What we learned: Arkansas doubles up Missouri 34-17 to regain Battle Line Rivalry trophy
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — After 1,827 days housing the Battle Line Rivalry trophy in Columbia, the 180-pound silver chalice is moving out of the Tigers' cupboard.
Arkansas stopped Missouri's five-game winning streak in the newly elevated series by a 34-17 score on Friday afternoon at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium in front of a crowd of 67,320.
Missouri finishes the regular season 6-6 overall and 3-5 in Southeastern Conference play and will await its bowl selection, coming Dec. 5.
Arkansas improved to 8-4 in its second season under head coach Sam Pittman.
The Tigers had won every Battle Line Rivalry matchup dating back to 2016, including last season's 50-48 victory over Arkansas on a Harrison Mevis field goal as time expired.
Missouri will have to look to build a new streak starting in 2022 after it was outgained by the Hogs 425-316.
Here's what we learned in Missouri's regular-season finale against Arkansas:
Costly penalties trip Tigers
Missouri had five drives of 30 or more yards Friday to put itself into scoring position.
Almost every time past midfield, the Tigers couldn't get out of their own way and pushed themselves further from the end zone as a result of yellow flags flying from the officials.
Michael Maietti was called for a block below the waist on Missouri's second drive of the day, costing the Tigers 16 yards.
In the second quarter, Missouri running back Tyler Badie didn't help his cause to become the Tigers' single-season all-time leading rusher, pushing the Tigers back 15 yards after grabbing Myles Slusher's face mask while out of bounds.
On the next drive, a 20-yard Badie rush was negated due to a Connor Wood holding penalty, a swing of 30 yards.
Down 24-6 in the third quarter, Maietti was flagged again, this time for holding, helping Missouri settle for a field goal on a drive where it desperately needed a touchdown.
The Tigers didn't run a play from inside the Arkansas red zone the entire game.
Badie's pursuit of history
Badie came into the chilly Black Friday matchup needing 193 rushing yards to break Devin West's program record of 1,578 rushing yards, set in 1998.
The senior needed only 21 to get into second place all-time, passing Brad Smith's 1,406-yard mark set in the 2003 campaign early in the first quarter.
The Memphis, Tennessee, native ran for 113 yards in the first half and broke the record on a 6-yard carry late in the fourth quarter.
Badie finished the game with 41 carries for 219 yards and a touchdown. He now has 1,604 rushing yards on the season. His performance against the Razorbacks was his fifth 200-yard outing of the season.
West set the standard in 11 games because bowl statistics didn’t count in 1998. He ran for 125 in the Insight.com Bowl that year that didn't count toward his record.
More: Mizzou running back Tyler Badie breaks Tigers' all-time single-season rushing record
Bazelak's shaky day
After missing the Georgia game with a soft-tissue injury, Tigers starting quarterback Connor Bazelak finished out the final three games of the regular season as the starter.
His worst performance since returning from injury came against Arkansas, finishing the day 10 of 26 passing for 65 yards and an interception.
Bazelak didn't throw for a touchdown.
For the second time in that three-game stretch, he was replaced late in the game by backup Brady Cook.
Former Tigers go through senior day
Tre Williams and Markell Utsey were playing for Missouri at this time last year, when they went through senior day festivities as Tigers.
After Missouri's last home game of 2020, Williams, a former standout at Rock Bridge, entered the transfer portal and didn't finish the regular season with the Tigers.
The Columbia native originally committed to Houston, but then ended up in Fayetteville under Razorbacks defensive coordinator Barry Odom, who was Missouri's head coach from 2016-19.
Utsey went through spring practice with Missouri this year, but entered the transfer portal in April, signing with Arkansas a little while later.
Utsey is originally from Little Rock and spent his final college season playing for the flagship institution of his home state.
The duo combined for four tackles against the Tigers.
Contact Eric Blum at eblum@columbiatribune.com. Follow @ByEricBlum on Twitter.
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This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Instant analysis: Arkansas doubles up Missouri 34-17
