Mizzou overcomes sluggish start to beat Troy in final nonconference game

COLUMBIA — Missouri reminisced on its program's history on Saturday night during the 100th anniversary of Memorial Stadium, but were forced to move past an underwhelming first quarter in a 27-17 victory against Troy.

The Tigers trailed Troy 10-0 at the end of the first quarter following a 76-yard TK Keyes touchdown and 10:32-minute drive that ended in a field goal. The underwhelming first quarter marked the Tigers' second-straight early deficit after trailing Kansas 7-0 and 14-7 in their Week 2 victory.

Missouri gave up another touchdown in the second quarter after a 55-yard dime from Goose Crowder to Howard Kinchen. The secondary struggled to contain Crowder in the first half, who went 11-for-19 with 194 yards, two touchdown throws of 55-plus yards and an interception. Crowder ended the contest with 230 yards.

"The first one... our free safety had a terrible angle. He's supposed to be there to tackle it or get it down and didn't. It's awful, bottom line, that's awful defense," head coach Eli Drinkwitz said after the game. "And then at the end of half, they threw a vertical and again, we have no free safety help and we weren't able to get our eyes around and we have didn't play through the hands to get the ball down. Not good."

Despite the Trojans' early command, Missouri responded with an explosion of 24 points in the second quarter courtesy of dominance in all three phases. The Tigers tallied a receiving and rushing touchdown, field goal and 68-yard punt return score from DaMarion Fowlkes.

Missouri's offense was not very active despite 24 second-quarter points, as the Tigers spent just over eight minutes with possession in the first half. Missouri was bested in time of possession after spending 22:37 on offense.

"There's a lot of work to be done and I don't want anybody to think we're sitting here satisfied in the locker room, jumping up and down," Drinkwitz said. "They're disappointed, we're all disappointed. We know that we can play better and give them credit. They came in here and fought (and) had a great plan."

Quarterback Austin Simmons took a step back from an impressive first two weeks in Saturday's matchup against Troy. After throwing for 544 yards, seven touchdowns and zero interceptions on a 75 completion percentage in his first two contests, Simmons was 10-for-19 adding 91 yards, one touchdown and zero picks.

Drinkwitz said that the Tigers allowed zero sacks on the night, but made clear that the offensive unit needs to improve.

"There was receivers falling down, receivers running routes too deep, quarterback throwing the ball too early, offensive holding, getting behind the sticks, inefficient runs on first down, inability to utilize play action to create separation in the second level of the defense. So, a lot of things to fix," Drinkwitz said.

Offensive holding marked two of the Tigers' nine penalties against Troy, which cost Missouri 90 yards. The Tigers ended with 240 total yards compared to Troy's 323 yards. Roberts led the offense with 122 total yards and one touchdown on 21 carries.

Defensively, Missouri's pass rush shined, behind another strong performance from sophomore Daeden Hopkins. Hopkins followed a SEC Defensive Lineman Player of the Week performance with seven tackles, 1.5 sacks, one forced fumble and two tackles for loss. The 6-foot-6 edge would have had another sack, but was called for a face mask penalty on the play.

Langden Kitchen was also strong in the pass rush, accumulating one sack and two tackles for loss. Edge rusher Darris Smith exited the game in the first half with a lower body injury, but returned for a few plays the third quarter.

"The update is he tried to give it a go and wasn't able to do so," Drinkwitz said. "So we'll see how his recovery goes, but obviously, it wasn't anything other than a nick. We'll see how quickly we can get that recovered."

The team ended with three sacks and nine tackles for loss, completely shutting down Troy in its scoreless second half. Santana Banner led all Tigers with 15 tackles and added a tackle for loss after being on the receiving end of Troy's opening touchdown.

"We did what we needed to do in order to win the game and that's how we had to play it," Drinkwitz said. "I would have loved to see more guys be able to play, but at the end of the day, we played with who we felt like gave us the best opportunity to win and that's how the rotation goes."

The Tigers kick off SEC action in Starkville, Miss., against Mississippi State (3-0) at at 6:45 p.m. Saturday. The Bulldogs are fresh off a 41-34 away victory against South Carolina backed by Kamario Taylor, who threw for four touchdowns.

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