. After the MU defense forced a Kentucky player to return the ball for a late-game foul, the strangest free-kick I have ever seen took place.
The long Kentucky snapper sent the ball past his feet so far away from the Wildcats’ head of ballplayer Colin Goodfellow that he had to frantically sprint more than 20 yards to pick up the ball. Miraculously, he beat any Missouri game for the ball. And there’s a tick to turn around and launch it off to not let the first tigers and target start their next race. When Goodfellow did so cleverly, he was blown away by Will Norris of Missouri, and a penalty flag was almost immediately thrown for being rough with the kicker.
Was the beating brutal? Sure. It’s football too and if Goodfellow is as fragile, Norris has made the right move to knock him out. The ball will be loose and an easy touch will happen the way of the Tigers. But somehow the hitter was a protected player 37 yards from the script boundary. I never knew the tackle box was so big! Next time Josh Allen walks away from the pressure and is about to be fired, why not kick it? It will make it difficult for passersby by this thought.
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Missouri’s offense only scored 17 points and didn’t by itself play well enough to win the game. You can’t win most SEC games going 2-13 on third down. But dammit, MU got screwed on this one. And full disclosure — I used to cover Missouri for three years as the hometown daily newspaper’s beat reporter. I called out Mizzou for anything they did wrong and still would today. This one’s indefensible, and Tigers’ fans have every reason to be pissed.
