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The Missouri Tigers completed an improbable comeback victory over the Arkansas Razorbacks last night for their 5th win of the season.
For Mizzou, those 5 wins have all come in different ways, and it makes their unexpected success this season even more impressive.
The Tigers have won shootouts against LSU and Arkansas, they’ve won defensive battles against Kentucky and South Carolina, and they’ve blown out Vanderbilt. They’ve proven that defensively and offensively they can do just about whatever it takes to win, and that’s a culture that should yield winning results for years to come.
For their first win of the season, Eli Drinkwitz’s men upset LSU, and they secured the victory with an incredible defensive stand from the 1-YD line. The win took a season that was already looking bleak just two games in hope.
In their victories over Kentucky and South Carolina, they won low-scoring, grind-it-out games. Neither victory was pretty, but both games resulted in the Tigers coming out on top showing that they didn’t need to score 45 points, like they did against LSU, to win.
Their victory over Vanderbilt wasn’t a surprise to many people because they were 3 TD favorites entering the game. However, the way they dominated the game showed this team is capable of dominating teams they’re better than and not let them hang around. The Tigers dominated this game to the point where Vanderbilt never crossed the Mizzou 33 YD-Line.
Even though their previous four wins had been impressive and proved this team was significantly better than anyone predicted in the preseason, the Tigers most impressive win of the season came yesterday against Arkansas.
At one point early in the fourth quarter, Mizzou had a 93% chance of defeat. The defense couldn’t get itself out of a wet paper bag, and the offense was settling for too many field goals in Arkansas territory. However, something changed the mindset of the team. The defense began to get stops, and the offense would go on to score 27 points in the 4th quarter after having only 23 in the three previous quarters.
The resiliency this team showed to not get down and come back showed the confidence Eli Drinkwitz has instilled in this team. They were down big, then they took the lead and lost it again on a lucky 2-point conversion by the Razorbacks. However, they weren’t fazed. To go the length of the field in just 43 seconds as the offense to set up Mevis’ game-winning FG takes confidence and belief. This Tigers team has both.
Next week they will play the No. 8 Georgia Bulldogs, and this season has proven that the Tigers will go into the game believing they will win, and maybe they just will add another statement victory to season that has been full of stunning wins.