Mizzou football notebook: Tigers felt disrespected by ESPN GameDay snub + Brady Cook stats

Missouri’s offense didn’t find the end zone until late in the first half, when Brady Cook hit Luther Burden III on a short pass that the talented receiver turned into a 19-yard touchdown reception.

It was freshman kicker Blake Craig who bought time for the struggling MU offense as the No. 6 Tigers trailed No. 24 Boston College throughout most of the first half, converting on three field goal attempts to help the Tigers to a three-point lead at the break. He added one more in the second half as Mizzou held off the Eagles 27-21.

“Blake Craig — difference in the game,” coach Eli Drinkwitz said. “There were a lot of questions about his field goals last week, and I said I wasn’t really concerned. ... I think he gave our team a lot of confidence going into the half. He had an excellent game today.”

The biggest of his three makes came at the end of the first half, after MU got the ball on its 11-yard line with 46 seconds left and marched down the field, setting up a long attempt. As time expired, Craig split the uprights on a 56-yard attempt — the longest of his career — to give Missouri that halftime lead.

“It was amazing,” running back Nate Noel said. “I haven’t really seen a field goal like that in a while. I haven’t seen a deep field goal in a minute, so it was nice to see, especially going into the half to take a little bit of momentum.”

Craig also made two 38-yard field goals in the first half — the first and second Missouri scores of the game. His lone field goal in the second half was good from 31 yards, and it gave the Tigers a 27-14 lead in the fourth quarter. In addition to his field goals, the kicker went 1-for-1 on extra-point attempts.

Here are other notes from Saturday’s game...

Brady Cook climbs Mizzou passing yards list

After moving to sixth in all-time passing yards in Missouri program history last week against Buffalo, Brady Cook jumped Jeff Handy (6,959) and James Franklin (6,962) in Saturday’s win over Boston College, moving to fourth with 7,183 career yards.

Brad Smith is third on the list with 8,799 yards. If Cook averages 179.5 yards per game for the rest of the regular season, he will move up to third all-time.

Missouri snubbed by ESPN College GameDay

There was some chatter throughout the week that Missouri vs. Boston College, the only ranked matchup of the day, would be enough to garner the attention of “College GameDay,” but ESPN’s pregame show elected to go to the other Columbia for the contest between South Carolina and LSU.

“To me, it is disrespect to not have us on the big stage with the big TV cameras,” Burden said. “So I took that personal, and I’m pretty sure everyone else in that locker room took it personal, too.”

“We definitely took that into account when we were preparing,” Noel said. “We just aren’t respected enough. ... We still have something to prove.”

While the SEC Network’s live game-day show “SEC Nation” was elsewhere, too — in Gainesville, Florida, ahead of the Florida-Texas A&M showdown — “SEC Now: Live” did set up shop in Columbia on Saturday morning.

This is a new move in 2024 for the expanded SEC, with the switch to all of its programming on the ABC/ESPN family of networks.

The site of the 11:45 a.m. SEC Network game will host some of the “SEC Now” crew starting at 11. There is also a more traditional “SEC Now” studio show throughout the day.

Recruits and special visitors at Faurot Field

A number of high school prospects visited Columbia to watch the Tigers take on Boston College.

Missouri commit Jack Lange was in attendance once again. The 2025 four-star offensive tackle from Eureka also visited last week for the Buffalo game. Fellow 2025 commit Jason Dowell also watched Missouri’s win from the sidelines. The defensive lineman from Belleville, Illinois, is a three-star recruit, according to On3.

Nebraska commit Jeremiah Jones watched the win, too. Jones, from Murray, Kentucky, is listed as an athlete by On3, but it is believed Missouri wants him as a tight end. The three-star recruit verbally committed to the Cornhuskers on July 1.

Also in town for the game were 2026 three-star offensive tackle Casey Thomann from Olney, Illinois, and 2027 linebacker Marshaun Ivy from Cardinal Ritter College Prep in St. Louis.

Other familiar Mizzou faces in town

Former Missouri coach Gary Pinkel and former MU wide receiver Jeremy Maclin watched from the stands as the Tigers earned their third win of the season. Maclin was in charge of banging the “Big Mo” drum before the game as Pinkel stood next to him.

Pinkel and Maclin worked together at Mizzou for two seasons: 2007 and 2008. The Tigers went 12-2 in 2007 and 10-4 in 2008, totaling a record of 22-6.

Maclin finished his Missouri career with 2,315 receiving yards and 28 total touchdowns. He was an All-American both seasons.

During 15 seasons with the Tigers, Pinkel won a school-record 118 games, including two Cotton Bowls.

And about that ridiculous second-and-58...

Missouri had eight penalties for 78 yards Saturday. The offense in particular was stalled by penalties in the third quarter, when it recorded four different penalties in three plays, putting it in a ridiculous second-and-58 situation.

“I’ve never seen that many flags on a single offense in my time,” Drinkwitz said.

Burden accounted for two of the penalties, each of them for losses of 15 yards.

“I’ve just got to cut the nonsense out,” said Burden, who had an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty followed by a personal foul that easily could have been another unsportsmanlike call, which would’ve led to his ejection. “I don’t want to put my team in that position anymore, so I’m glad to learn.”