Football

2015 Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl: Postgame Notes

Jan. 1, 2015

Jan. 1, 2015

Recap | Final Stats | Staff  USATSI

#16 Mizzou 33, #25 Minnesota 17 - 2015 Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl

Postgame Notes

  • Mizzou's appearance in the 2015 Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl is its second consecutive New Year's Day Bowl and 31st bowl game in program history. After Thursday's game, Mizzou now holds a 15-16 record all-time in bowl games, and a 6-4 mark under head coach Gary Pinkel.
  • Mizzou moves to 2-0 all-time in the Citrus Bowl. Mizzou won, 19-17, over Southern Miss back in 1981 when the game was referred to as the Tangerine Bowl.
  • Mizzou now has 76 wins since 2007, tying them with USC and Wisconsin for fifth among schools from power conferences.
  • This was the first meeting between Mizzou and Minnesota since 1970 and Mizzou now owns a 5-3-1 mark in the all-time series. Mizzou has won four in a row and Minnesota is winless in the last six meetings.
  • Bounce-back ability was shown by the Tigers, as Mizzou outscored the Gophers 33-10 after trailing 7-0 after the first quarter.
  • Marcus Murphy (157) and Russell Hansbrough (121) each went over 100 yards on Thursday, marking the first time that Mizzou has had a pair of 100-yard rushers in the same game since Aug. 31, 2013, against Murray State when Henry Josey (115) and Hansbrough (104) accomplished the feat.

Individual Defensive Notes

  • Sophomore LB Donavin Newsom tallied a tackle for loss in the second quarter, giving him 3.5 on the season. The TFL stalled a Minnesota drive deep in its own territory and it was Newsom's first TFL since Nov. 1 against Kentucky.
  • Senior DE Markus Golden put together an impressive first half, tallying a team-high eight tackles, 2.5 TFLs, a QB hurry and a forced fumble. Golden finished the game with 10 tackles, giving him 34 stops over his final five games as a Tiger. That five-game run included 10.5 tackles for loss, 5.5 sacks, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery.
  • Junior S Ian Simon recorded a career-best 10 tackles in the win, surpassing his previous high of eight stops vs. Indiana earlier this season. His 10 stops tied for the team-lead with Golden.

Individual Offensive Notes

  • Sophomore DT Harold Brantley broke a 19-yard run on a fake punt in the second quarter. It was the second time that Mizzou has run that play with Brantley this season, the other coming against Indiana when he gained 10 yards. It was the third rush of his career.
  • Murphy's 157-yard outburst on the ground marked the first 100-yard rushing game of his career, locked down in his final game as a Tiger.
  • Senior WR Bud Sasser hauled in a 25-yard TD in the second quarter and now has TD catches in two consecutive games and three of his last four contests dating back to Mizzou's Nov. 22 win over Tennessee.
  • Sasser snagged a second TD grab late in the fourth quarter. Sasser finished with 12 reception TDs this season, a mark that ranks third in the SEC this season, trailing only Amari Cooper (Alabama) and Josh Reynolds (Texas A&M).
  • Sasser totaled 68 receiving yards on seven catches to go over the 1,000-yard mark, finishing his senior season with 1,003 receiving yards. The total is the most for a Tiger receiver since T.J. Moe's 1,045 yards in 2010.
  • Mizzou had just eight yards rushing in the first quarter, but exploded for 125 in the second quarter, leading to 10 Tiger points. Senior TB Marcus Murphy led the Tigers with 55 yards on the ground in the second half while sophomore QB Maty Mauk added 29. Junior TB Russell Hansbrough had 22 and Brantley of course added 19 on the fake punt.
  • Mauk scored on an 18-yard run in the third quarter, his second rushing TD of the season and his first since Sept. 6 in a 49-24 win at Toledo.
  • Junior TB Russell Hansbrough went over 1,000 career rushing yards on Thursday, the second Tiger in as many seasons to accomplish that feat after Henry Josey did so last season. He finishes the season with 1,084. Yards on the ground.
  • Hansbrough added a career-long 78-yard TD with 9:22 remaining in the fourth quarter to give Mizzou a 26-17 lead. The 78-yard run tied the longest ever in the Citrus Bowl, matching the 1976 scamper by Terry Miller of Oklahoma State run against BYU. It was also the longest play from scrimmage this season for Mizzou, topping the previous best of 73 when Maty Mauk hit Jimmie Hunt for a 73-yard strike at Tennessee.

Individual Special Teams Notes

  • Junior PK Andrew Baggett was stellar in his final game of the 2014 season, hitting both of his field goal tries (21 and 33 yards), as well as going 3-for-3 on PATs. Baggett also blasted three touchbacks in four kickoffs, the non-touchback being the perfectly executed onside kick recovered by Mizzou to start the second half.