Nick Bolton: Super Bowl Champ

For the third year in a row, a Mizzou Tiger is a Super Bowl champion.

In 2021, it was Blaine Gabbert with the Bucs. Last year, it was Kendall Blanton with the Rams (yuck.) This year, it’s Nick Bolton and the Kansas City Chiefs. And no disrespect to Gabbert and Blanton, but neither of them had close to the impact on their games as Bolton did on his.

In a match up of possibly the NFL’s two best QBs, Hurts made the game’s crucial error with Bolton bearing down on him. The former Tiger quickly pounced on the loose ball and ran it into pay dirt, keeping the Chiefs within shouting distance as the Eagles would take a 10-point lead into the half. In the end, Bolton led the Chiefs (and both teams, in reality) in tackles with nine.

Bolton almost had another defensive touchdown on another seeming scoop-and-score, but it was ruled out for being an incomplete catch after the fact. Regardless, Bolton showed up on the biggest stage and was getting some stealth Super Bowl MVP shouts until people remembered that the QB usually gets the award anyway.

Congrats, Mr. Bolton! And congrats to Kendall Blanton, who will get another ring for being part of the practice squad. And to longtime Mizzou staffer Andy Hill, who works with the Chiefs’ staff. M-I-Z!

Yesterday at Rock M

• In which Sam argues that Mizzou’s offense can be better than even the best defenses (as evidenced against Tennessee!)
• In which Kortay previews the Mizzou Baseball outfielders
• In which Adeen recaps Mizzou’s dagger road loss to Arkansas

More Links:

• SOFTBALL SEASON IS HERE! It was a weekend of high highs and low lows for Larissa Anderson’s team, which upset No. 8 Northwestern on Saturday after losing to No. 6/9 Texas 11-1 in the season opener. On Sunday, the Tigers ran Prairie View A&M into the ground 11-0, but failed to find the scoreboard against Louisville in a 4-0 loss. The Tigers finished the weekend with a 3-2 overall record.

Surprise, surprise: Jenna Laird made the all-tournament team.

• Matt Stahl (in a Columbia Tribune special for the KC Star), talked about some of the details of Mizzou’s improbable 86-85 win in Knoxville over the weekend, including specifications of Sean East trash-talking Santiago Vescovi.

When Vescovi came to the line earlier in the game, East had thrown some trash talk his way, telling the Volunteer guard he was going to miss one, since he had missed in a loss to Vanderbilt on Wednesday. Vescovi nailed those, but before his final tries, East was at it again.

“I said, ‘He’s gonna miss one. He just missed last game. He’s thinking about it,’” East said. “And he gave us one.”

• So much for “winning out.” In the game just after Robin Pingeton determined her team would need to run the table to earn an NCAA Tournament bid, Missouri got hammered in Fayetteville, 61-33. Not much went right for the Tigers, who committed 22 turnovers and shot 28.6 percent from the field. They’ve now lost 8 of their last 9 nine games and will need to impress in a meaningful way to play themselves back into the field of 68.
• In a pair of weekend meets, several Tiger track and field athletes set personal best times and top 10 program history marks. Keep building, Tigers!
• Hayden Buckley out here shootin’

• Mizzou Hockey! Taking home big wins against former Big 12 rivals! And winning the Mid-America College Hockey Association to boot!

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