No such thing as a small mistake for MU
Published Oct. 16, 2007
NORMAN, Okla. — On the road against a higher ranked team, winning is almost impossible if the team loses the turnover battle. As soon as No. 11 Missouri went behind in that category against the No. 5 Oklahoma Sooners, they lost any chance at an upset.
Standing at their own 20-yard line trailing just 29-24 in the fourth, the Tigers lost their chance when junior quarterback Chase Daniel fumbled handing off to freshman wide receiver Jeremy Maclin on an end-around. Oklahoma junior linebacker Curtis Lofton recovered the ball and ran for a touchdown that put the game out of Missouri's reach. It was Daniel's second of three turnovers and the third of the team's four.
MU coach Gary Pinkel said those mistakes cost his team the game.
"Mistakes generally dictate the game," he said. "We can't expect to make those kind of errors and still win."
Those errors included more than just the three interceptions and one fumble. The Tigers also had four defensive offside calls, including one early in the game that helped the Sooners score their first touchdown.
"We helped beat ourselves," senior defensive tackle Lorenzo Williams said.
Although Daniel's fumble was called a mistake in communication, perhaps the most baffling turnover of the night came early in the third quarter.
With the ball at the Oklahoma 44-yard line, Maclin took a handoff in the backfield and ran toward the far sideline, looking to pass to senior tight end Martin Rucker. But he badly underthrew Rucker, and Sooner junior cornerback Reggie Smith had an easy
interception.
"I made a bad read," Maclin said. "The cornerback came up, and I threw an interception."
Following the game, every player who talked to the media talked about the mistakes the Tigers made before anything else.
Daniel was negative even when he spoke about how MU was able to rally to take a 24-23 lead into the fourth quarter.
"We still have to play better all the way through," he said. "We can't make those constant turnovers."
And those turnovers couldn't have come at a worse time. The Tigers came into Saturday's game having committed just seven turnovers in their first five games. But senior tight end Martin Rucker said playing on the road in such a hyper environment as Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium rattled the team.
"The crowd was intense," he said. "They had the momentum and they capitalized on it."
But the Tigers were almost given the game thanks to two critical turnovers by Oklahoma junior wide receiver Joaquin Iglesias. On the Sooners' first drive, Iglesias was stripped of the ball by senior cornerback Darnell Terrell, who recovered the ball at Oklahoma's 38-yard line. Maclin scored on a 5-yard touchdown run to take a 7-0 lead.
"Turnovers change everything," Sooners coach Bob Stoops said. "They can either win or lose the game, and they almost lost them for us."
And had they had two more, turnovers probably would have lost the game for Oklahoma. But the four lost the game for Missouri, and sophomore linebacker Sean Weatherspoon said they left him wondering what might have been had the Tigers been able to hold on to the ball.
"I'm just so frustrated," he said. "If it weren't for those turnovers, we could have won this game."