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In a season defined by drudgery, Mizzou’s win over Oklahoma was anything but.
It probably doesn’t need to be said that the 2024 season has been a bit of a slog.
Slogs aren’t always bad. The tortoise beat the rabbit, after all, by slogging through the dirt and mud. But that doesn’t mean they’re ever fun. And even if you dispute the choice of “slog” as a descriptor, you certainly can’t argue the season has been anything close to “fun.” Mizzou’s wins have alternately been heart-palpitation-inducing or mindless blowouts. And the losses? No, actually we don’t have to talk about those anymore.
It’s hard to reckon with how dire things have felt over a Missouri team that was 6-2 coming into a classic rivalry game with an old Big 8 opponent. So, for everyone’s sake, an exciting win like that was needed.
Don’t get me wrong, we still have to acknowledge that the first half happened. The first 30 minutes felt more like an AI-generated animation than a college football game, and that speaks to the quality of both offenses… the defenses are absolved in this matter. Wild misthrows. Turnovers. Unblocked pass rushers. It was a comedy of errors, and Mizzou was on the losing side.
Then, for whatever reason, the Tigers decided to find themselves in the second half. And the football gods decided to bless us with a bit of chaos. As a treat. Drew Pyne, who threw for 26 yards in the first two quarters (god, that felt wrong to type) pulled a Kuzco and found his groove to the tune of 117 yards and three touchdowns, including a beautifully placed fade. Theo Wease, Jr., an afterthought for much of his second season in black-and-gold, logged some key chunk plays and one of the great touchdown catches in Tiger history… against his old team, no less!
Of course, no 2024 game would be complete without some unforced errors. A strange decision to not go for two after going up seven led to a bad Blake Craig PK miss. Then, with the length of the field staring them down, Mizzou coughed up a scoop and score to go down by a touchdown with two minutes left. But, as we’ve come to expect from Eli Drinkwitz teams, the Tigers battled back and found a way to log the W.
Can I tell you something? It was incredibly fun to relive that in my head as I wrote it. In fact, it might be the most fun I’ve had writing about Mizzou this season. Does the fact that it came over Oklahoma enhance the fact? Sure, but I’d have enjoyed a game like this against any quality opponent. You’re telling Mizzou played well, staged a late-game comeback and created their own good luck? Sounds like a five-star experience, where do I sign up again?
I’m sure that once Monday rolls around, or whenever it is that we hear the next Brady Cook injury update, that the anxiety of the 2024 season will start to flood back. But after enduring two-thirds of a season of holding our breaths, sighs of relief and a few gut punches, it felt good to watch the wildness of college football unfold in our own backyard. Even more so, it felt good on the back of a good Mizzou performance.
Maybe all of this good will evaporates if the Tigers don’t pull off a win in Columbia Least next weekend. But maybe this also lift everyone’s spirits — inside and outside the locker room — and spurs yet another down-the-stretch run for an Eli Drinkwitz Mizzou team. We’ll see in a week. For now, I’m going to bask in the glow of a Mizzou win and the memories of a wild game that we’ll all be laughing about for a long time to come.
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