OXFORD, Miss. — There was, believe it or not, a time that Mizzou faced goal-to-go to make its top-15 matchup at Ole Miss a competitive ballgame.
The Tigers were down 11 points in the second quarter. An illegal shift penalty had made one drive stall out. A false start turned a potential early touchdown drive into a field goal.
Trinidad Chambliss and the Ole Miss offense hadn’t had any troubles with self-inflicted wounds. The Rebels didn’t have many problems at all Saturday, Oct. 17, as they mashed the Tigers 31-3 at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
But Mizzou had a chance to pull them back. Down 14-3, the Tigers worked their way into the red zone behind a 43-yard strike to Cayden Lee. Backup running back Xai’Shaun Edwards took three straight carries down to goal-to-go territory. Austin Simmons’ third-down shot to Lee was broken up.
Fourth down. Five yards to goal.
The Tigers brought out the field goal unit. Blake Craig’s 23-yard chip shot was ugly. The snap and hold seemed clean, but the kicker dragged the attempt low and wide left. No good.
Mizzou (5-2, 2-2 SEC) punted on five of its next six drives and turned it over on downs on the other.
So, why kick it?
“Kicking it, I think, (would have) made it 14-6. If we make it, it’s still a one-possession game. If you don't get it, you're still in a two-possession game,” Mizzou coach Eli Drinkwitz explained after the game. “Felt like we'd worked really hard to get down there, so we needed just to come away with points. Obviously, that was a deflating moment in the game, but I still think it's the right call.”
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Mizzou conceded 31 straight points to Ole Miss in its second loss of the season. The Rebels scored 17 of those after Craig’s kick, including a touchdown on the very next drive, marching 80 yards in 10 plays to put Mizzou in a three-score hole.
The Tigers didn’t get back into the red zone until their final drive of the game, when they were behind 28 points.
Missouri finished with 39 yards rushing, which is a season-low, and was 6-of-17 on third downs, needing an average of 7.8 yards to move the chains on third down.
“You’ve got to figure out how to score. You’ve got to score in the red zone and get everybody settled down,” Drinkwitz said. “We were never able to just get settled into the rhythm of the game. And, again, I thought the defense settled in the third quarter and gave us chances, but offensively, we were just pressing, we were pressing, we were pressing and we just weren't able to do it.”
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Missouri football coach Eli Drinkwitz defends fourth-and-goal decision to kick