No. 9 Mizzou thumps Buffalo 38-0 despite losing Luther Burden III to midgame illness (2024)

COLUMBIA, Mo. — A comfortable win came with a side dish of concern.

No. 9 Missouri recovered from a slow start to beat Buffalo handily Saturday, but did so without preseason All-American wide receiver Luther Burden III for a significant portion of the game.

After scoring just three points in the first quarter, the Tigers scored three touchdowns in the second period for their necessary burst of production. Another dominant defensive outing fueled a 38-0 win.

Quarterback Brady Cook buoyed that effort with two rushing touchdowns, including the longest score of his career. He finished 28 for 36 passing for 228 yards and one interception, plus 62 yards on the ground.

Wide receiver Theo Wease Jr. set a career high in catches and receiving yards, receiving a large degree of volume even with Burden on the field. Wease caught 13 passes for 149 yards.

Burden left the game and went to the locker room a few minutes before halftime. After the break, a team spokesperson said Burden was unlikely to return to action because of an illness, and the former East St. Louis star did not appear on Mizzou’s sideline during the second half.

Burden scored a rushing touchdown in the first half that saw the wideout take some contact to his upper body, though he didn't leave the game immediately after that play.

MU’s defense was stifling in historic fashion: The last time the Tigers opened a season with back-to-back shutouts was 1935, when their opponents were William Jewell and Warrensburg Teachers College.

And, dating back to last season's 14-3 Cotton Bowl victory against Ohio State, Mizzou has gone 12 quarters without allowing a touchdown, which hasn't happened since 1941.

Sluggish start for offense

Missouri’s season-opening scoring burst from its win over Murray State seemed like the stuff of a distant reality during its start against Buffalo.

The Tigers did get on the board early with a 51-yard field goal from kicker Blake Craig — his career long, albeit in just his second game attempting kicks. The drive that led to it was a faltering one, though, limited by a false start penalty.

MU safety Marvin Burks Jr. secured the first interception of his career on the Bulls’ next possession, benefitting from an odd overthrow by quarterback CJ Ogbonna.

Mizzou looked to Craig again on its second drive of the game, asking him to make a 49-yarder. His kick had the requisite height and distance but drove wide left, stranding the early advantage at 3-0.

What wound up finishing as the Tigers’ first touchdown drive of the day started slowly, with holding and illegal formation penalties threatening to stall it as well — only for the opening period to change the tides.

New quarter, new offense

MU’s offensive success flipped with the switch of end zones that took place between the first and second quarters.

Quarterback Brady Cook targeted speedy wideout Marquis Johnson on a deep post route for the quarter’s first play, which drew a pass interference penalty. Preseason All-American Luther Burden III took an end-around — similar in action for him to a failed trick play from the season-opener — for an 18-yard gain, the Tigers’ biggest at that stage of the game.

Beginning his shift for the evening, bruising tailback Marcus Carroll followed up Burden’s gain with an 8-yard rush. A couple of plays later, Carroll powered the ball into 1st-and-goal territory.

Missouri went right back to its playmaker, motioning Burden from right to left. Cook handed him the ball on the jet sweep, which Burden delivered over the goal line through a bit of contact for a 10-0 lead.

The first sack of the season for defensive end Johnny Walker Jr., on a third down, stifled Buffalo’s look at a response.

Cook completed a deeper pass to juice up MU’s next scoring drive. The Tigers’ offensive line held steady enough on a play-action look for the quarterback to patiently let wideout Theo Wease Jr. get loose on a gentle out route. His catch and run was worth 39 yards — a new longest play of the game.

An illegal formation penalty stalled Missouri around the goal line for a moment, and Cook couldn’t connect with tight end Tyler Stephens on a bootleg play designed to free up the former Buffalo player in the back corner. Facing 3rd and goal, Cook faked a pitch and took care of things himself, diving — barely — into the end zone for a 17-0 advantage.

Cook scored the Tigers’ next touchdown, too, but in a more improvised fashion. Not seeing any attractive options in the pocket, he darted through the left side of it, hurdling a diving Buffalo defender. He sprinted 31 yards, all the way down to the goal line and dove into the end zone through two Bulls, helped by a downfield block from running back Nate Noel.

His second rushing touchdown of the day — plus a missed 48-yard field goal attempt from Buffalo and Craig missing again, short and wide from 52 yards out — gave Mizzou a 24-0 lead at halftime.

Turnover, touchdown mark 2nd half

With Burden’s likely absence from the rest of the game established, the Tigers’ first drive of the second half produced a sub-optimal result for them: Cook’s first interception of the season.

With Mizzou going for it on 4th and 6, he rolled out to his right but threw back toward the middle of the field, where Buffalo’s Charles McCartherens picked off the pass.

An unnecessary roughness penalty against the Bulls nullified his return, and they went three and out with the ball.

An 18-yard scramble from Cook boosted the Tigers’ next drive, but a pass for no gain, negative run and incomplete pass to an out route led to Mizzou’s first punt of the game, midway through the third quarter.

Missouri’s offensive settled into a 10-play scoring drive that started from the easier side of midfield. Running back Nate Noel ran up the gut on a play that used six offensive linemen to score from four yards out, creating a 31-0 lead.

Backup quarterback Drew Pyne relieved Cook by entering the game with 11 minutes and change left in the fourth quarter.

The Tigers' second-team offense added a garbage time score late in the fourth quarter, with running back Jamal Roberts scoring from three yards away.

Next up

Mizzou’s next game is another home affair — but kicking off in a new SEC timeslot: 11:45 a.m. on Sept. 14. The Tigers will host Boston College, which moved to 2-0 after thumping Duquesne earlier this week.