A near-sold out crowd witnessed the power of a ranked SEC team in person on Saturday afternoon.
A near-sellout crowd of 16,102 eagerly awaited the most-anticipated game in McGuirk Stadium history on Saturday afternoon, hoping maybe— just maybe— those ranked Tigers might get rattled in strange surroundings enough to let the hometown heroes keep the contest close.
Less than a minute in, Missouri’s Luther Burden crashed the party with a 61-yard touchdown run to open the scoring, and fellow back Marcus Carroll would add two quick scores on their next two possessions to give the visitors a commanding early lead in what would ultimately be a 45-3 shellacking in Amherst, Massachusetts.
The Minutemen mounted their best offensive drive of the day to try and stop the bleeding in the second quarter on a 10-play, 65-yard drive over five minutes of clock, but a missed endzone connection between Taisun Phommachanh and Jakobie Keeney-James forced a short Jacob Lurie field goal.
UMass’ defense held strong to force a punt after the offense’s score, immediately forcing a punt. This game the Minutemen an opportunity to make it a two-score contest, and UMass took advantage, driving to the Missouri nine-yard line. Unfortunately,a pass meant for Sterling Galban in the middle of the endzone was plucked by Mizzou’s Corey Flagg Jr., killing the socring chance and giving the Tigers an opportunity to kick the field goal before the halftime bell.
Missouri dominated the second half, shutting UMass out and scoring 24 points. The Tiger defense held UMass to 91 yards rushing and forced the Minutemen to be one-dimensional by moving the ball via the passing game. Taisun Phommachanh struggled, only competing 12 of his 22 passes for 132 yards.
Ahmad Haston made his first appearance of 2024 and completed all three of his passes for 10 yards. With NEC team Wagner on the schedule, Haston could see extended playing time and allow Haston to develop into the quarterback of the future with Taisun Phommachanh graduating after this season.
Jakobi Keeney-James was a bright spot with six catches for 80 yards, proving his past performances against MAC schools were not a fluke. CJ Hester had a short day in the backfield, with nine carries for 33 yards.
Gerrell Johnson led UMass in total tackles (nine), while Shambre Jackson had the team’s lone sack. Lake Ellis and Myles Turner each had a tackle-for-loss.
Mizzou, as expected, were extremely efficient on the field.
Brady Cook finished 14-of-19 for 219 yards and two touchdowns passing, while at least four receivers had 48 yards on the day. Joshua Manning led in yards (68), scoring once, while Luther Burden was the team’s dynamo, leading the team in receptions (five) for 59 yards, while scoring once on the ground with two carries for 68 yards.
Nicholas Rodriguez led the Tigers with nine total tackles, while three Tigers notched a sack a piece on the Minutemen.
UMass had its moments against Missouri but fell behind too quickly against the Tigers. This could be the only time a Power Four program outside the northeast visits UMass. Although the score was unfavorable, this was still a memorable moment in UMass history.
The Minutemen now look forward to a much-needed BYE week, while Mizzou will host Auburn for a conference game at noon Eastern time next Saturday.