Missouri tailback Henry Josey (20) dives into the end zone during an NCAA college football game against Missouri in Oxford, Miss., Saturday, Nov. 23, 2013. (Photo/Ignacio Murillo)
No. 8 Missouri racked up 260 yards on the ground, while holding No. 24 Ole Miss to just 10 points, as the Tigers spoiled senior night with a 24-10 win Saturday at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. The loss dropped the Rebels to 7-4 overall and 3-4 in Southeastern Conference play, while the Tigers improved to 10-1 overall and 6-1 in the SEC.
“We’re obviously disappointed that we didn’t have a chance to win at the end,” Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze said. “They are a very good football team; they take you out of a lot of things. They are excellent up front on both sides. We needed to play a good game, and we didn’t play well enough.”
It took Missouri just two minutes and fifteen seconds to get on the board with a four-yard run from running back Henry Josey, who finished as the Tigers leading rusher with 95 yards on 15 carries. He would also find the end zone twice.
Missouri would push the lead to 10 midway through the second quarter with a 33-yard field goal from Andrew Baggett. Ole Miss would answer with a field goal of their own off the foot of Andrew Ritter from 30 yards out, but just before halftime, Missouri put up another seven points, this time on a three-yard run from Marcus Murphy.
The teams would go into the locker room with the Tigers leading the Rebels 17-3, but Ole Miss came out fired up in the second half. Just a minute and thirty four seconds into the third quarter, I’Tavius Mathers was celebrating in the end zone with teammates after a 45-yard touchdown scamper that brought the Rebels back within seven. Mathers was Ole Miss’ leading rusher on the night with 66 yards on seven carries.
Missouri would put the game away though with a 10-yard touchdown run from Josey, his second of the night midway through the third quarter.
The Rebels had multiple chances to stay in the game, but were unable to capitalize and finished with just three points on three red zone trips. The Tigers, however, would score all 24 of their points in the red zone on four trips.
“It’s impossible to beat a top-10 team when you get in the red zone and don’t score touchdowns or points,” Freeze said. “We had the blocked field goal, then a drop and a bad call on the reverse. If you don’t score some points in the red zone against that team, you aren’t going to win.”
Ole Miss was also dealing with an ailing starting quarterback in Bo Wallace, who was suffering with flu-like symptoms the whole game.
“Last night at the hotel, he started feeling awful and running a fever,” Freeze said. “We got him on an IV today, but he looked a little glassy eyed early on. I wasn’t sure how effective he would be, but he wanted to go hard and compete.”
Wallace finished the day 26 of 42 for 244 yards and also tossed an interception. Despite the sickness, offensive coordinator Dan Werner thought Wallace played OK.
“I thought he played fairly well,” Werner said. “It was a team effort. We found ways to screw up; it wasn’t just him.”
The Rebels will now turn their attention to the annual Egg Bowl, which will take place Thanksgiving day in Starkville. Freeze said the team will have to forget this loss tonight with the quick turnaround to the in-state matchup.
“I think they are a good football team,” Freeze said of Mississippi State. “They will be very emotional, not only because it is the Egg Bowl, but because they’re playing for extra practices and a bowl game.”
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