SportsDirect Inc. staff
Nov 28, 2014
No. 17 Missouri 21, Arkansas 14: Maty Mauk thew for 265 yards and a touchdown as the Tigers rallied to beat the visiting Razorbacks and win the SEC East for the second consecutive year.
Russell Hansbrough rushed for 91 yards and Marcus Murphy added 58 yards and the winning touchdown for Missouri (10-2, 7-1 SEC). Bud Sasser had nine catches for 127 yards and Jimmie Hunt added five catches for 61 yards and a score.
Brandon Allen, playing with an injured hip, went 13-of-30 for 133 yards and two first-half touchdowns for Arkansas (6-6, 2-6). Jonathan Williams rushed for 72 yards and Alex Collins added 59.
Allen hit Williams (23 yards) and Keon Hatcher (12) for touchdowns, but Missouri answered each score with Andrew Baggett field goals of 52 and 50 yards. The second cut the lead to 14-6 as time expired in the first half, capping a 12-play, 60-yard Missouri drive after a Mauk fumble was overturned.
Missouri used a 98-yard drive to tie the game with 12:41 left, getting long completions to Hunt and Sasser to set up Hunt's 4-yard TD catch and a reverse pass to Darius White for the two-point conversion. Murphy scored from 12 yards out to put the Tigers ahead with 4:38 left and the Razorbacks converted a pair of fourth downs - the first with the help of a Missouri penalty - before a replay ruled Collins fumbled and Markus Golden recovered it with 2:13 left.
GAME NOTEBOOK: The wild and scoreless third quarter saw Arkansas block a field goal, convert a fake punt with P Sam Irwin-Hill's 23-yard run, fail on another fourth-down try on the same drive and force a Missouri fumble. ... Baggett's career-long 52-yard field goal early in the second quarter snapped the Razorbacks' shutout streak at 148 minutes, 58 seconds. ... Missouri has 10 wins for the fifth time in coach Gary Pinkel's 14 seasons.