Mizzou football’s Music City Bowl victory was emblematic of the program’s recent ascent. However, that wasn’t just limited to the happenings on the field.
In several ways, Mizzou’s 27-24 win over Iowa in the Music City Bowl was a microcosm of its entire season.
For much of the game, the Tigers weren’t as sound as the music that blared from across the Cumberland River. Although they remained within striking distance, they couldn’t overtake their regional peers.
But just like so many other games since 2023, Mizzou figured it out in the home stretch; a 10-point Hawkeye deficit was erased, and when Cook took a knee with 63 seconds left, Mizzou had sealed another victory in which they looked down and out, only for the Tigers to find a way to win. Once again, they mustered up the same aura from the Tigers of the 1970s that kept winning games where the odds were stacked against them.
After the game, head coach Eli Drinkwitz read a quote from philosopher Henry David Throreau that accurately represented one of the strongest traits of his team.
“All endeavor calls for the ability to tramp the last mile, shape the last plan, endure the last hours toil,” Thoreau said. “The fight to the finish spirit is the one characteristic we must possess if we are to face the future as finishers.”
Few teams in college football have been able to finish as well as Mizzou has over the past two seasons. The Tigers are 10-1 in one-possession games since 2023 — they were 6-1 this season and 4-0 last season.
Monday was yet another example of what made Mizzou, well, Mizzou: The Tigers will endure hardship for most of a contest, then come up big when the stakes are the highest. That was especially true of individual players and position groups.
Toriano Pride Jr. had struggled at numerous points in the season, which included a touchdown to Vanderbilt freshman wide receiver Joseph McVay where he ran right past Pride. Not only was it Pride’s first interception since Week 1, but it was just Mizzou’s third since Week 4. MU finished the season with just seven interceptions, which tied for the 10th-fewest of any Power 4 team and tied for 107th in the nation. However, just when his team needed a takeaway the most, Pride came away with one, ultimately providing a spark that led to a victorious fire.
The final frame’s events also set the stage for Blake Craig, who was also plagued with inconsistencies this season. The freshman was 7/8 from 20-29 yards and 6/9 from 50+ yards. However, Craig was a putrid 1/7 from 40-49 yards. His 14.3% clip was by far the worst of any collegiate kicker with at least five attempts from that range; UMass’ Jacob Lurie was the next-worst at 3/8 (37.5%). Craig had also missed at least two field goals in a game three times this season, including three misses against Vanderbilt.
After Pride’s interception, Craig boomed a 51-yard field goal to tie the game at 24, breaking a Music City Bowl record for the longest field goal. Later in the fourth quarter, Craig brought an even bigger boom, breaking his own record with a go-ahead 56-yard kick that would prove to be the game-winner.
On offense, the aerial attack had taken a step back from last season. Part of it had to do with Cook dealing with injuries for much of the season, but even when he was healthy, the Tigers lacked a lot of the explosion that made them so dangerous over the air in 2023. They were also without their top three pass catchers heading into Nashville, (Luther Burden III, Mookie Cooper, Brett Norfleet). Theo Wease Jr., who registered five catches for 75 yards and a touchdown, exited the game late in the first half with an upper-body injury. So naturally, Cook threw for a season-high 287 yards and two touchdowns. 122 of those yards and seven of those completions went to Marquis Johnson, both of which were career-highs.
In a more game-specific sense, Iowa’s offensive line was dominating. Running backs Kamari Moulton and Jaziun Patterson, who were filling in for star opt-out Kaleb Johnson, combined for 170 rushing yards on just 23 carries. For much of the afternoon, quarterback Brendan Sullivan was kept upright on passing plays. Iowa’s usually-mediocre offense registered 7.5 yards per play in the first half, a number the Hawkeyes hadn’t registered over a full game since Sept. 28, 2019.
But of course, when the lights were the brightest, the Tigers had their shiniest moment of the game. Down by three with just under 90 seconds left, Iowa faced a fourth-and-one from Mizzou’s 46-yard line. Sullivan tried a quarterback sneak. However, Corey Flagg Jr. timed the snap perfectly, leaping over the line like Troy Polamalu. He got a piece of Sullivan before the Iowa quarterback was stonewalled by Daylan Carnell, Zion Young and Nicholas DeLoach for a game-sealing fourth-down stop. Since 2020, Iowa was 32-0 when scoring at least 21 points, and since 2015, the Hawkeyes were 78-4 when leading by at least eight points at any point in the game, per David Eickholt. Those records moved to 32-1 and 78-5, respectively.
On the field, the brotherhood that players and coaches have attributed to much of the team’s success over the past couple of seasons spilled into the postgame press conference, which was conducted differently than what MU is used to. At Mizzou, only one player or coach talks at a time. At Nissan Stadium, however, Drinkwitz was joined by four of his players: Cook and Walker Jr. sat to his right, while Craig and Johnson sat to his left.
This wasn’t the first time Drinkwitz had been joined alongside multiple players following a victory — after MU’s 14-3 win over Ohio State in last year’s Cotton Bowl, Cook and Walker sat to the left of Drinkwitz as he fielded questions from reporters.
But this time was different. Many of the players from last year’s team were returning for 2024; now, many of the players that helped take the program to new heights are departing. Cook, Walker Jr., Flagg Jr., Burden III, Wease Jr., Cooper, Kristian Williams, Marcus Bryant, Armand Membou, Nate Noel, Marcus Carroll, Mekhi Miller, Joseph Charleston, Sidney Williams, Cam’Ron Johnson, Drake Heismeyer and Luke Bauer all played their final collegiate games with Mizzou in Nashville.
This would also be the final time Cook, Walker Jr. and Drinkwitz could share a moment together in-uniform. The brotherhood that’d been formed over the past few seasons was visible from the most humanity-centric standpoint after the Music City Bowl.
Vanilla answers weren’t uncommon from Drinkwitz, but he seemed a tad jollier than usual. One was a mention of Tombstone, a 1993 Western film starring Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer. Drinkwitz had used movies in the context of Mizzou football before, like Apollo 13 and 12 Strong. This time, it was a playful comment on Cook, who suffered slight re-aggravation of an ankle injury that’d hampered him for much of the season. Per usual, however, Cook overcame the pain and led the Tigers to victory.
“Have you ever seen the movie Tombstone when Doc Holliday is laying and acting all sick, and then he gets up, and he’s like, “Yeah, I may not have been quite as injured as I appeared,” Drinkwitz said. “That’s pretty much Brady’s entire story.”
Laughs ensued, and the presser continued. When asked about where the ability to finish games comes from, Drinkwitz took out his phone (very uncommon) and read the Thoreau quote word-for-word.
“It’s just something I think speaks to us,” Drinkwitz said.
The presser continued as Drinkwitz, Cook and Walker Jr. responded to questions. Drinkwitz nodded along while his players spoke, as their answers exuded many of the core values that Drinkwitz had helped instill within them. That was until Craig, who was asked how he stays mentally strong during pressure situations, spoke.
“To be honest, I black out when I go out for kicks,” Craig said, to which Drinkwitz responded “Well, that explains a lot.” More laughs ensued, which included Johnson unleashing a mile-wide smile upon the world.
Missouri Tigers on SI
However, Cook wasn’t the only one to receive a friendly shot from his head coach. Following Cook complimenting Johnson, Drinkwitz took the microphone and turned to the speedy sophomore receiver, who’d stayed down on the field after taking a hard hit himself during the game.
“After every play, you don’t have to act like you’re injured,” Drinkwitz said as each player, including Johnson, smiled.
The smiles then took a sabbatical, as stronger emotions began to hit. During last year’s Cotton Bowl, Darius Robinson fought through a groin injury and played every snap on defense. Jaylon Carlies bloodied his nose and kept playing. Kris Abrams-Draine separated his shoulder; even when Drinkwitz told him he was done for the game, Abrams-Draine said “the hell I am!” and returned to action.
Walker Jr., like Robinson, was injured entering the postseason, which wasn’t revealed until Drinkwitz told reporters after the game.
“I thought he wouldn’t play. In fact, I told him if it was my son, I wouldn’t let him play,” Drinkwitz said. “But he said “no, I want to play, and we’ll get it fixed afterwards’.”
“You just don’t have that this much anymore.”
Even through injury, Walker Jr. played exceptionally, tallying two sacks of Sullivan. He finished the season with 9.5, the most by a Mizzou player since Shane Ray registered 14.5 in 2014. Drinkwitz’s appreciation for Walker’s efforts proved emotional in front of microphones.
“I love you, buddy,” Drinkwitz said.
“Love you too, coach,” Walker responded.
The five guys in front of microphones seemed to endure the stages of a friend group about to split apart. On the left was the present-turned-past in Cook and Walker, and the right was the future-turned-present. They laughed. They joked. They ragged on each other out of love. Then, as the end beckoned, stronger, more somber emotions appeared. A desire to make the moment last longer and wanting more time with the group strengthened when Drinkwitz was asked on what a future without Cook looked like to him.
“Honestly, I figured the NCAA would just grant everybody eligibility, so I’ve been kind of kicking it down the road a little bit,” Drinkwitz said. “I keep hoping that there’s some sort of magic that will happen.”
Unfortunately for Drinkwitz, the same magic that his team produced so much on the field doesn’t carry over to that extent in eligibility. Cook has exhausted all of his and will pursue a professional football career. A little while back, Drinkwitz said that he struggled envisioning a world without Cook quarterbacking Mizzou. As that world will actualize in the ensuing months, Drinkwitz entailed a simple sense of thankfulness for all that the St. Louis native has done for the school he grew up rooting for.
“We talked about core value number four is, “Enjoy the journey,” and it’s been a hell of a journey,” Drinkwitz said. “I’ll always be indebted to (Cook) for what he’s done for my family and what he’s done for this program.”
“But, you know, journeys aren’t always meant to be together forever.”
The guys took a few more questions. Drinkwitz ended the presser by mentioning the irony of Cook’s first and last starts: in his first start, the 2021 Armed Forces Bowl against Army, Cook lead a two-minute drill to near-perfection. He capped off the drive with a bullet to Keke Chism in the back of the end zone for a touchdown to put the Tigers up by one with 71 seconds left in regulation. However, Cook’s two-point pass went over the head of a wide-open Dawson Downing, and Army marched down the field, ultimately winning the game on a buzzer-beating field goal. This time, Cook led the Tigers into field goal range, where Craig booted the go-ahead 56-yard field goal. Unlike 2021, Mizzou’s defense got a stop that clinched a win.
On the way out, Johnny Walker Jr. wished a happy birthday to LeBron James, to which Johnson proclaimed “You just ruined the whole press conference!”. As more laughs filled the room, the press conference had turned out to be the opposite of ruined. With two program cornerstones leaving the room, both of whom were at Mizzou for five seasons, their send-off was an emotion-filled celebration of all that’d been built since their first years in 2020.
Soon, a new era of Mizzou football will commence. As stated previously, many of the players who helped carry the Tigers out of mediocrity will be gone, some of whom will be playing football professionally. But for about 20 minutes, Drinkwitz, Cook, Walker Jr., Craig and Johnson, got to enjoy one last moment together as teammates.
“What’s that old, weird saying, don’t cry because it…don’t cry because you’re sad, be excited that it happened, or something like that?” Drinkwitz said. “I’m just fortunate that it happened.”