No. 6 Missouri came back from a 14-3 first-half deficit to move to 3-0 with a 27-21 win over Boston College.
The Tigers scored 14 points on three possessions in the final five minutes of the second quarter to take a 17-14 halftime lead. Mizzou then needed to hang on late in the fourth quarter after Boston College pulled within six points on a 38-yard TD pass from Thomas Castellanos to Kamari Morales with 3:45 to go.
Missouri didn’t give Boston College the chance to get the ball back. Brady Cook converted a short third down on a read option with less than two minutes to go to seal the game.
Cook finished the game 21-of-30 passing for 264 yards and a TD. He also rushed for a TD in the third quarter that pushed Missouri’s lead to 24-14. RB Nate Noel had 22 carries for 121 yards and WR Luther Burden III had six catches for 117 yards.
An ugly win for the Tigers that included a second-and-58
Missouri committed eight penalties and many of them turned out to be crucial.
Boston College’s first touchdown came after the Tigers forced a third-down stop that was nullified by a penalty. And there was a sequence in the second half that resulted in Missouri facing a second-and-58.
Seriously.
Mizzou took over at its own 40 yard-line late in the third quarter after a Boston College punt. A 22-yard first-down completion moved the Tigers to the BC 38, but Burden was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct on the next play for appearing to throw a Boston College defender’s mouthguard.
On second-and-25, Mizzou lineman Cam’Ron Johnson was flagged for being downfield. And on the next play, Burden caught a six-yard pass that was brought back because of a crackback block on Mekhi Miller. Burden, who was facing an ejection because of his penalty earlier in the drive, was also flagged for unnecessary roughness.
Those two penalties combined to push Missouri back 28 more yards to its own 14. Noel gained 24 yards back on second-and-58, but the Tigers punted after a six-yard gain on third down.
Boston College had just 91 yards in the second half after moving the ball well in the first half. The Eagles’ second touchdown came on a bizarre play after Castellanos wasn’t ready for the snap but found a wide-open Reed Harris for a 67-yard TD after scrambling to pick the ball up.