Missouri stunned No. 15 Kansas State with a 61-yard field goal by Harrison Mevis as time expired.
The kick came after a chaotic ending that forced Mevis to kick a field goal that was five yards longer than it should have been. Missouri was called for a delay of game with six seconds left after it apparently thought a timeout had been called after the Tigers spiked the ball on first down. Missouri then had a pass batted down at the line of scrimmage on second down before bringing Mevis on to attempt the last-ditch kick to avoid overtime.
He drilled the field goal with room to spare too.
Confusion reigned after the kick too. A yellow t-shirt was thrown from the stands as the ball was in the air and prompted the SEC Network’s production crew to flash that a flag had been thrown on the bottom of the screen. The presence of the shirt even made officials confer on the field to make sure there was no penalty as fans stormed the midfield logo.
Both quarterbacks dealt with injuries
Both Missouri QB Brady Cook and Kansas State QB Will Howard were not at 100% in the second half. Cook suffered a right knee injury when he rolled his ankle at the end of the first half while Howard was limping for much of the second half.
Missouri’s offense stagnated in the second half as Cook was banged up. The Tigers’ first six drives of the second half resulted in a field goal and five punts before Luther Burden III’s 26-yard catch-and-run gave Missouri a three-point lead with just over eight minutes to go.
Kansas State tied the game with 5:25 to go and had a chance to win the game itself. But the Wildcats had to punt after a false start at midfield and gave the ball back to the Tigers with 1:25 to go.
Missouri ran 10 plays in the final 85 seconds as the game looked destined for overtime after the incredible game mismanagement by Eli Drinkwitz and his coaching staff. The Tigers took their last timeout after getting a first down with 35 seconds to go. It was an odd spot for the timeout given the clock stops on first downs inside the final two minutes. And then it was exceptionally bizarre for Missouri to think a timeout had been taken after Cook spiked the ball with six seconds to go.
Burden finished the game with seven catches for 114 yards and two TDs while Cook was 23-of-35 passing for 356 yards. Howard was 25-of-39 passing for 270 yards and three TDs along with a first-half interception.
