They admirably dug out of the hole at Carolina, but it could have been a much different end-of-game situation with a stronger first half performance
Some quick observations from week number eight of the college football season, served up in four quarter style. Legal Disclaimer: these views are my own and may be really dumb.
1st Quarter: Mizzou – Tigers officially have a first-half problem
Mizzou’s heartbreaking 34-30 loss at South Carolina has been diagnosed every way to Sunday on Rock M Nation, and what a shame the Tigers couldn’t hold on for what would have been a defining win after coming from behind twice to take the lead in the fourth quarter.
The defense’s inability to hold the lead late obviously stands out, but to me the game was lost in the first half as the Tigers couldn’t close out drives on offense, and had too many lapses in the secondary that allowed Carolina to post a 21-6 halftime lead.
Mizzou’s offense showed signs of life with Brady Cook returning to the field, but two promising first-quarter drives stalled out and they had to settle for field goals. Another wasted opportunity came late in the second quarter after a Gamecock turnover when the Tigers took over at the SC 29-yardline, only to go three-and-out and miss a field goal.
Still, Mizzou trailed only 7-6 at that point, and with just 4:31 left in the half, seemed in great shape. But the Gamecocks managed a touchdown drive that took only 2:34 off the clock. A poor ensuing series by the Tiger offense led to a three-and-out that used only :19 seconds of clock time.
Trailing 14-6, Mizzou needed their defense to stand tall, but it wasn’t to be as the Gamecocks, led by their dynamic QB LaNorris Sellers, marched 77 yards in just :54 seconds to claim a 21-6 halftime lead. Yes, the Tigers overcame that deficit with inspired play on both sides of the ball after half, but that late lapse in the second quarter proved costly in the eventual four-point defeat that knocked Mizzou out of playoff contention.
So, what’s going on with Mizzou’s sluggish starts of late? In its six SEC games this season, Mizzou has been outscored a combined 83-22 in the first half. That’s an average deficit of 14-3 at halftime.
Here’s the halftime scores of Mizzou’s SEC games in 2024:
- Vanderbilt 13, Mizzou 10
- Texas A&M 24, Mizzou 0
- Auburn 3, Mizzou 3
- Alabama 13, Mizzou 0
- Oklahoma 9, Mizzou 3
- South Carolina 21, Mizzou 6
Kudos to the Tigers for finding a way to gut out comeback wins over Vanderbilt, Auburn and Oklahoma, but that style of play is just putting too much pressure on the team’s second-half performance. It came home to roost at Carolina this time. Sorry, bad pun there.
Mizzou is about a touchdown favorite this Saturday at Mississippi State, but they’d be well-served to not be sluggish out of the gate, because the Bulldogs can score points and potentially put the Tigers in position of having to play from behind once again.
2nd Quarter: SEC – Texas, Texas A&M, Alabama favorites for Atlanta?
With just two weeks left in the regular season, the SEC standings are still a bit jumbled. With Mizzou and LSU dropping their third league games last week, we’re down to six teams with a mathematical chance of reaching the SEC Championship Game (Dec. 7th in Atlanta) – where the winner gets an automatic bid into the playoffs.
Here’s a look at those top contenders and what they have left on the schedule:
Texas A&M 5-1 Remaining: @AUB; TEX
Texas 5-1 Remaining: KY; @A&M
Georgia 6-2 Remaining: UMass; Ga. Tech
Tennessee 5-2 Remaining: UTEP; @VAN
Alabama 4-2 Remaining: @OKLA; AUB
Ole Miss 4-2 Remaining: @FLA; MISS ST.
Barring any upsets this Saturday – and I’m not saying there won’t be – then we’ll head into Thanksgiving Week knowing that the winner of the Texas-Texas A&M game in College Station on Nov. 30th will be in with a 7-1 record. The loser will drop to 6-2 and be in the position of hoping to win a convoluted tiebreaker system with as many as four other teams who could also be 6-2.
Georgia has already exhausted its SEC schedule and stands as the “leader in the clubhouse” at 6-2. But they don’t control their destiny to reach Atlanta, as the Bulldogs will likely need some help in these last two weeks.
Alabama appears to be in the drivers seat for the second spot in the SEC title game, provided the Crimson Tide win out to finish 6-2. According to this website that has a game predictor, ‘Bama would win most all tiebreaker scenarios with anyone else in this grouping who finished 6-2 – as long as there were more than two teams tied with that same record.
If you need to read up on the league tiebreakers, you can find the official SEC football tiebreaker procedures at this link.
3rd Quarter: National – Chaos happened, and Mizzou couldn’t capitalize
Another reason why Mizzou’s defeat at South Carolina was so hard to swallow was because a win would have kept the Tigers in the conversation for a playoff bid. It would have been a longshot, granted, but there was enough chaos that took place elsewhere in the country this past weekend that a Mizzou win would have left them somewhere in the 16-18 spot in the rankings perhaps, and that would have given them a shot in theory.
#6 BYU lost to some crappy team, giving the Cougars their first loss of the season and likely knocking them low enough in the upcoming rankings that the Big 12 Conference is probably a one-bidleague.
#12 Georgia handled #7 Tennessee, and while that’s not really considered chaotic, it does bump the Volunteers onto the bubble for an at-large bid, while the Bulldogs further strengthened their case as one of the top two-loss teams.
#16 Kansas State, #18 Washington State and #19 Louisville were all essentially eliminated from at-large bid possibilities with troubling losses to Arizona State, New Mexico and Stanford, respectively.
4th Quarter: Dealer’s Choice – Late half defense dooms Tigers at Carolina
Listen, it was a harsh loss to deal with for Tiger fans on Saturday. We were all pleased with how the team played overall, and honestly, they probably gained more respect nationally in a losing effort than they had all season long in any game they’ve won. This was frankly the type of team most of us thought we’d see this season – explosive offensively, and rebuilding defensively. That formula was supposed to lead to a lot of shootout-type games that we saw play out on Saturday. The type of games that are fun to watch, while agonizing all at the same time.
That being said, you can point to a lot of reasons why Mizzou fell just short on Saturday. On offense, going just 1-of-9 on third downs is a leading culprit in the loss. Having to settle for three first half field goal tries when getting deep into Carolina territory was a huge factor that will get you beat more often than not against a quality opponent.
But what was with Mizzou’s defensive lapses in late-half situations?
In the second quarter, Carolina led 14-6 and got the ball at its own 23-yardline with only 1:27 left to play. In true knife-through-hot-butter fashion, the Cocks went the distance in just five snaps, needing only :54 seconds to turn a one-score game into a 21-6 advantage.
Later, with the game on the line, and after Mizzou took a dramatic 30-27 lead, Carolina got the ball at their 30-yardline after the kickoff with only 1:10 remaining. This time they took only six plays to cover 70 yards and scored the game winner with :15 seconds remaining – capping a drive that needed only :47 seconds.
I don’t know if Corey Batoon’s style was too aggressive or too conservative in those situations (maybe a random mix of both?), but it sure didn’t work on Saturday in the other Columbia. The first instance was deflating for a Tiger team that had scratched and clawed to keep itself within shouting distance of South Carolina going into halftime. The second instance was a death blow to the game and to Mizzou’s playoff hopes.
And that was a shame to see, as Batoon’s defense has surpassed most everyone’s expectations coming into the year, and has developed into a solid, dependable unit. I went back and looked at end of half situations in SEC play, and Mizzou’s defense hasn’t had any breakdowns like this in those situations prior to Carolina. Auburn and Oklahoma both got long field goals at the halftime gun, but both of those came on short fields, after offensive and special teams miscues.
It probably breaks down to something as simple as: sometimes the other guys just make plays. Let’s hope the Tigers can make more plays than Mississippi State this week.