COLUMBIA, Mo. – Chances are if you were at Memorial Stadium Saturday night, you woke up a little groggy, a little sore from all the fourth-quarter bear hugs and high fives.
And if you weren’t there, someday you’ll tell your friends and family that you were. At least for the fourth quarter of Saturday’s 30-23 victory over Oklahoma.
It might be time we start talking about Mizzou Magic. In what’s becoming a tradition on Faurot Field, when the game gets tense, the nerves start to fray and the knuckles turn white, that’s when Eliah Drinkwitz and his band of Tigers dig deep and rediscover their extraordinary will to win. And more often than not, they create another night of magical memories for Mizzou fans. The kind we remember for years to come. In the last 14 months, we’ve seen the Harrison Mevis 61-yard field goal … the fourth-and-forever pass to Luther Burden III to beat Florida … the double OT thriller over Vanderbilt … the Brady Cook hospital game … and, now, the Drew Pyne redemption game. Or was it the Theo Wease Jr. redemption game? Or how about the Zion Young scoop-and-score?
“I’m starting to believe Faurot’s got some real magic in it,” Wease said after his two-touchdown night against his former team. “Honestly, that was crazy. I can’t even put my emotions into words what happened through that two-minute time period. It was crazy.”
Two minutes and 59 seconds of crazy, to be exact, Mr. Wease.
In case it’s all a blur still today, the crazy began with 3:18 left, when Oklahoma running back Taylor Tatum’s pass back to quarterback Jackson Arnold went for a game-tying 18-yard touchdown pass. Tie ball game.
From there, after two promising Nate Noel runs for 15 yards, the ball popped loose from Jamal Roberts and OU’s Billy Bowman Jr. returned it 43 yards for the go-ahead score, silencing the sold-out crowd — other than the crimson pocket in the stadium’s southeast corner. Was Mizzou Magic running on empty?
No retreat. No surrender.
Coming out of the two-minute timeout, Pyne’s first pass was a 28-yard slant to Wease near midfield. Game on. Then, incomplete, incomplete, incomplete.
But … a flag. Defensive holding on OU’s Woodi Washington. Instead of 4th-and-10 from the 47, it’s 1st-and-10 from the 37.
Still, nothing came easy the rest of the way. Sack, incomplete. 3rd-and-16 with 76 seconds left. This time, Pyne connected a 33-yard rainbow to a twisting, leaping Burden along the sideline. 1st-and-goal from the 10.
Here’s where we interrupt things. How clutch is Luther? Through the last two seasons, on combined plays facing 3rd-and-long (10 or more yards) and fourth down, Burden has 13 catches for 195 yards. When in doubt, look for No. 3.
Two plays later, Wease tiptoed in the back corner of the north end zone — the NORTH end zone, ahem — for the game-tying score.
“I knew I was in,” Wease later insisted. “You can see right after the catch I pointed. I knew I was in.”
Then, the strip, scoop and score. Three plays into Oklahoma’s potential game-winning drive, Triston Newson smashed into Arnold for the strip and Young snatched the ball off Faurot for the scoop. Touchdown Tigers. You could probably hear the ensuing roar in Boonville.
“It was sick,” Pyne said of the night’s crowd. “I mean, our fans are awesome. Our fans are so genuine and so awesome. It’s a real college atmosphere. I’m so happy I’m here. After I gave the first down signal, when I heard them screaming, I was like, ‘heck yeah!’ That fan section, I mean our whole stadium is amazing. I’m just thankful. I can say it a million times.”
No matter how we recall this game years from now … whew. That was a night to remember. Here’s what I’ll remember most …
* Wease was once the nation’s No. 3-rated wide receiver prospect — and rated higher than fellow 2019 classmate and now NFL standout receivers George Pickens, Jameson Williams, Puka Nacua and Drake London. Wease spent four years at Oklahoma, but his best days by far have come in black and gold — and he’ll leave Mizzou as one of his era’s most popular and productive Tigers. How clutch is No. 1? Through nine games this season, Wease leads the SEC in third-down receptions (14) and ranks second in third-down receiving yards (211) and third-down conversion catches (11).
* Like he’s done so many times the last couple seasons, Coach Drinkwitz went to bat for his quarterback Saturday night. And this time he came swinging the biggest, baddest 34-inch Warstic Bonesaber out of Coach Kerrick Jackson‘s bat rack over at Taylor Stadium.
“I feel like I’m up here all the time having to defend my quarterback, which is not great,” Drinkwitz said. “But for all the crap (Drew) has taken on Twitter and X for him to come out here, ignore the noise … some of it from y’all in this room … and y’all can raise up and look at me like it’s not you, but it’s OK. He goes out there and delivers in the key moments in the fourth quarter. After fans have been booing, he just goes out there and delivers. And that’s the thing I love about this team, is we love y’all when you’re cheering for us. And when you’re not, we just keep on rolling. We’re gritty. We’re really, really gritty.”
He was just getting started. For two weeks, starting with the three-interception day at Alabama, social media took countless shots at the backup quarterback. To his credit, Drew didn’t notice — “I was off the grid,” he said — but his head coach sure did. And he reminded everyone Saturday night.
“I see (Drew) in practice every day. I’ve seen his game tape. He’s played a lot of college football,” Drinkwitz said. “He’s won a lot of college football games as a starter. And one bad outing doesn’t define a player. We have to quit reacting to every single play … let guys play, man. There’s a lot of quarterbacks in the NFL who throw three interceptions. They don’t go to the bench. You let them play through it. OK? Drew is a competitor. He had a great two weeks of practice. He was in here grinding on tape. We had a game plan that fit exactly who he was. He was excellent: 11-of-19 on third downs. I mean, just excellent, pushing up in the pocket, making big time throws to Luther Burden III.
“There wasn’t a shadow of doubt within this building. Within this building, there’s no doubt. There was no doubt.”
* Saturday’s game marked the first time a Missouri quarterback threw three touchdown passes in a game directly following a three-interception game since 2012. The last guy to do it? Another quarterback who absorbed his share of grief online. That year, Mizzou’s first in the SEC, James Franklin threw four picks in a loss at Florida and bounced back the next week and threw four touchdowns in a four-overtime victory at Tennessee.
* The Letterwinner Club’s tent on the north concourse was packed with star power on Saturday, including a rare appearance from one of the greatest players in the program’s history: Hall of Fame tight end Kellen Winslow. And you can bet No. 83 enjoyed watching No. 87, sophomore tight end Brett Norfleet, snag that fourth-quarter touchdown pass.
* Did “Livin’ on a Prayer” become the new stadium anthem? The best game-day traditions happen organically, and 62,000-strong kept that one going long after the speakers went silent. Hmmmmm ….
* Mizzou remains undefeated against Oklahoma when Gahn McGaffie does something cool at the start of the game. Of course, 14 years ago, McGaffie got the party started against No. 1 Oklahoma when he returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown — still the loudest I’ve heard Memorial Stadium explode in nearly 30 years of covering/attending games in CoMo. On Saturday, we brought Gahn and his family back to Mizzou — his first time back for a game since his playing career —and he held his 1-year-old daughter Mia to soak in another roar from the crowd.
* It’s appropriate we honored the 2014 team on Saturday. That group perfected the art of winning games that weren’t always pretty. Defense, timely offense and sometimes a little Mizzou Magic. The stars from that team were in the house: Markus Golden, Shane Ray, Maty Mauk and many more, including Hall of Fame coach Gary Pinkel and longtime assistants Dave Steckel, Craig Kuligowski and Brian Jones. Most folks wrote off that 2014 Missouri team after early-season losses to Indiana and Georgia — and by season’s end was SEC East and Citrus Bowl champions.
* Mike Kelly’s call from the radio booth was one for the ages. Rest up the pipes, Mike. You’ve got two basketball games this week and football at South Carolina on Saturday.
