Mizzou beats SEC rival Tennessee, improves to 8-2 for 1st time since 2014: MU takeaways

Cody Schrader made the message reality.

Missouri football coach Eli Drinkwitz had asked his team to not let last week’s loss at Georgia linger. Schrader made sure the Tigers didn’t.

Mizzou kept alive the possibility of a double-digit-wins season with a 36-7 victory over Tennessee on Saturday in Columbia. The matchup between the No. 13 (CFP) Vols and No. 14 Tigers was the first top-15 game at Faurot Field since Sept. 29, 1979.

And Schrader was the star.

Here are three takeaways from the Tigers’ bounce-back win:

Missouri’s sensational Cody Schrader

Taking over on its own 18 with 20 seconds left in the first half — after Missouri linebacker Chuck Hicks recovered a Triston Newson-forced fumble — Mizzou ran Schrader inside-zone.

MU converted a 46-yard Harrison Mevis field goal on the back of that run to go up 13-7 just 16 seconds later.

How?

Schrader, who entered the MU record books on Saturday, is how.

He scampered 35 yards before going out of bounds, arms aloft in front of a riled-up student section. That was a common sight. Schrader was nothing short of sensational all day long.

By the end of the afternoon, the SEC’s leading rusher had 321 yards from scrimmage, which ranks second all-time in Missouri history, trailing only Devin West’s total against Kansas in 1998. It was the third best all-purpose performance in MU history: Jeremy Maclin had 360 in 2007 against Kansas State.

Schrader totaled 198 yards from scrimmage in the first half alone. His punishing seven-yard touchdown run had put Missouri into the end zone for the first time earlier in the quarter.

If the Division-II transfer wasn’t the leader in the clubhouse for an All-SEC first-team selection before Saturday, he is now.

Tigers stymie Vols’ potent offense

MU defensive coordinator Blake Baker’s defense saved its best for Tennessee.

Unable to get their SEC-leading run game going, the Vols turned to the air. A couple times they flirted with danger. Then UT collapsed.

MU safety Daylan Carnell, who got fingertips to a pair of passes earlier in the game, stepped in front of a fourth-quarter Joe Milton III pass and returned it to the house. That was moments after Luther Burden III had run home a sweep.

Earlier in the half, Milton was stripped by his own running back, Dylan Sampson, as his pass attempt collided with Sampson’s arm. MU safety Jaylon Carlies fell on the fumble.

The UT run game — one that entered the day leading the SEC in carry yards per game — was shut down by a staunch Missouri effort.

Between Jaylen Wright, Jabari Small and Sampson, who each have averaged over 50 yards a game this season, and the mobile QB Milton, the Vols managed just 83 carry yards, much of which coming on a garbage-time drive.

Newson forced a second-quarter fumble and had eight total tackles to lead the Tigers’ defense.

New Year’s Six?

With Saturday’s victory, Missouri (8-2, 4-2 SEC) vaulted into second place in the SEC East.

The Tigers’ win ended any slim chance Tennessee (7-3, 3-3) had of winning a division title.

And it may very well have altered the field for the so-called New Year’s Six games.

Mizzou is likely to be favored in its final two games of the season, at home against Florida next Saturday and on the road against Arkansas the day after Thanksgiving.

Win out, and the Tigers will have their first 10-win season since 2014 ... and likely a game late in December or early January.

The Star has partnered with the Columbia Daily Tribune for coverage of Missouri Tigers athletics.