What went wrong on Texas A&M’s successful fake punt call against Missouri football?
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Missouri football’s last chance to save the season ended with a single lapse.
The Tigers lost 38-17 to Texas A&M on Saturday, Nov. 8, in Columbia, and their dreams of a berth to the College Football Playoff ended as a result. It was Mizzou’s third loss of the season — and its third in the past four games.
Missouri (6-3, 2-3 SEC) spent most of its night chasing the Aggies (9-0, 5-0). After holding the visitors within an arm’s length, an early third-quarter touchdown that gave Texas A&M a three-score lead nearly put the game to bed.
Missouri responded with a touchdown from Jamal Roberts. The defense instantly got the Aggies into fourth down, and the punt team came out. After struggling to survive for most of the night, Mizzou had some momentum to ride.
The chance to potentially save the game — and the season — had arrived.
Instead, the Aggies got tricky.
Texas A&M faked the punt on fourth-and-3 to safety Dalton Brooks, who rushed 48 yards into Mizzou territory. Deflating.
It’s not the first special teams miscue in recent Mizzou memory.
The Tigers lost starting placekicker Blake Craig to injury in Week 1 as chased down his own kickoff, tearing an ACL attempting to tackle a Central Arkansas returner. Mizzou has now allowed at least three successful fake punts since the beginning of last season, with UMass and Oklahoma each converting fakes against MU in 2024.
Mizzou head coach Eli Drinkwitz was asked about the latest error. He said he gave the go-ahead for a “max return” call that presumably came from special teams coordinator Erik Link. Drinkwitz added that the blame should fall on his shoulders.
“Third quarter, we’re (down) 14. Ball is somewhere middle of the field. Momentum had kind of switched in our favor,” Drinkwitz explained. “We had ‘max return’ called, because we thought we were going to be able to generate some space for (punt returner) Kevin (Coleman Jr.). And when you have ‘max return’ called, you’re not really in a great position to defend the fake. We had one guy over there, but that wasn’t going to be enough.
“And so ultimately, that’s on me. I gave the OK. I said, ‘Hey, we can be in max return here.’ So that’s on me as the head football coach. I approve those calls, and I’ve got to be better.”
The call essentially means Mizzou was attempting to give Coleman space to return the ball after the punt. That left the Tigers’ slightly more open to the fake.
There is one Mizzou defender on the side of the ball that Texas A&M ran the fake: backup cornerback Nicholas DeLoach Jr. Once the ball is snapped, DeLoach turns and chases the Texas A&M gunner downfield, which would have been his assignment if the ball actually was punted to help stop pressure from getting to Coleman.
But, since the Aggies did not punt, Brooks had an open path to a first down on the boundary end of the formation, which he took all the way inside the Mizzou 20-yard line. There did not appear to be a last-minute adjustment or recognition from MU to account for the possibility of a fake.
Mizzou held the Aggies to a field goal on the instant red zone look, but that made it a three-score game again at 24-7.
A strong first half from the defense gave way to some chunk plays in the second half. Mizzou struggled to sustain drives for much of the game against Texas A&M’s stout defense. After the fake punt, there was a notable drop off in the defense after spending just a single play on the sideline after the third-down stop.
“I mean, it sucks as a defense,” MU linebacker Josiah Trotter said. “But at the end of the day, defense, we’ve gotta go put the fire out.”
Mizzou can now no longer make the College Football Playoff, which already was an uphill task entering Saturday’s game but now is officially ruled out. The Tigers’ next game is Saturday, Nov. 15, against Mississippi State, which will be the team’s final home game of the season.
“Players fought and fought and fought and gave us every chance in the world,” Drinkwitz said. “And, you know, just poorly done by me.”
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Drinkwitz explains mistake on Texas A&M fake punt vs Missouri football
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