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The Missouri Tigers snapped their 47-drive touchdown-less streak with a rushing touchdown by Russell Hansbrough in the second quarter.
Unfortunately, that wound up being the highlight for the Tigers as their losing woes continued on a Thursday night primetime matchup with the Mississippi State Bulldogs. Armed with senior quarterback Dak Prescott, who threw for four touchdowns with no interceptions, the 'Dawgs moved to 7-2 and 3-2 in conference play with a 31-13 victory.
Mizzou continued to look for answers on a listless offense in wet conditions on their own turf. Freshman quarterback Drew Lock still is trying to find his way in one of America's toughest conferences, throwing for 107 yards on 24 attempts with two interceptions and no touchdowns. The Tigers amounted lots on the ground - amassing 215 yards on 43 carries, but it simply was not enough.
The usually great Tigers defense is spending just too much time on the field and it's beginning to show its cracks. That is, if it didn't already break on Thursday night. Mizzou's Kentrell Brothers, Lord knows why he was not chosen as a semifinalist for the Butkus Award, had another sensational night and edge player Charles Harris bullied his adversary all night long.
But as the story goes, the Tigers couldn't stand up against Prescott and the Mississippi State offense and the struggles advance on as Mizzou drops to 1-5 in SEC play as their losing streak goes to four.
Let's give credit where credit is due to State, though. The conditions were less than desirable to say the very least. Rain soaked the campus of Mizzou almost all night - at times moving sideways in blinding fashion - and it isn't always easy to walk into Columbia and pick up a victory. The home record Missouri has built up over the years will show it that. And they looked good, at times great, against a monstrous defensive unit standing against them. This is the fourth straight game that Dan Mullen's bunch has scored 31 or more points with the three previous outings vs. Troy, Louisiana Tech and Kentucky seeing State get 45, 45, and 42 respectively.
The only harping feeling that you might have as a Bulldogs fan tonight is wondering what might have been if Mississippi State eluded defeat over skittishly schizophrenic Texas A&M, who State fell to in a 30-17 result last month. The Bulldogs win that game, they are 4-1 in conference play going into a matchup against an Alabama team that may either have an identical number in the loss column or, perhaps, two in the loss column if they were to fall to the Bayou Bengals in Tuscaloosa this weekend.
The next time we'll see the Mizzou, they'll be in Kansas City for a nonconference game against the BYU Cougars on November 14. Mississippi State, meanwhile, will host No. 4 Alabama on November 14 who will be coming off of their titanic matchup with the No. 2 LSU Tigers.