Grades from Missouri football’s loss to Arkansas and looking ahead to a bowl game

The Missouri Tigers (6-6, 3-5 SEC) lost their last game of the regular season against No. 25 Arkansas, 34-17, on Friday at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium.

Here are grades for all three Mizzou units, the highlight of the game and a look ahead to the postseason.

PLAY OF THE GAME

The play of the game came in the first half, before things got ugly as Arkansas ran away with it. On first-and-10 on Arkansas’ third drive of the game, linebacker Blaze Alldredge burst through a hole in the offensive line and forced running back Trelon Smith to fumble at the 39-yard line. Linebacker Chad Bailey recovered the ball and within five minutes of the game play, the Tigers scored their first points of the day on a field goal to tie the contest at 3-3.

GRADES

Offense: D. The offense has struggled ever since Connor Bazelak came back from what was called a soft-tissue injury, and it was more of the same on Friday. The unit repeatedly got in its own way with penalties or other unnecessary mistakes when it was in scoring position. Mizzou settled for field goals all afternoon, until coach Eliah Drinkwitz subbed in backup quarterback Brady Cook with the game out of reach in the fourth quarter. Once again, running back Tyler Badie was pretty much the entire offense, accounting for 219 of the team’s 316 total yards, only 65 of which came from the air. Bazelak completed just 10-of-26 pass attempts (38%) for no touchdowns and an interception.

Defense: C-. The defense was solid for the most part in the first half, holding the Razorbacks to just 10 points and 167 total yards, but everything went awry in the second half. The Tigers allowed six explosive plays in the second half and 10 total, including three passes of over 43 yards and two runs of over 32 yards. Arkansas finished with 425 total yards, averaged 8.0 yards per play and was able to score on all five of its trips to the end zone. There were a few positives from the defense, though mostly from the first half, such as five tackles for a loss of 17 yards, three sacks and the forced fumble.

Special teams: B+. The special teams unit was responsible for the majority of Missouri’s points on the afternoon. Kicker Harrison Mevis, who was snubbed for the Lou Groza Award list earlier this week, had field goals of 46, 49 and 41 yards without a single miss. The only reason this isn’t an A is that the unit couldn’t get much going on punt returns, with Dionte “Boo” Smith only recording 17 total yards across three tries.

LOOKING AHEAD

Though the regular season is over, Mizzou is eligible for a bowl game. That matchup will be announced on Sunday, Dec. 5.