No. 25 Football Squares Off With No. 23 Kentucky Saturday Night

COLUMBIA, Mo. – The No. 25 University of Missouri football team heads to the Bluegrass State Saturday to take on the No. 23 Kentucky Wildcats at Kroger Field. The game kicks off at 6:30 p.m. CT and airs on SEC Network and the Tiger Radio Network.

Missouri (5-1, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) is coming off a 49-39 home loss to No. 23 LSU last weekend – its first setback of 2023. Two prolific offenses dueled to the tune of 1,060 total yards (LSU 533, MU 527) and five lead changes in the second half. LSU scored two touchdowns in the final three minutes to earn the 49-39 victory. QB Brady Cook completed 30-of-47 passes for a career-high 411 yards while WR Luther Burden III caught nine passes for 110 yards in the first half – his fifth straight game over the century mark – and finished with 11 receptions for 149 yards.

THE SERIES
Saturday marks the 14th meeting in a series which dates to 1965. Kentucky has won two-straight games and leads 9-4 all time. Mizzou’s lone win in Lexington came in 2013 (48-17) where UK holds a 5-1 edge. The last three games in the series have been decided by a combined 21 points.

MISSOURI TIGERS
Head Coach Eliah Drinkwitz
Record at Mizzou 22-20 (Fourth Year)
Overall Record 34-21 (Fifth Year)

KENTUCKY WILDCATS
Head Coach Mark Stoops
Record at School 71-60 (11th)
Overall Record Same

GAME INFORMATION
Facility Kroger Field at CM Newton Grounds
Capacity 61,000
TV SEC Network / ESPN+
Radio 1580 AM / 105.1 FM / SiriusXM 133 or 191
Online The Varsity Network: “Search Mizzou”
Series Record Kentucky leads 9-4
In Lexington Kentucky leads 5-1
Last Meeting Nov. 5, 2021 (H), UK W, 21-17

TV: SEC Network
• Play-by-Play: Tom Hart
• Analyst: Jordan Rodgers
• Reporter: Cole Cubelic
• Online: WatchESPN.com
• Mobile App: ESPN

RADIO: TIGER RADIO NETWORK
• Play-by-Play: Mike Kelly
• Analyst: Howard Richards
• Sideline Reporter: Chris Gervino
• Host: Matt Michaels
• Engineer: Jeremy Washington
• Local: 1580 AM / 105.1 FM
• Satellite: SiriusXM 133 or 191 and on the SXM App
• App: Mizzou Tigers / The Varsity Network: “Search Mizzou”

THE COACHES
ELIAH DRINKWITZ is in his fourth season as Mizzou’s head coach. He had led the Tigers to bowl appearances in each of his first three seasons, joining former head coach Warren Powers as the only two MU head coaches to achieve that feat. Additionally, only Powers won more games in his first two seasons at MU (1978-79, 15) than Drinkwitz (11). Prior to taking the Mizzou job, Drinkwitz was 12-1 as the head coach at Appalachian State in 2019. He had previous stops as the OC at NC State, Boise State and Arkansas State.

Mark Stoops is in his 11th season at Kentucky and as a collegiate head coach.

STREAKS, STORYLINES, SIDEBARS … 
• Mizzou is playing its 133rd season of college football.
• Head Coach Eliah Drinkwitz has led Mizzou to a bowl in each of his first three seasons, only the second coach in school history to do so along with the late Warren Powers (1978-84). 
• The 2023 roster features 32 players who have started at least four games in the collegiate career at the FBS level. 
• Thirty-eight student-athletes on the team are from Missouri, including eight from the 573 area code, 19 from the St. Louis metropolitan region, nine from the Kansas City area and two from southwest Missouri.
• Mizzou finished nonconference play undefeated  for the 10th time since 2000, and first since 2018.
• The Tigers have averaged 533.7 yards of offense over their last three contests and currently fifth in the SEC and 22nd nationally in yards per game (465.7).
• MU leads the SEC and is No. 7 nationally in red-zone offense, converting 96-percent (24-of-25) of their opportunities.
• QB Brady Cook has logged four-straight 300+ yard passing games, including a career-best 411 yards against LSU.
• WR Luther Burden III is the FBS’s leading receiver with 54 catches, 793 yards and a 132.2 yards per game average.
• RB Cody Schrader ranks fourth among active NCAA players in rushing yards with 5,031 and is third in the SEC in rushing with 577 yards and a 96.2 ypg avg. His 6.14 ypc average leads all SEC backs with 94 or more totes.
• MU’s pass rush has produced 18 sacks in six contests, including multiple sacks in five of those games.
• CB Kris Abrams-Draine leads the nation – in passes defended (1.8 per game), including three INTs.
• LB Chad Bailey has 11 tackles and a PBU since returning to the starting lineup at Vanderbilt.
• P Luke Bauer uncorked an SEC-leading 73-yard punt vs. LSU, a career long and longest Mizzou punt since 2011.
• K Harrison Mevis has scored 335 career kicking points and needs 27 points to tie Jeff Wolfert’s MU record. 
• Limited tickets remain for the Tigers’ last three home games against South Carolina, Florida and Tennessee.

LAST TIME OUT – LSU 49, Mizzou 39
• Behind 32 second-half points and the arm and legs of QB Jayden Daniels, No. 23 LSU rallied past No. 21 Missouri, 49-39, in front of MU’s second straight sellout crowd at Faurot Field.
• Daniels bedeviled Mizzou all day, completing 15-of-21 passes for 259 yards and three touchdowns and running 15 times for 130 yards and a score. 
• MU led by 15 points, 22-7, midway through the second quarter and took a 32-27 advantage into the fourth.
• LSU scored 22 points in the fourth, including two TDs in the final three minutes, to earn the 49-39 victory.
• QB Brady Cook was not to be outdone, completing 30-of-47 passes for a career-high 411 yards to log his fourth-straight 300-yard passing performance. 
• The two prolific offenses produced 1,060 total yards (LSU 533, MU 527), and the lead changed hands five times in the second half.
• WR Luther Burden III caught nine passes for 110 yards in the first half – his fifth straight game over the century mark – and finished with 11 grabs for 149 yards.

CAT SCRATCHES
• Missouri and Kentucky play for the 14th time Saturday and the seventh meeting in Lexington. UK has claimed the last two games, as well as seven of the last eight meetings dating back to 2015.
• Seven of the last nine games in the series have been decided by 10 points or less.
• Mizzou’s last win over the Wildcats came in 2020, when the Tigers pulled out a 20-10 victory in Columbia; MU’s lone win in Lexington came in 2013 with a 48-17 rout of the Wildcats.
• Despite sharing a border Kentucky, MU’s roster does not include a single native of the Bluegrass State. UK has one Missouri native on its roster – senior kicker Michael Bernard from Clayton (Clayton HS).

MIZZOU ‘O’ ON A ROLL
• MU’s offense added another standout performance to its first-half resume vs. LSU, rolling up its third consecutive effort of 500+ yards total offense.
• The Tigers have averaged 533.7 yards of offense over their last three contests and currently fifth in the SEC and 22nd nationally in yards per game (465.7).
• In comparison, Mizzou reached the 500-yard mark for total offense just three times combined over the previous two seasons (2021-22).
• Additionally, the Tigers’ three-game streak is their first since starting the 2018 season with three consecutive games of more than 500 yards of offense.

IN THE ZONE
• Mizzou’s offense has been nearly unstoppable in the red zone this season, converting 20 consecutive scoring opportunities inside the opponent’s 20-yard line, dating back to the season opener vs. South Dakota (Aug. 30).
• The Tigers lead the SEC and rank seventh nationally in red zone offense, converting 96-percent (24-of-25) of their opportunities this season.
• Mizzou has reached the end zone in 18 of those 25 chances, evening splitting its scores with nine rushing TDs and nine passing TDs, in addition to six field goal conversions.

NOW WE’RE COOKIN’
• QB Brady Cook continued his hot start to the 2023 season, lighting up the LSU defense for a career-best 411-yard passing performance in Saturday’s contest.
• He became the eighth Mizzou quarterback to throw for 400 yards or more (the 18th overall 400-yard performance in program history), while extending his streak of consecutive 300-yard passing games to four in a row dating back to the Kansas State game.
• Cook is the second signal-caller in MU history to log four straight 300-yard games, joining Chase Daniel (who accomplished the feat twice) on that elite list.
• With another 400-yard game this week, the junior from St. Louis would join another exclusive club as one of just three Tiger QBs to reach the mark in back-to-back games, following Daniel (Sept. 13-20, 2008) and Jeff Handy (Oct. 17-24, 1992).
• Cook enters Saturday’s game ranked seventh among all FBS QBs in passing efficiency (187.7) and ninth overall in completion percentag

LIMITED TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE
Reserved seats for upcoming football games against South Carolina and Tennessee are sold out, but for available group and single-game tickets for remaining home games call 1-800-CAT-PAWS or buy online. Hill Tickets for South Carolina (buy now), Tennessee (buy now) and Florida (buy now) are on sale for purchase today!

FOLLOW THE TIGERS
For all the latest information on Mizzou Athletics, please visit MUTigers.com. For up-to-the-minute updates, follow Missouri football (@MizzouFootball) and Coach Drinkwitz (@CoachDrinkwitz) on X. You can also find the Tigers on Instagram and Facebook.