@MizzouFootball Set for Showdown With No. 2/3 Georgia

Saturday, September 22

Columbia, Mo.

11 a.m.

University of Missouri

#2 Georgia

Buy Tickets

Mizzou Tigers at Purdue Boilermakers at Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, Ind. on Saturday, Sept. 15, 2018. Zach Bland/Mizzou Athletics

@MizzouFootball Set for Showdown With No. 2/3 Georgia

9/18/2018 8:50:00 AM | Football

Two teams are among just 35 unbeatens left in FBS

Battle of SEC East Unbeatens Set Saturday at The Zou
OPPONENT	LOCATION	DAY	TIME (CT)	WATCH	STATS
vs. #2/3 Georgia	Columbia, Mo.	Saturday, Sept. 22	11 am	ESPN	Stats

#ShowMe Mizzou Game Notes

The Matchup

Mizzou Football is off to a 3-0 start for the first time since 2015 and faces its biggest challenge of the season to date as No. 2/3 Georgia comes to Columbia for an 11 a.m. kick Saturday (Sept. 22) on ESPN. Steve Levy, Brian Griese and Todd McShay will have the call as the Tigers look to improve to 4-0 for the first time since 2013. Georgia has rolled to a well-deserved No. 2 national ranking in the polls, thanks to a trio of dominating wins over Austin Peay (45-0), at South Carolina (41-17) and last Saturday against Middle Tennessee (49-7).

ALL-TIME SERIES WITH THE BULLDOGS

Mizzou trails the all-time series against Georgia, 6-1, and has won just one of six meetings since joining the SEC in 2012. Mizzou's first-ever game in the SEC came against the then No. 7-ranked Bulldogs in 2012. Mizzou took a 20-17 lead in that game with 2:39 to play in the third quarter before Georgia scored the final 24 points to earn a 41-20 win in Columbia. Mizzou's lone win over Georgia came in 2013 en-route to its first ever SEC East Championship. Mizzou went into Athens that year and earned a 41-26 win, scoring the game's final 13 points. Mizzou improved to 7-0 after that win. Mizzou is 0-3 all-time against Georgia in Columbia with the Bulldogs claiming a 28-27 win in 2016. Mizzou led most of that game before Jacob Eason found Isaiah McKenzie for a 20-yard TD on fourth-and-10 with 1:29 remaining to give the Bulldogs the lead. Georgia won last year's meeting, 53-28, in Athens.

RECAPPING LAST WEEK

Mizzou earned its fourth-consecutive road win and ninth-straight regular season victory after claiming a hard-fought, 40-37 win at Purdue. Junior K Tucker McCann hit a game-winning 25-yard field goal as time expired to cap a wild game in West Lafayette. Senior QB Drew Lock threw for 375 yards and three scores while sophomore RB Larry Rountree III ran for a career-high 168 yards on 23 carries to lead the Mizzou offense. With the score knotted at 37-37, Mizzou's final drive used the last 3:28 on the clock and freshman Tyler Badie accounted for 46 of the drive's 71 yards, including a key 20-yard catch and run after a Lock scramble to get the Tigers near midfield.

WHAT THE PURDUE WIN MEANS

The win at Purdue gave Mizzou its first 3-0 start since 2015, and it also evened Mizzou Head Coach Barry Odom's record to 14-14 overall. Odom is now just the fourth coach in the last 80-plus years (spanning the last 10 head coaches) to stand at least .500 through his first 28 games coaching the Tigers. He joins Warren Powers (18-10 through first 28 games from 1978-80), Dan Devine (18-10 from 1958-60) and Don Faurot (12-11-5 from 1935-37) in this select group. Mizzou's previous two head coaches – Gary Pinkel and Larry Smith – stood 13-15 and 8-19-1, respectively, through their first 28 games at Mizzou.

STILL ROLLING

After winning its first three games of the 2018 season, Barry Odom's team has now won its last nine regular season games and is 9-1 in its last 10 games overall. Mizzou is one of just three teams in FBS to win its last nine regular season games. The teams are below:
- UCF: 13 straight
- Oklahoma: 10 straight
- Mizzou: Nine straight
In the last nine regular season games (excluding the bowl game), Mizzou is averaging 48.8 points per game.
Mizzou has scored 40 points or more in all nine of those wins and has an average victory margin of 27.4.
Mizzou turned heads nationally in 2017, when Odom's squad won its last six games of the regular season to erase a 1-5 start to the year, and earn a bid to the Texas Bowl with a 7-5 record.
That is the longest regular-season win streak for Mizzou since the Tigers won 10 straight bridging the 2009 and 2010 seasons. In 2009, MU won its final three regular-season games on the way to an 8-5 season, and then started the 2010 season 7-0 on the way to a 10-3 mark and a Big 12 North Division co-championship.

LOCKED IN OVER LAST 10

As mentioned above, Mizzou is riding high as of late, winning nine of its last 10 games. In those nine wins, there has been one common theme: the elite-level play of senior QB Drew Lock. In that span, Lock's numbers have looked as impressive as any other quarterback in college football. Below is a snapshot:
- Record: 9-1
- 213-for-332 (64.2%)
- 3,303 yards (330.3 per game)
- 38 touchdowns
- 7 interceptions
- 181.28 QB rating
In last Saturday's win over Purdue, Lock was once again outstanding. He completed 26-of-43 passes for 375 yards, three passing TDs and added another on the ground. He also engineered a game-winning drive after Purdue hit a field goal to tie the game at 37-37, making a huge play on second-and-10 deep in his own territory, scrambling to find a streaking RB Tyler Badie for 20 yards as the drive moved toward midfield. Lock then found his favorite target - WR Emanuel Hall - for a 25-yard strike that all but ended the game, setting Mizzou up deep in Purdue territory where it could attempt the game-winning field goal.
Lock moved his career passing totals to 9,757 yards and 82 touchdowns, both of which rank second in Mizzou history and among the SEC's all-time elite. Check page two to see where Lock stacks up among SEC greatness.

LOCK LIVES AMONG GREATNESS IN THE SEC

Mizzou senior QB Drew Lock's three TD tosses last week moved him into sole possession of sixth place all-time among SEC quarterbacks with 82 career passing TDs. He enters Saturday's game vs. Georgia just six shy of tying Florida's Tim Tebow (2006-09) and Chris Leak (2003-06) who both had 88 in their careers. Below is a list:

Rank	TD Passes	Quarterback	School	Year
1.	121	Aaron Murray	Georgia	2010-13
2.	114	Danny Wuerrffel	Florida	1993-96
3.	89	Peyton Manning	Tennessee	1994-97
4.	88	Chris Leak	Florida	2003-06
	88	Tim Tebow	Florida	2006-09
6.	82	Drew Lock	Mizzou	2015-18

Additionally, Lock now has 9,757 career passing yards, meaning he needs just 243 yards to reach the 10,000 career passing yard mark. Should he accomplish that feat, he would be just the 111th quarterback in college football history to accomplish that feat. Only eight SEC quarterbacks have ever thrown for more than 10,000 yards in a career and the last to do so was Georgia's Aaron Murray in 2013. Below is a list:

Rank	Yards	Quarterback	School	Years
1.	13,166	Aaron Murray	Georgia	2010-13
2.	11,528	David Greene	Georgia	2001-04
3.	11,213	Chris Leak	Florida	2003-06
4.	11,201	Peyton Manning	Tennessee	1994-97
5.	11,153	Eric Zeier	Georgia	1991-94
6.	10,875	Dabby Wuerffel	Florida	1993-96
7.	10,345	Jared Lorenzen	Kentucky	2000-03
8.	10,119	Eli Manning	Ole Miss	2000-03
9.	9,757	Drew Lock	Mizzou	2015-18

Among active FBS quarterbacks, Lock is third with his 9,757 career passing yards. Only Boise State's Brett Rypien (10,923) and Washington's Jake Browning (9,868) rank ahead of Lock.
Lock would become just the second Mizzou QB to toss for more than 10,000 yards, trailing only 2007 Heisman finalist Chase Daniel, who holds the school record of 12,515 from 2005-09. That, by the way, ranks 26th in FBS history.
Lock now has 26 career games with 200+ passing yards, second in school history.
Lock has thrown for 200+ yards in 21 of his last 22 games, including 13 straight.
With 375 yards last week, Lock now has 12 career 300-yard games, second in school history behind only Daniel (20).
Lock registered his 10th career game with four or more TDs vs. Wyoming - he has eight such games in his last 11.
Lock now has 41 career TD passes of 20+ yards, the most in school history.

E-MAN EMERGING AS ONE OF NATION'S BEST

Senior WR Emanuel Hall burst onto the scene last season, becoming one of the nation's elite deep threats. This season, if the first three weeks are any indication, he is evolving into a dynamic receiver in all facets of the game - not just the vertical passing game.
In the first three weeks, Hall has hauled in 430 yards, including a career-high 10 catches and 171 yards two weeks ago against Wyoming. Last week, he was fighting a groin injury, forcing him to miss the majority of the second and third quarters, and still caught four passes for 88 yards.
Hall posted 171 yards in each of the first two games this season, becoming the first Mizzou player since Danario Alexander in 2009 to post back-to-back games of 170+ yards.
Hall also hauled in a 28-yard score vs. Wyoming, giving him 13 career TD grabs of 20 or more yards. That tied him with former first-round pick and NFL standout Jeremy Maclin for the most in program history.
Hall came into his own down the stretch of the 2017 season, as his emergence as one of the nation's top deep threats helped open up Mizzou's offense, and coincided with MU's late-season surge of success. Hall ended the 2017 season with 33 catches for 817 yards and eight touchdowns, with the average length of his scores coming from a whopping 49.5 yards out. His per-catch average last year of 24.8 led the SEC and ranked as second-best nationally.
In his last 10 regular season games, Hall has caught 46 passes for 1,143 yards and 11 touchdowns, giving him an average of 114.3 yards per game, and a healthy 24.8 yards per catch average. He has seven 100-yard outings during that span. Here's the numbers:

Game	Opponent	Rec.	Yards	TDs
2018	at Purdue	4	88	0
2018	Wyoming	10	171	1
2018	UT Martin	4	171	2
2017	at Arknasas	2	111	2
2017	Tennessee	5	102	2
2017	Florida	5	113	0
2017	at UConn	5	37	0
2017	Idaho	3	80	1
2017	at Georgia	4	141	2
2017	at Kentucky	4	129	1

Here's a look at E-Man's ranking in several categories thus far:

Category (Stat)	SEC Rank	NCAA Rank
Receiving Yards/Game (143.3)	1st	2nd
Receiving Yards (430)	1st	4th
All-Purpose Yards (143.3)	2nd	21st
Receiving TDs (3)	2nd	19th
Yards/Reception (24.4)	2nd	18th
Receptions/Game (6.0)	4th	34th

KNOX AS GOOD AS GOLD

True freshman WR Jalen Knox (Mansfield, Texas) had a break-out performance in Saturday's win at Purdue, as he caught five passes for 110 yards (both career highs), including his first collegiate touchdown, which came on a beautiful skinny post route that he took in stride and raced 59 yards untouched to paydirt to give Mizzou a 20-10 lead early in the second quarter. His contributions were crucial for the Tiger offense, as they were without the services for most of the game of senior WR Emanuel Hall, who was limited with a groin injury.
Knox turned in only the fifth 100-yard receiving game by a true freshman in Mizzou history. The feat was accomplished last in 2016 by former Tiger Dimetrios Mason (twice), and prior to that, in 1999 by Travis Garvin and in 1984 by Andy Gibler.
Knox earned SEC Freshman of the Week for his performance.

IT'S ALL ABOUT THE BALL

In the first quarter of Saturday's game at Purdue, Mizzou's defensive line, led by senior DT Terry Beckner, Jr., sniffed out a Purdue trick play and forced QB David Blough into a bad throw. Senior S Cam Hilton jumped the route and picked up his second career interception. That continued an impressive streak for the Mizzou defense as the Tigers have now forced a turnover in 11 consecutive regular season games, dating back to Oct. 10, 2017, at Kentucky.
In those 11 games, Mizzou is 9-2 overall, winning the last nine as turnovers have been a key to the Tigers' improved play on defense.