Mizzou falls to Texas in Texas Bowl
Mizzou lost the Texas Bowl by a final of 33-16 in its first trip to a bowl game in three years.
Despite Mizzou finishing with 390 yards of offense to the 280 by the Longhorns, Mizzou’s four turnovers were costly.
ABC 17 Sports Director Andrew Kauffman caught up with the Tigers after the game.
Drew Lock finished 18 for 34 passing with 269 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Mizzou struggled on the ground totaling just 3.8 yards per carry on 33 carries. Damarea Crockett did not play despite warming up in pads.
Texas jumped out to an early lead off of three costly penalties for the Tigers totaling 35 yards. The Longhorns ran just five plays for 75 yards to take a 7-0 lead with 13:28 left in the first quarter.
Texas continued to dominate the first quarter driving down the field on its next drive. Shane Buechele completed a seven-yard pass for the touchdown to John Burt to make it 14-0 Longhorns.
Mizzou’s first first down did not come until 14 minutes into the first quarter.
The Tigers’ offense found some life in the second quarter off of good field position starting Mizzou’s drive at midfield. Drew Lock found J’Mon Moore on a pair of passes for 34 yards. That helped set up a four-yard rush by Ish Witter into the end zone cutting the deficit to 14-7 with 12:10 left in the first half.
After another stop by the Mizzou defense, the Tigers got the ball back down seven. Ish Witter fumbled, and Texas’s Anthony Wheeler scooped the ball up. Wheeler returned the fumble to the end zone giving Texas a 14-point lead again with under eight minutes left in the first half.
Turnovers continued to doom Mizzou early as Albert Okwuegbunam fumbled as he reached for a first down giving Texas the ball back on Mizzou’s next drive.
The Tigers were 0-8 on third down in the first half and trailed 21-7.
Out of the second half, Mizzou’s high-powered offense returned as Lock connected with Johnathon Johnson on a 79-yard for a touchdown. The touchdown ties the longest completion in Texas Bowl history. A bad snap caused a failed conversion on the point after making it 21-13 Texas early in the third quarter.
Mizzou then added a field goal late in the third quarter to trail just 21-16 with 2:44 left in the third quarter.
Costly mistakes continued to haunt the Tigers later in the third quarter. A bad snap by Trystan Castillo went past Lock into the end zone for a safety to make it 23-16 Texas with 1:10 left in the quarter.
The Longhorns then tacked on another field goal to start the 4th quarter making it 26-16 Texas.
Mizzou’s hopes officially ran out as Drew Lock threw an interception with just over three minutes to play as the Tigers went on to lose 33-16.
