J’mon Moore celebrates his fourth quarter touchdown (photo/Mizzou Athletics)
Drew Lock’s touchdown pass to J’Mon Moore early in the fourth quarter gave Mizzou the lead as they held on for a 20-16 win over BYU on Saturday night at Arrowhead Stadium. It was a great finish to an otherwise troublesome week for this team that started with boycotts and protests and continued with coach Gary Pinkel’s impromptu meeting with his team to announce he was resigning.
“I wasn’t sure after yesterday (Friday) what was going to happen today…I was praying…lots,” said Pinkel in his postgame press conference.
Pinkel’s plan was to tell the team after this week, but information leaked out and Pinkel needed to be upfront with his players so they could hear it from him. The meeting on Friday was emotionally draining for Pinkel and he felt bad that he had to drop that news on his players, just a little over 24 hours from kick.
Many questioned the timing of the news and I speculated that Pinkel wanted to make his intentions known as soon as he could after the resignation of president Tim Wolfe and the announcement that R. Bowen Loftin would be reassigned at the first of the year.
Watch game highlights
What I did not consider was that Gary Pinkel and his team goes into “lock-down” mode 48 hours before kick. That’s when players’ focus needs to completely shift to the game at hand. For Pinkel to make this decision to tell his team about his resignation on a Friday would not make sense from a football standpoint.
Pinkel has scheduled a press conference for Monday morning at 10:30 to talk about his health and his future.
Listen to Gary Pinkel’s press conference following the win over BYU
Watch Gary Pinkel’s press conference via Periscope on Twitter @Missourisports (expires at 10 p.m. Sunday)
Drew Lock threw for 244 yards, and Russell Hansbrough ran for 117 yards, helping the Tigers (5-5) snap a four-game losing streak.
Game notes:
-The Mizzou offense went a season’s best 65% on third down conversions (13 of 20)
-Lock’s 244 yards are a career high.
-Hansbrough’s 117 yards are a season best.
-Mizzou’s defense only allowed 46 rushing yards on the ground, a season’s best
-LB Kentrell Brothers recorded 11 tackles, ninth time in ten games he’s had double digit tackles. He also had his first fumble recovery of his career.
