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Welp, we’ll have more on Sunday night’s late hoops loss later in the day (for one thing, I’m watching it now — you know I wasn’t going to stay up that late on a damn Sunday).
For now, we lead with football!
Mizzou’s 48-45 win over Arkansas was weird and messy and exhausting, but this morning we’ll focus on a tidbit I feel I was maybe not making enough of down the stretch of the season.
I realize the SEC’s not the Big 12. The league has always had a “defense and field position and monster running backs” vibe, as opposed to the more wide open attacks of Missouri’s last conference.
But within the last 25 years, the SEC has still featured its share of ridiculous quarterbacks, from Peyton Manning to Danny Wuerffel to Johnny Manziel to Tim Couch to Rex Grossman to Aaron Murray, etc., etc., etc.
None of them threw 43 touchdown passes in a season like Drew Lock just did. Via CFB reference:
Single-season TD passes, SEC quarterbacks
Rk | Player | TD | Year | School |
---|---|---|---|---|
Rk | Player | TD | Year | School |
1 | Drew Lock | 43 | 2017 | Missouri |
2 | Andre Woodson | 40 | 2007 | Kentucky |
3 | Danny Wuerffel | 39 | 1996 | Florida |
4 | Johnny Manziel | 37 | 2013 | Texas A&M |
4 | Tim Couch | 37 | 1997 | Kentucky |
6 | Aaron Murray | 36 | 2012 | Georgia |
6 | Tim Couch | 36 | 1998 | Kentucky |
6 | Peyton Manning | 36 | 1997 | Tennessee |
9 | Aaron Murray | 35 | 2011 | Georgia |
9 | Danny Wuerffel | 35 | 1995 | Florida |
11 | Tyler Bray | 34 | 2012 | Tennessee |
11 | Rex Grossman | 34 | 2001 | Florida |
13 | Ryan Mallett | 32 | 2010 | Arkansas |
13 | Tim Tebow | 32 | 2007 | Florida |
15 | Chad Kelly | 31 | 2015 | Ole Miss |
15 | Erik Ainge | 31 | 2007 | Tennessee |
15 | Andre Woodson | 31 | 2006 | Kentucky |
15 | Eli Manning | 31 | 2001 | Ole Miss |
19 | Brandon Allen | 30 | 2015 | Arkansas |
19 | A.J. McCarron | 30 | 2012 | Alabama |
19 | Cam Newton | 30 | 2010 | Auburn |
19 | Ryan Mallett | 30 | 2009 | Arkansas |
19 | Tim Tebow | 30 | 2008 | Florida |
I know all the caveats. Yes, seven of those came against Missouri State. Yes, there were more bad defenses than normal on the SEC slate. Yes, of course, of course. But something that hadn’t happened before just happened. I’m going to take time to admire that.
The record-breaking touchdown looked very familiar to Mizzou fans as Lock connected over the middle of the field to redshirt freshman TE Albert Okwuegbunam for a 10-yard strike. The score tied the game at 28 while vaulting Lock passed Kentucky's Andre Woodson as the quarterback with the most touchdown passes in the history of the Southwestern Conference.
But the records didn't stop there. Lock's touchdown to Okwuegbunam gave the freshman tight end 10 touchdown receptions on the season, the most of any freshman receiver in Mizzou program history, passing Jeremy Maclin's nine touchdown performance in his senior 2007 season.
Kudos, Drew.
More Football:
- The SEC won’t be able to fill all of its bowl slots this year, which might bump Mizzou beyond the Liberty Bowl. We’ll see.
- Tucker McCann: 14-for-16 on FGs and 50-for-52 on PATs this year. Very solid. I probably haven’t made enough of that either.
- Always pay your speeding tickets, boys and girls.
- PowerMizzou put out unit-by-unit season grade cards for Mizzou, a tricky task considering Mizzou basically just played two completely different seasons.
- Hey, Barry Odom:
More Links:
- Mizzou Volleyball made the NCAA Tournament! And you’ll never believe who the committee paired the Tigers against! (You’ll totally believe it: it’s Kansas. Who knew, right?)
- Hell of a weekend for Mizzou Wrestling: your fourth-ranked Tigers went to Virginia and swept a pair of dramatic road duals. On Saturday, Willie Miklus turned a likely loss into a pin of the second-ranked wrestler in his weight class, icing a 22-12 win over No. 10 Virginia Tech. On Sunday against Virginia, missing a couple of starters, the Tigers fell behind 9-0 out of the gates but closed the dual on an 18-6 run and won.
- Man, the men’s basketball loss was about the only thing that wrecked an otherwise perfect Mizzou weekend. Never mind football, wrestling and volleyball — Mizzou Women’s Hoops also scored a big win, taking down No. 21 California, 55-52, in Berkeley and capturing the Cal Classic title. Amber Smith and Sophie Cunningham led the defensive battle with 11 points each.
- New PAPN! I made some CFP rankings predictions, broke down the S&P+ top 25 (of which Missouri is not quite a part), and gave a shout out to teams that saved their bowl bids at the last second.