Yahoo Autos Mizzou football beats Arkansas 29-24, earns a bowl berth: Final score and recap
Missouri football is at the final stop. Win against Arkansas, and get a bowl game. Lose, and hope outside circumstances land the Tigers a bowl game.
Follow along as Missouri hosts Arkansas in the Battle Line Rivalry.
FINAL: Mizzou 29, Arkansas 24
The Tigers are going bowling.
Arkansas tack on a field goal
After driving down to the MU two, Arkansas couldn't punch it in.
Missouri's defense held on a terrific goal-line stand, and Arkansas opted to kick. That cuts the Tigers' lead to just two with 12:40 left.
End of the third: Mizzou 29, Arkansas 24
Arkansas answers with a field goal
Missouri's eight-point lead was cut to five again.
A third-down stop forced a Razorback 46-yard field goal, cutting the TIgers' lead to 29-24 late in the third quarter. MU had a chance to get off the field, but Ennis Rakestraw couldn't recover an Arkansas fumble before it bounded out of bounds.
A pick leads to a score
There's the defense.
Daylan Carnell, who seemingly makes at least one game-changing play every game, intercepted Jefferson to set MU's offense up deep in Arkansas territory.
MU was only able to muster a field goal on the pick, as Schrader's 17-yard touchdown run was negated by a holding penalty. Mevis nailed a 29-yard field goal.
Missouri comes out of the half firing
After a first half where Cook has run all over Arkansas, he came out chucking to start the second half.
Cook hit Luthern Burden on a short toss, and Burden did the rest. He made one man miss and scored on a 23-yard touchdown. MU regains the lead 26-21.
HALFTIME: Arkansas 21, Mizzou 20
Arkansas takes the lead
Missouri's drives ending in field goals have come back to bite the Tigers.
Arkansas takes a 21-20 lead with 1:35 left in the half after Jefferson hit Sanders on a wide, wide-open wheel route. Cook has a two-minute drill to work with.
Cook's legs are moving Mizzou
Brady Cook is up to a career-high 116 rushing yards in the second quarter. His previous career-high in rushing yards was 106.
That set MU up for a 27-yard Harrison Mevis field goal. That went through. It's 20-14.
Arkansas responds
The Hogs did stay down for long. The Tigers defense sacked KJ Jefferson twice, but couldn't get off the field.
Jefferson showed his arm strength on third and eight, as he tossed a pass to Matt Landers for a 27-yard touchdown. MU's all-out blitz didn't get home. It's 17-14.
Brady Cook puts Mizzou up two scores
Opening the second period, Brady Cook ran for a nine-yard touchdown run. The Tigers are up 17-7 four seconds into the second.
That nine-yard run gives Missouri 200 total yards for the game so far.
End of the first quarter: Mizzou 10, Arkansas 7
The early shootout is on
Missouri gets the lead right back.
A Cody Schrader touchdown gives Missouri the lead at 10-7. The offense has given Mookie Cooper the ball three times, and he's produced two first downs.
Arkansas answers with Jefferson
After earning a quick lead, Arkansas punched back at MU's defense.
A nine-play, 75-yard drive ended when KJ Jefferson strolled into the end zone to put the Razorbacks up 7-3. Missouri's offense might need to respond often.
Mizzou strikes first
Harrison Mevis nailed a 41-yard field goal. The Tigers draw first blood.
Missouri drove into Arkansas territory with a 27-yard rush on the first play from scrimmage. Mookie Cooper went further with a 15-yard reception.
This came after a three-and-out from MU's defense, punctuated with a sack by Isaiah McGuire.
Tigers are missing a defensive starter
Not dressed for Saturday's game is Joseph Charleston, the starting safety alongside JC Carlies and Martez Manuel. He was injured against New Mexico State.
Dressed for the game are Barrett Banister and Ty'Ron Hopper, who were also injured last Saturday.
Bowl eligibility is on the line for Mizzou in the Battle Line Rivalry vs. Arkansas
It's come down to this.
Missouri is sitting at five wins. It needs six to clinch a bowl berth. There is one game remaining in the regular season. It comes down to Arkansas.
The 2021 edition of the Battle Line Rivalry is what decides Missouri's immediate future. Will the Tigers have a guaranteed bowl game? Or will they need to depend on their APR (academic progress rate) to earn them a postseason?
This is a very simple way of saying MU controls its own destiny. Eli Drinkwitz has the chance to earn a third-straight bowl berth with a win. That win would mean another roller-coaster season ends with a 6-6 record.
It would be, strangely, a sign of progress for MU. The team has won games it needs to and leaned on its strengths. That hasn't absolved the losses to Florida, Auburn and Kentucky, but those games are moot now.
Arkansas is proof past games aren't indicative of a team's future. The Razorbacks lost to Texas A&M, got blown away by Mississippi State, blew away Auburn, lost to Liberty, destroyed BYU, kept it close against LSU and cleaned out Ole Miss.
That's a rollercoaster of a season in its own right.
If Missouri can learn anything from that slate of results, it's that the only game that's important is the one right in front of it. The Tigers have a defense it can lean on and an offense that has the capability of scoring the right number of points it needs to in order to win.
That's what will need to happen Friday. Missouri has to defend well and has to just score a handful of points.
That's what it all comes down to.
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This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Mizzou football vs. Arkansas live score updates, highlights
