Brady Cook’s big night helps Missouri hold off Memphis
Brady Cook passed for 341 yards and two touchdowns to drive Missouri to a 34-27 victory over Memphis on Saturday in a nonconference game at St. Louis.
Luther Burden III caught 10 passes for 177 yards for Missouri (4-0). Cody Schrader rushed for 123 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries, and Nathaniel Peat produced 65 yards and a TD on 15 carries.
Seth Henigan completed 31 of 47 passes for 316 yards and three touchdowns for Memphis (3-1). He was intercepted twice.
Blake Watson amassed 130 total yards and a touchdown for Memphis, and Roc Taylor caught seven passes for 143 yards.
On Missouri’s third offensive play, Cook hit Marquis Johnson in stride for a 76-yard touchdown pass.
Memphis responded with a 12-play, 50-yard drive that cut Missouri’s lead to 7-3 on Tanner Gillis’ 43-yard field goal. The key play was Henigan’s 11-yard pass to Demeer Blankumsee on fourth-and-8.
After Schrader lost a fumble on his 10-yard line, Memphis capitalized with Henigan’s 3-yard, fourth-down TD pass to Joseph Scates to move ahead 10-7.
Missouri surged ahead 14-10 with a nine-play, 75-yard drive, capped off by Peat’s 1-yard TD plunge. That score was set up by Burden’s 20-yard catch-and-run play.
Harrison Mevis made it 17-10 at the half with his 25-yard field goal to cap a 78-yard Missouri drive.
Spurred by Cook’s 56-yard pass to Burden, Missouri moved 76 yards in three plays to increase its lead to 24-10. Cook finished the drive with a 19-yard TD pass to Theo Wease Jr.
Memphis cut its deficit to 24-17 with a six-play, 69-yard touchdown drive. Watson finished it off with his 13-yard scoring catch and run.
Mevis hit a 32-yard field goal with 11:01 to play to cap a 74-yard drive and increase Missouri’s lead to 27-17.
Gillis answered with 22-yard field goal with 5:18 left, cutting the deficit to seven. Henigan’s 26-yard pass to Taylor on a fourth-and-3 play spurred the 72-yard drive.
Schrader’s 37-yard TD run with 2:46 left made it 34-20, and Memphis cut the gap to 34-27 on Koby Drake’s 21-yard TD catch with 1:21 to go.
–Field Level Media
