Football

Game Notes: Mizzou vs. South Dakota State

Team

  • With Mizzou's 38-18 victory over South Dakota State, the Tigers have won their season opener for the 13th consecutive season and for the 16th time in the last 17 years.
  • Under head coach Gary Pinkel, Mizzou is 13-1 in season-opening games.
  • Pinkel improves to 103-63 at Mizzou. He became the program's all-time winningest coach with last year's Cotton Bowl victory.
  • Mizzou improves to a perfect 14-0 mark against FCS teams, including an 11-0 mark during Pinkel's tenure (average score 543 to 93).
  • Mizzou has scored 27 or more points in nine of its last 10 season openers.
  • Senior Mitch Morse, junior Evan Boehm and junior Connor McGovern have now combined for 68 starts to anchor the offensive line.
  • Markus Golden, Shane Ray, Darius White, Mitch Hall, John Gibson, Michael Scherer, Donovan Newsom, Jimmie Hunt and Russell Hansbrough all earned the first starts of their respective careers.
  • Senior defensive lineman Lucas Vincent played in his 40th game Saturday. He is the only current Mizzou four-year senior to play in every game of his career.
  • Senior safety Braylon Webb made his 31st career start, which leads the team and the SEC among safeties.
  • After Saturday's victory, Mizzou has 66 wins since 2007, which ties Oklahoma State as the seventh winningest "power 5" program in that time span.
  • Duron Singleton's first quarter interception extended Mizzou's streak for consecutive games with a forced turnover to 45, which leads the nation.
  • South Dakota State did open its first drive with a 75-yard TD run, but over its final 31 carries from scrimmage the Jackrabbits rushed 31 times for just 44 total yards.

Individual Offense

  • Senior Marcus Murphy racked up 204 all-purpose yards Saturday.
  • Senior Darius White recorded the third touchdown reception of his career on the Tigers' third play from scrimmage.
  • White followed with a 39-yard touchdown grab to clinch the first multi-TD game of his career. He averaged 41.5 yards per catch on the two scoring grabs.
  • White's 44-yard touchdown haul was the longest catch of his career. His 83 total receiving yards Saturday is the most for him in a single game. The senior has already eclipsed his personal best for receiving yards in a single season.
  • Marcus Murphy matched his career-high for receptions in a game with three in the first half.
  • Senior wideout Bud Sasser hauled in the third touchdown reception of his career with a 29-yard score early in the fourth quarter.
  • Quarterback Maty Mauk tossed three touchdowns in his season debut, throwing all of them from 25 yards out or more. Mauk now has 14 total touchdown passes in his career.
  • Hansbrough ran for 126 yards and one TD on 20 carries, clinching his third career 100-yard performance on the ground. The 126 yards were a career high for Hansbrough.
  • Freshman Ish Witter and junior Tyler Hunt each got their first touches at tailback, combining for 15 yards on five carries.

Individual Defense

  • Singleton tallied the first interception of his Mizzou career in the first quarter, setting up the Tiger offense in the red zone.
  • Redshirt sophomore Michael Scherer posted a career-high nine tackles.
  • Redshirt freshman Eric Beisel recorded the first tackle of his career in the opening quarter. He finished with three total tackles and contributed on a tackle for loss.
  • Senior Markus Golden collected 10 total tackles to lead the squad and set a new career high for stops in a single game. His career high for tackles in a single game is eight.
  • Golden also set career highs for sacks in a single game (1.5) and tackles for loss in a single game (3.0).
  • Sophomore Aarion Penton picked off a pass in the end zone for his second career interception in the third quarter. Penton added a career-high seven tackles.
  • Junior safety Ian Simon stripped a Jackrabbit receiver and earned his first career forced fumble.
  • Twenty-three different Tigers recorded a tackle.

Miscellaneous

  • Marcus Murphy returned a kickoff 100 yards for touchdown in the third quarter. Murphy's scamper was the longest kick return by a Tiger since Joe Stewart ran one back for 100 yards against Oklahoma State in 1976.
  • Murphy now has five return touchdowns in his career, including three punt return TDs and two kick return TDs.
  • Following South Dakota State's 75-yard TD run on its first play from scrimmage, Mizzou held the Jackrabbits to just 29 yards on 14 plays in the first quarter.
  • Mizzou amassed 217 total yards of offense in the first quarter to South Dakota St.'s 104.
  • Place kicker Andrew Baggett has hit 93.7 percent of his PATs in his career (104 of 111) after making all five of his attempts against SDSU. He also made a 44-yard field goal to ice the game late in the fourth quarter.