Cook’s best game of season, Craig’s long field goal give Mizzou Music City Bowl win over Iowa
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Brady Cook accounted for more than 300 yards of total offense, Blake Craig made a 56-yard field goal and Missouri beat Iowa in the Music City Bowl.
The Tigers’ 27-24 win over the Hawkeyes is their 10th victory of the season, giving the team back-to-back 10-win campaigns for just the third time in program history. MU finishes the 2024 season 10-3 overall.
Craig’s long field goal, attempted with the hold solidly on the painted bowl logo at midfield, gave Mizzou its first and only lead of the day with fewer than five minutes to go.
Cook, playing his final collegiate game, completed 18 of 32 passes for 287 yards — his season high — and two touchdowns. He also rushed for 54 yards.
Wide receiver Theo Wease Jr. caught five passes for 75 yards and a touchdown in his finale, which was cut short at halftime when he was ruled out with an injury.
Wideout Marquis Johnson emerged as the Tigers’ young breakout player of the game with seven receptions, 122 yards — his first game over 100 — and a touchdown.
Linebacker Corey Flagg Jr. blew up an Iowa quarterback sneak on a fourth down with just over a minute to go, sealing the game.
Attendance for the game, held in the Tennessee Titans’ Nissan Stadium, was 43,375, the second-smallest crowd for a Music City Bowl since 2005. Monday was just the third time since then that the game drew fewer than 50,000 fans.
In the run-up to the bowl, MU coach Eli Drinkwitz had referred to the contest as an “exhibition game” for his team, which has now won two consecutive bowl games over Big Ten opponents.
After getting a quick Missouri punt out of the way, the Tigers and Hawkeyes put up a fair amount of points early in the game.
Iowa drove down the field with ease for the game’s first touchdown. It picked up 29 yards on its first pass of the day when MU safety Marvin Burks Jr. was beaten over the top in coverage, then punched in the score with a dump off to wideout Terrell Washington Jr.
Mizzou’s offense found its footing for one of its crisper drives of the season, getting passing chunk plays clicking. On a third down from the 8-yard line, Cook found Wease in the back of the end zone to tie the game at 7-7 with 2:12 left in the first quarter.
Then, special teams became a factor. Iowa’s Kaden Wetjen fielded the ensuing kickoff in the end zone and took it all the way down the field for a 100-yard return touchdown to put the Hawkeyes back in front.
Cook absorbed a late blow while sliding to extend the Tigers’ next drive and finished it off with a 7-yard passing touchdown to Johnson, who found himself running freely to the sideline in the end zone.
Knotted at 14-all, both teams played more conservatively until Iowa broke the deadlock just before halftime. A drive that started at the Hawkeyes’ 10-yard line got a boost from running back Kamari Moulton weaving through the Missouri defense and benefiting from a few missed tackles.
MU safety Joseph Charleston saved a touchdown by popping Iowa quarterback Brendan Sullivan on the goal line after Sullivan tried to scramble from one sideline to the other and back in search of running room. On the next play, however, the Hawkeyes broke through with a 1-yard score for Moulton.
There were 49 seconds left in the first half when Iowa went up 21-14 because Drinkwitz had been calling his timeouts to preserve a sliver of time before the Hawkeyes got the ball back to start the second half.
The Tigers came close to getting something going with a completed pass to Wease over the middle and a targeting penalty after Wease took a shot on another attempt at a catch, but the penalty was overturned and Missouri wound up punting after just three plays and 25 seconds of possession to leave the score at 21-14 at the break.
Wease was ruled out at halftime with an upper-body injury, a team spokesperson said.
Iowa got an explosive run play to start the second half but wound up punting from MU territory for the second time. Mizzou did the same on its first drive and gave the Hawkeyes 15 more yards on the return due to a late hit.
A roughing the passer penalty and more shoddy tackling on the Tigers’ end of things allowed Iowa to get into the red zone before a third-down sack from defensive end Johnny Walker Jr. forced a field goal. Hawkeyes kicker Drew Stevens converted from 38 yards away to extend the lead to 24-14.
Cook found Johnson 44 yards downfield for the second-year wideout to come down with a physical catch on a deep vertical pass. Cook had a rushing touchdown wiped off the board, but a couple of plays later, receiver Joshua Manning got to the edge on a jet sweep for a 4-yard rushing touchdown, cutting the gap to three points near the end of the third quarter.
Mizzou got the big play it needed from the defense early in the fourth quarter. Linebacker Corey Flagg Jr. pressured Sullivan into a throw to the sideline, which cornerback Toriano Pride Jr. shouldered his way into first for an interception.
MU’s drive nearly sputtered after a Cook throw out of a sack went 18 yards backwards, but a late hit call on Iowa kept the possession alive.
Kicker Blake Craig tied the game at 24-24 through a 52-yard field goal with 10:10 left to play.
Outside linebacker Triston Newson stuffed a Sullivan run on third down for a crunch-time stop. T
he Tigers’ offense couldn’t capitalize, but its special teams unit could: Craig made a 56-yard field goal with the hold on the bowl game logo to give Mizzou a 27-24 lead, its first of the day.
Playing from behind, Iowa went three-and-out and punted the ball back to MU with three minutes and change to go. MU didn’t do anything of significance with the ball, and the Hawkeyes got it back with two minutes to go, needing a field goal to send the game to overtime.
Sullivan was sacked on the first play of that drive, which ended in a stuffed quarterback sneak on fourth down.
The Tigers did not have wide receiver Luther Burden III and right tackle Armand Membou, who both declared early for the NFL Draft and opted out of the Music City Bowl. Burden attended the game with the team.
