After a poor practice on Wednesday, the Missouri offense needed a sharper outing on Thursday and they delivered early in picking up a 32-28 win over the defense in the third and final scrimmage, using modified scoring. It was the first win for the offense this fall camp. Now the goal is to fine tune and get healthy for the September 3rd opener against Miami of Ohio.
Missourinet exclusive Q & A with T.J. Moe
12 players sat out practice, including eight starters (5 defense, 3 offense). Most of the injuries are not considered serious, which is a great sign and the players were held out for precautionary reasons.
Gary Pinkel’s thoughts on the scrimmage and injuries
The biggest question mark in terms of recovering from the nagging injuries is the offensive line that brought back four of the five starters from last year. I thought with the return of nine starters, and the o-line in place, that would help first year starter James Franklin at quarterback, but Mizzou has had to shuffle their line around. With the loss of Elvis Fisher at left tackle, guard Austin Wuebbels is out with a neck issue and Travis Ruth is slow to get back at center recovering from a strained Achilles tendon.
Running back Kendial Lawrence suffered a shoulder strain and Gahn McGaffie strained his knee during the scrimmage.
The number one offense came out sharp right away against the number one defense, putting together a nice eight play drive where James Franklin missed on just one pass. He connected with T.J. for a 10 yard touchdown. The number two offense came right back with Jimmy Costello moving the team down for a 30 yard field goal. Toward the latter part of the scrimmage, Costello threw a nice ball to Jimmie Hunt and hit him in perfect stride down the right sideline for a 56 yard score.
Scoring Plays
T.J. Moe 10 yard pass from James Franklin
Grant Ressel 30-yard FG
Henry Josey 13-yard run
Jimmie Hunt 56-yard pass from Jimmy Costello
Andrew Jones 9-yard pass from Ashton Glaser
Passing Stats
James Franklin – 9/12, 82 yards, 1 TD
Jimmy Costello – 10/12, 125 yards, 1 TD
Ashton Glaser – 8/11, 48 yards, 1 TD
Corbin Berkstresser – 11/14, 107 yards, 1 INT
TOTALS: 38/49, 362 yards, 3 TD, 1 INT
Rushing Stats
Kendial Lawrence – 6 carries, 30 yards
De’Vion Moore – 1 carry, 11 yards
Jimmy Costello – 1 carry, 11 yards
James Franklin – 2 carries, 6 yards
Jared Culver – 2 carries, 3 yards
Henry Josey – 4 carries, 2 yards, 1 TD
Greg White – 5 carries, (-4) yards
Ashton Glaser – 1 carry, (-4) yards
TOTALS: 22 carries, 55 yards, 1 TD
Receiving Stats
Jimmie Hunt – 5 rec., 98 yards, 1 TD
T.J. Moe – 5 rec., 55 yards, 1 TD
L’Damian Washington – 5 rec., 41 yards
Brandon Gerau – 1 rec., 30 yards
Andrew Jones – 3 rec., 27 yards, 1 TD
Beau Brinkley – 1 rec., 18 yards
De’Vion Moore – 2 rec., 16 yards