Game Notes: Mississippi State
11/19/2024 3:01:00 PM | Football
COLUMBIA, Mo. – University of Missouri football embarks on its 2024 regular season road finale Saturday with a Southeastern Conference matchup with Mississippi State at Davis Wade Stadium in Starkville, Mississippi.
Kickoff is set for 3:15 p.m. CT, and the game will be broadcast live on SEC Network and Tiger Radio Network.
Saturday's matchup will be just the fifth all-time meeting between Missouri and Mississippi State, with the series currently knotted at 2-2. The Bulldogs are riding a two-game winning streak over the Tigers, including a 51-32 victory during the teams' last meeting on December 19, 2020. The last Mizzou win over Mississippi State was a 47-30 decision on Faurot Field on September 22, 1984.
Saturday's SEC Network broadcast will feature Taylor Zarzour, Matt Stinchcomb, and Alyssa Lang on the call. The game can also be heard on the Tiger Radio Network from LEARFIELD through the Varsity Network mobile app and Sirius XM channel 374.
HOW TO FOLLOW
Missouri (7-3, 3-3 SEC) at Mississippi State (2-8, 0-6 SEC)
Saturday, November 23, 2024 • 3:15 p.m. CT
Starkville, Miss. • Davis Wade Stadium (60,311)
TELEVISION • SECN
RADIO • Tiger Radio Network from LEARFIELD
GAME NOTES • Missouri Notes • Mississippi State Notes
LIVE STATS • HailState.com
TWITTER • @MizzouFootball
INTERVIEWS • Coach Drinkwitz Weekly Press Conference | Drake Heismeyer Pre-Practice Interview | Nicholas Rodriguez Pre-Practice Interview | Trajen Greco Pre-Practice Interview
GAME NOTES
Missouri enters Saturday's game in search of its first victory over Mississippi State as SEC foes; the Tigers claimed the first two meetings in the series but have dropped both of their conference matchups with the Bulldogs since joining the league in 2012.
Head coach Eliah Drinkwitz notched his 35th win at Mizzou with the Tigers' November 9 victory over Oklahoma; he needs two more victories to match Dan Devine's program record for wins through the first five seasons of a Mizzou head coaching tenure.
Mizzou's defense ranks among the nation's best in several statistical categories, including first downs allowed (7th), 3rd down percentage (7th), total defense (18th), passing yards allowed (19th) and scoring defense (25th).
LB Corey Flagg Jr. and DE Johnny Walker Jr. are averaging 8.0 tackles and 0.75 sacks per game apiece in SEC play to rank tied for eighth and eight, respectively.
Walker Jr. brings the SEC's longest active sack streak into Saturday's game, with 0.5+ sacks in four-straight contests (dating back to Oct. 19 vs. Auburn).
MU's offense has converted 35-of-38 (.921) red zone opportunities into points this season, which ranks fourth in the SEC and 14th nationally; the Tigers have scored on 91-of-96 (.948) combined trips to the red zone since the start of the 2023 season.
The Tigers lead the SEC in time of possession (32:16) and rank second in fewest turnovers lost (9); Mizzou also leads the conference in fewest penalty yards per game (42.00) in league play.
QB Brady Cook (8,290) ranks fourth on the Tigers' all-time passing yardage list and fifth on MU's career touchdown passes chart (46); he enters Saturday's game 509 yards behind Brad Smith for the No. 3 spot and five TD tosses shy of James Franklin in the No. 4 position, respectively.
K Blake Craig broke Mizzou's freshmen record for field goals, raising his 2024 season total to 19 makes with a 3-of-4 performance at South Carolina to surpass Harrison Mevis' previous program standard of 17 (2020); Craig ranks second in the SEC in field goals per game (1.90) and fifth nationally.
WR Luther Burden III (2,162) climbed into Mizzou's all-time top 10 for receiving yards last Saturday, shifting into the No. 8 position following his eight-catch, 69-yard effort at South Carolina; the junior has recorded a reception in 32 consecutive games, which is tied for the third-longest streak in Mizzou history.
Burden III ranks fourth in the SEC in receptions per game (5.0), while RB Nate Noel's 5.6 yards per carry rates as the No. 5 rushing average in the conference.
SERIES AT A GLANCE
Mizzou and Mississippi State will square off for just the fifth time Saturday in a series deadlocked at 2-2.
The Bulldogs claimed a decisive 51-32 victory in the last meeting on December 19, 2020.
The Tigers won the first two games of the series, including a 14-3 win over No. 9 MSU on Oct. 3, 1981, on a neutral field in Jackson, Mississippi, as well as a 47-30 victory in Columbia on September 22, 1984.
MSU has claimed both matchups since Mizzou's move to the SEC in 2012, notching a 31-13 win in Columbia in 2015 to go along with its 2020 victory.
STREAKING TIGERS
DE Johnny Walker Jr. has recorded 0.5+ sacks in four consecutive games after posting 1.0 sack against South Carolina last Saturday; that takedown increased his season total to a team-best 5.5 sacks.
During the game against the Gamecocks, Walker Jr. also matched a career high with 2.0 tackles for loss.
Walker Jr.'s string of at least one-half sack in four-straight games is the longest current streak in the SEC.
SEC Active Sack Streak
(consecutive games with at least one-half sack)
NO. PLAYER TEAM GAMES
1. Johnny Walker Jr. Mizzou 4
2. Jihaad Campbell Alabama 3
Chaz Chambliss Georgia 3
Landon Jackson Arkansas 3
Suntarine Perkins Ole Miss 3
Princely Umanmielen Ole Miss 3
Walker Jr. also moved into the Tigers' career top 20 for sacks (14.5), surpassing Lee Johnson and Kony Ealy for the No. 20 spot on the chart.
In addition to Walker's streak, Mizzou's wide receiver duo of Luther Burden III and Theo Wease Jr. turned in big afternoons at South Carolina to extend streaks of their own.
Burden III recorded a reception in his 32nd consecutive contest with a season-high eight catches; that represents the 18th longest current streak in the FBS, as well as the longest streak by a Tiger wideout since Johnathon Johnson's 32-game streak from September 2017 through October 2019.
Wease Jr. has logged a catch in 24 consecutive contests, including all 23 games in the Black & Gold.
Burden III's streak is tied for the third-longest in Mizzou history, trailing only Chase Coffman's 43-game streak and Justin Gage's 33-game streak; Wease Jr.'s streak ranks 12th all-time on Mizzou's list.
IN THE ZONE
Mizzou has been nearly unstoppable in the red zone, converting 35-of-38 (.921) trips inside of the opposition's 20-yard line into points this season.
The Tigers have found the end zone on 23 of those possessions overall (60.5%).
Last week at South Carolina, the Tigers converted all five of their red zone opportunities, scoring a pair of touchdowns and three field goals.
The Tigers red zone offense was one of the nation's best in 2023, putting points on the board in 56-of-58 (96.6%) trips inside the 20-yard line to rank third among all FBS offenses.
MU converted 36 red zone TDs, while K Harrison Mevis booted 20 red zone FGs to rank second in the FBS.
Mizzou enters Saturday's contest 91-of-96 (.948) in the red zone overall since the start of last season.
COOKIN' WITH GAS
QB Brady Cook returned to the Tigers' starting lineup Saturday at South Carolina and promptly turned in the 25th 200-yard passing performance of his Missouri career.
Cook, who ranks third in MU history with those 25 games of 200+ yards, continued his climb up the Tigers passing leaderboard with his 21-of-31, 237-yard effort at USC: he ranks fourth in both career passing yards (8,290) — just 509 away from Brad Smith in the No. 3 spot — and total offense (9,366), while his 142.6 career pass efficiency rating is the second-best in program history.
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