Recurring problems hurt Mizzou football in season-first loss, missed chance vs. LSU

Missouri defensive end Darius Robinson said the locker room was dead silent.

What a difference to the scene that had greeted Mizzou football on Faurot Field in Columbia just a few hours earlier Saturday, when a 62,621-strong crowd packed the house to see Missouri’s first unbeaten team in October in a decade.

Missouri roared out of the gates.

Then LSU broke contain, buoyed by a barrage of Mizzou mistakes.

No. 21-ranked Missouri (5-1, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) lost its first game of the season, falling 49-39 to No. 23 LSU (4-2, 3-1) after a scintillating second-half showing from the visitors.

But Mizzou might see it a little differently.

Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz said his team had been “living dangerously.”

That caught up to Mizzou against the high-flying LSU Tigers and their electric quarterback, Jayden Daniels.

“Third downs, turnovers, penalties,” Drinkwitz said. “We’re halfway through the season, everybody's got to take a gut check and say, ‘OK, this occurred, this was what caused us to lose, so how do we go back in and fix it?’ And you got to take the disappointment, take your pride and ego out of it and say, ‘OK, how do I come back and improve?’”

Slotted in that answer lies Saturday’s problem.

LSU caught ablaze in the second half, scoring 32 points. But there wasn’t a singular root problem causing the hosts to fritter away a once 15-point lead.

Drinkwitz has long lambasted the Tigers’ struggles in coverage this season. Those problems reared again, as Daniels dropped a dime on top of Brian Thomas Jr. midway through the third quarter to give LSU its first lead.

The pass was perfect, but it didn’t need to be. Thomas was wide open. Just like Malik Nabers was on the go-ahead score late in the fourth quarter.

Even Missouri’s defensive strengths were slashed.

MU entered the game with the No. 8-ranked rush defense in the FBS, allowing less than 80 yards on the ground per game.

Daniels, who finished the game with 259 passing yards and just six incompletions, was untouchable with his legs, running riot almost every time LSU ran a draw, eventually rushing for 130 yards on 15 carries. Only LSU running back Logan Diggs had more, totaling 134 yards.

“He’s special,” Robinson said.

Missouri only managed one QB hurry and one sack on Daniels. The Tigers didn’t force a turnover despite two LSU fumbles.

And then, topping the list of MU’s woes, there were the penalties.

There were two disconcerting signal calls against Missouri. Drinkwitz noted the officiating crew had a penchant for the obscure call. Robinson said he didn’t know what that call meant.

All in all, no one quick fix.

“It goes from one thing to the next,” Drinkwitz said. “You know, we had a couple of zero pressures there where we had a free rusher that ultimately doesn't make the tackle in the first half. And then in the second half, we weren't able to force (Daniels) into throwing the ball; we gave up nearly 300 yards in the run game. So we’ll have to go back and look and strip it back down to zero and build it back up.”

To boot, MU defensive end Johnny Walker Jr. was ejected for a pair of unsportsmanlike conduct penalties.

“That's disappointing,” Drinkwitz said. “Not representative of the way we want to play this game.”

The offense was productive, but it wasn’t pristine, either. In the second quarter, MU signal caller Brady Cook threw his first pick in 366 pass attempts, ending his SEC-record-breaking streak. He then threw another as Mizzou sought a miracle drive from inside its own 10 with 45 seconds remaining, which LSU safety Major Burns — no kidding — returned to the end zone for the stadium-emptying dagger.

Cook also had a pair of fumbles, including on the Tigers’ previous drive, sullying an otherwise stellar day that ended with two touchdowns and a career-best 395 passing yards.

Down three points and in LSU territory, Mizzou had a second and 1 before starting center Connor Tollison committed a false start. Then Cook was sacked, and he let the ball loose. It turned and bobbled so far that Missouri faced a fourth and 32, which resulted in a turnover on downs.

After the coughed-up lead, the emptying stadium, the silent locker room and the first notch in the loss column, Robinson said he didn’t say much in the locker room. He’s a team captain, but he said it’s hard to find any positives fresh off defeat.

“It hurts,” he said.

But Drinkwitz could find one silver lining.

“The only thing I told our team was, ‘every team that plays in the (SEC) East, we still play,’” Drinkwitz said. “So we control our own future. We control our own resolve and what we're trying to accomplish this year.

“But we’ve got to go in there and fix some stuff.”

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Recurring problems hurt Mizzou in season-first loss, missed chance vs. LSU