The most important thing to say about tonight is this
Who gives a shit what anybody else says? Let Ohio State fans make their excuses. It's fine. They don't matter. You play whoever lines up across from you. They all got scholarships too. The third string quarterback didn't play offensive line. The Ohio State defense didn't have any opt outs and actually had fewer starters missing than Mizzou's and Mizzou's was better. This was an historic win to cap an historic season for Missouri. Don't let anyone else take that from you.
*Brady Cook was terrible for 40 minutes. There's no sugarcoating it. He had plenty of company in being terrible so it's not all his fault, but he was bad. And then he was great. The throw to Marquis Johnson was the most important, but probably the easiest. The throw to Theo Wease was incredible. The touchdown to Luther Burden was so improbable Mike Kelly called it an interception at first on the radio broadcast. As we've said a number of times, you can question a lot of things about Brady Cook. You cannot question his heart and his toughness. This kid has been cast aside so many times by so many people and he just keeps coming back. Absolute warrior. He can lead my team any day.
*Somebody's going to write a book and/or make a movie about Cody Schrader. I'm glad he got the single-season rushing record. He deserves it.
*The guy we're not going to talk about enough in this game is Theo Wease. The catch he made on third and 7 to kickstart Mizzou's first touchdown drive was ridiculous. He got absolutely lit up and held on. If he doesn't hold on, the rest of it might not happen.
*I've seen somewhere in the neighborhood of 400 Missouri football games in my life (guesstimating there). I'm not sure I've ever seen a more dominant defensive performance. Missouri whipped Ohio State up front. Blake Baker knew the Buckeyes didn't want to throw and outside of about a drive-and-a-half he had his defense locking down the Buckeye running game. And every time they got in a situation it seemed like they had to throw, Baker brought everybody on the field after the quarterback to make sure he had no time to think or make a play. Incredible performance on that side of the ball.
*I thought Daylan Carnell deserved defensive MVP. But credit to Johnny Walker. I said at halftime I'd bench him. And I would have. Yes, I know the Ohio State guy started it and threw a punch. But you can''t react there. You just can't do it. But credit to Missouri's coaches for sticking with him, credit to Walker for keeping his cool and living in the OSU backfield. There's a reason I fire off message board posts and I'm not a coach. I was wrong. Good for him.
*It's impossible to overstate how big this win is. This was the one that took the season from really good to historic. Missouri's going to finish somewhere between 6th and 8th in the country. I'll be surprised if they don't start next season in the top 15...and maybe the top 10. It's all there next year. We have to wait eight months for it to start back up, but I don't think it's going too far to say this is going to be the most anticipated season in the history of Missouri football. I can't wait to follow it.
*We'll have plenty of look backs and retrospectives on the season. My column, the postgame show and postgame interviews are on the front. @JHamilton23 is working on a full notebook from Dallas. He'll have grades in the morning before flying home and I'll get the snap counts up whenever I get up before I go cover basketball tomorrow.
Enjoy this everyone. It hasn't happened that often around here.
Who gives a shit what anybody else says? Let Ohio State fans make their excuses. It's fine. They don't matter. You play whoever lines up across from you. They all got scholarships too. The third string quarterback didn't play offensive line. The Ohio State defense didn't have any opt outs and actually had fewer starters missing than Mizzou's and Mizzou's was better. This was an historic win to cap an historic season for Missouri. Don't let anyone else take that from you.
*Brady Cook was terrible for 40 minutes. There's no sugarcoating it. He had plenty of company in being terrible so it's not all his fault, but he was bad. And then he was great. The throw to Marquis Johnson was the most important, but probably the easiest. The throw to Theo Wease was incredible. The touchdown to Luther Burden was so improbable Mike Kelly called it an interception at first on the radio broadcast. As we've said a number of times, you can question a lot of things about Brady Cook. You cannot question his heart and his toughness. This kid has been cast aside so many times by so many people and he just keeps coming back. Absolute warrior. He can lead my team any day.
*Somebody's going to write a book and/or make a movie about Cody Schrader. I'm glad he got the single-season rushing record. He deserves it.
*The guy we're not going to talk about enough in this game is Theo Wease. The catch he made on third and 7 to kickstart Mizzou's first touchdown drive was ridiculous. He got absolutely lit up and held on. If he doesn't hold on, the rest of it might not happen.
*I've seen somewhere in the neighborhood of 400 Missouri football games in my life (guesstimating there). I'm not sure I've ever seen a more dominant defensive performance. Missouri whipped Ohio State up front. Blake Baker knew the Buckeyes didn't want to throw and outside of about a drive-and-a-half he had his defense locking down the Buckeye running game. And every time they got in a situation it seemed like they had to throw, Baker brought everybody on the field after the quarterback to make sure he had no time to think or make a play. Incredible performance on that side of the ball.
*I thought Daylan Carnell deserved defensive MVP. But credit to Johnny Walker. I said at halftime I'd bench him. And I would have. Yes, I know the Ohio State guy started it and threw a punch. But you can''t react there. You just can't do it. But credit to Missouri's coaches for sticking with him, credit to Walker for keeping his cool and living in the OSU backfield. There's a reason I fire off message board posts and I'm not a coach. I was wrong. Good for him.
*It's impossible to overstate how big this win is. This was the one that took the season from really good to historic. Missouri's going to finish somewhere between 6th and 8th in the country. I'll be surprised if they don't start next season in the top 15...and maybe the top 10. It's all there next year. We have to wait eight months for it to start back up, but I don't think it's going too far to say this is going to be the most anticipated season in the history of Missouri football. I can't wait to follow it.
*We'll have plenty of look backs and retrospectives on the season. My column, the postgame show and postgame interviews are on the front. @JHamilton23 is working on a full notebook from Dallas. He'll have grades in the morning before flying home and I'll get the snap counts up whenever I get up before I go cover basketball tomorrow.
Enjoy this everyone. It hasn't happened that often around here.
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