Missouri Tigers Kendial Lawrence (4) coughs up the football enroute to the endzone by Texas Tech Red Raiders Cornelius Douglass. UPI/Bill Greenblatt
With head coach Gary Pinkel watching from home, James Franklin directed four touchdowns and scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 9-yard sprint with 2:22 remaining as Mizzou rallied past Texas Tech 31-27 on Saturday night.
Texas Tech threatened late, driving to the Missouri 6, before Dominique Hamilton tipped a pass from Seth Doege and Michael Sam intercepted at the 4, sealing the victory on Senior Day.
Early in the game, Missouri blew a scoring chance in the first quarter when Kendial Lawrence was headed for six and got stripped by the Red Raiders at the 6-yard line and fumbled the ball out of the end zone. Tech responded with their second touchdown of the quarter to go up 14-0.
Franklin rushed for a career-best 152 yards with two touchdowns as the Tigers got to (6-5, 4-4 Big 12). Franklin was 13 for 20 for 172 yards and two more touchdowns in the air, including a 7-yarder to Marcus Lucas earlier in the fourth that cut Texas Tech’s lead to three. Franklin also hit senior Michael Egnew on a five yarder in the third to cut an earlier Tech lead to three.
Tech led most of the night thanks to their ability to come up big on third down, finishing the game 10 of 18 in that department. However, Mizzou’s defense came up big when they needed it. Cornerback E.J. Gaines had two pass breakups for a season total of 16, breaking the single-season school record set by Michael Harden in 2002.
Egnew’s touchdown was his first in five games and that cut Missouri’s deficit to 20-17 with 4:43 to go in the third quarter. It was the first touchdown in the third quarter in five games for the Tigers, who have scored just 40 in the third quarter all year, but it was also their only possession of the third.
Texas Tech went up 10 again on Darrin’s 24-yard catch from Seth Doege with one second left in the third that made it 27-17.
After the game, Defensive Coordinator Dave Steckel and Offensive Coordinator David Yost talked about what the win meant to the seniors and how they dealt with the distraction of not having Coach Pinkel on the sidelines.
Listen to Steckel and Yost (11:00)
