In Depth: 64-yard run from Rountree turns the tide against Tennessee
11/11/2017 11:41:00 PM | Football
The longest run of Rountree’s career set up a Mizzou touchdown just before halftime, sparking a 33-0 run, and the fourth consecutive Tiger victory.
COLUMBIA, Mo. – With 1:15 left in the second quarter, the Tennessee offense was leaving the field in good spirits. The Volunteers had just scored a touchdown to finish off their longest drive of the evening and tie the game at 17-17. Mizzou took over possession from its own 25, looking for a chance to put some more points onto the board before the half.
After a three-yard run and incomplete pass, Mizzou lined up for a third and seven from its own 28. Just one play later, freshman running back Larry Rountree unleashed the longest rush of his career, a 64 yard dagger down the middle of the field, and Mizzou had the ball at the Tennessee eight yard-line with less than 30 seconds remaining in the half. Rountree finished the drive a few plays later to give Mizzou a 24-17 lead with 14 seconds remaining.
"It was huge in the game," Odom said. "We thought, by formation, that we could get the first down. And if we did that we could start getting into the mode of taking shots, but a heck of a run, great job blocking and a great individual effort. I was glad we were able to punch the ball in there, that was huge for us going into halftime."
"When he called the play, I looked at the defense and thought, okay," Rountree said. "I saw that they were slacking a little bit, they were thinking we were probably just going to run the ball and go down. But when I saw that green grass, I just hit it, running north and south as fast as I could. I did get hawked down, so I'm kind of mad about that, but we did push it in for six, so I was happy with that."
From that point on, the game belonged to Missouri. The Tigers outscored Tennessee 33-0, the defense battened down the hatches, keeping Tennessee off of the board for the remainder of the game while forcing four turnovers and racking up three sacks. The running backs put together their best game in over 14 years, rushing for a grand-total of 433 yards on 53 attempts. And Mizzou won its fourth game in a row to improve its record to 5-5.
Mizzou will hope to keep it rollin' next week as the Tigers hunt for the ever-important sixth win against Vanderbilt, Saturday, November 18 at 6:30 p.m. For all the latest on Mizzou Football, stay tuned to mutigers.com and follow the team on Twitter (@MizzouFootball) and like the team on Facebook and Instagram.
