Highlights (and areas for improvement) for Missouri Tigers from win over Murray State

Missouri began its 2024 season on a strong note with a 51-0 win over Murray State, breaking records along the way.

Memorial Stadium held the sixth-largest crowd at a home opener in Missouri history. Thursday’s sellout crowd was “remarkable” and allowed the team to feed off its energy to influence the fast first-quarter start, coach Eli Drinkwitz said.

“I mean, (the crowd was) unbelievable from the start of the game,” Drinkwitz said. “The students being out there and being loud, and then everybody being in their seats. I mean, when we kicked off ... it reminded me of what it was last year.”

Thursday night’s win was the first shutout for the Tigers in a home and season opener since 1998, when the Tigers beat Bowling Green 37-0. Missouri now has a 3-0 all-time record vs. the Racers and a 10-8 record against schools from the state of Kentucky.

The No. 11 Tigers are 88-42-5 all-time in season-opening contests. Thursday’s win marked the 24th of its last 27 openers and fourth out of five for Drinkwitz. The Tigers also celebrated their 17th straight nonconference win at Memorial Stadium, dating back to Oct. 21, 2017.

Penalties an area for improvement

Arguably the most alarming issue the Tigers showed in their debut was the amount of penalties accumulated: nine for 56 yards.

The problems came mostly in the second quarter, when the Tigers had five penalties for a total of 32 yards. It started with a false start on right guard Cam’Ron Johnson at the beginning of the quarter, resulting in a 5-yard loss that was quickly made up for with an 18-yard run by quarterback Brady Cook the next play.

Two-thirds of the way in, a delay of game penalty on punter Luke Bauer pushed Missouri back another 5 yards. About a minute-and-a-half of playing time later, left guard Cayden Green received his first holding call of the evening, pushing the Tigers back 7 yards. Missouri logged another penalty in the third quarter with a holding call on Green that enforced a 4-yard backup.

The fourth quarter wasn’t much better, with three penalties amassed by the Tigers. Left guard Logan Reichert logged his first penalty of the night on a false-start call with just under seven minutes left on second-and-2. He racked up another false start at the two-minute mark on fourth-and-4.

Left tackle Jayven Richardson received a holding penalty with just under four minutes left in the game. The call pushed the Tigers back 10 yards, ending the line of penalties in the first game of the season. The Tigers will have to work on this before next week’s game against Buffalo.

Mizzou injury updates

Tight end Brett Norfleet took a hit after a catch and run in the first half. He entered the injury tent after the play, exiting the field shortly after seemingly having his shoulder looked at to return midway through the third quarter out of uniform.

Wide receiver Theo Wease Jr. sat out the second half after separately entering the locker room following Norfleet.

Coach Eli Drinkwitz said he wasn’t alarmed by either incident. He said he wanted to play it safe by not playing the starters in the second half.

New look for special teams

The departure of former Missouri “Thiccer Kicker” Harrison Mevis left big shoes to fill. Kicker Blake Craig showed he’s up for the challenge Thursday.

Craig gave viewers no concerns as he went 3-for-3 on field-goal attempts during his first night as a Missouri starter, the longest from 39 yards. He appeared in just three games during the 2023 season, shadowing Mevis, who received the loudest cheers from fans among guests at Thursday’s opener.

“I was really, really impressed with Blake tonight,” Drinkwitz said. “I thought he did a great job with the extra points, the kickoffs. Actually, we had the one where he was trying to overkick. But, you know, I thought he did a really, really nice job, and it’s just great for his confidence.”

Bauer earned the starting punting position after competing with Orion Phillips, the Australian-born transfer from Murray State, throughout fall camp. While he didn’t have any fake-punt pass attempts this time around, Bauer amassed 97 yards on two punt attempts, the longest for 52. He did have the delay-of-game penalty.

Big-time visitors

Along with a sold-out stadium, the Tigers had additional visitors at Memorial Stadium for Thursday’s opener.

NFL scouts from the Arizona Cardinals, Washington Commanders, San Francisco 49ers, Cleveland Browns, Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Rams were in attendance.

Class of 2026 cornerback Trevon Collard was among those who saw the Tigers in action. The De Smet Jesuit High School player currently holds offers from Ball State, Kent State, Miami (Ohio) and UNLV.