Missouri Upsets Georgia 41-26 to Take Control in SEC East
The Missouri Tigers upset of the Georgia Bulldogs has thrown a monkey wrench into the SEC East standings. The Tigers took advantage of the shorthanded Bulldogs and harassed Aaron Murray into three back breaking turnovers in a 41-26 win. The Tigers now take the East lead at 6-0, 2-0 pending the outcome of the Florida Gators at the LSU Tigers.
Missouri will play Florida next week at home and a win there would put them squarely in the driver’s seat in the East. The final score of 41-26 does not tell the story though of how close Missouri came to giving this one away. The Tigers took a 28-10 lead into halftime thanks in large part to two Georgia fumbles. One of the fumbles was by Murray on a blind side hit that resulted in a fumble return for a touchdown to give Missouri two touchdowns in a 14 second span.
With the score 28-10, Murray led the Bulldogs on a nice drive that looked as if it would result in a late Georgia score. But Brendan Douglas fumbled inside the 10 yard line and Missouri recovered.
The Third quarter was all UGA however as they drove for a field goal with their first possession and a touchdown on the next one to cut it to 28-20 at the end of the third. Missouri kept the touchdown drive alive with a failure to make a tackle on one third down, a pass interference penalty on another one and a failure to stop Georgia on fourth and five.
The Tigers also shot themselves in the foot on offense in the third, failing to convert on some good field position. The third quarter was the first quarter the Tigers failed to score all season.
Georgia then drove the ball for another touchdown early in the fourth quarter to cut it to 28-26. The two point conversion however was incomplete to keep the score there.
Then Missouri pulled out a play form their bag of tricks when starting quarterback James Franklin went out with a shoulder injury. Freshman quarterback Maty Mauk threw a lateral to running back Bud Sasser who then threw for the end zone. The Missouri receiver L’Damian Washington won the battle for the ball in the end zone to put the Tigers back up by eight at 34-26. Then Mizzou shot themselves in the foot once again by missing the extra point. The drive was aided by a roughing the passer penalty which gave the Tigers a big first down.
But that is when the defense rose up. They sacked Murray on third down to force a three and out on one drive. Then with the Tigers up eight, they picked Murray off. A roughing the passer on the play was missed by the referees and the Tigers took over in UGA territory. They scored a few plays later to ice the game and stay unbeaten.
The loss essentially ends the Bulldogs hopes for a national championship and now makes it a bit difficult to even win the SEC East. Missouri has Florida and the South Carolina Gamecocks coming to their place the next two weeks. Franklin’s health may have a lot to do with who wins the division.
Who had Missouri winning this game? We told you yesterday to take Missouri.
