‘The last hour’s toil’: Mizzou rallies for Music City Bowl win, 10th victory of 2024

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Eli Drinkwitz calls them finishers.

And finish they did. Missouri captured its 10th win of the season with a Music City Bowl victory over Iowa on Monday, crossing the double-digit victory threshold in consecutive seasons for just the third time in program history.

The Tigers beat the Hawkeyes 27-24 behind quarterback Brady Cook’s best game of the season, a timely defensive improvement in the second half and two long field goals from kicker Blake Craig.

Entering the bowl game, Drinkwitz — a coach prone to seeking out the right words to motivate his team — turned to a quote attributed to transcendentalist writer Henry David Thoreau.

“All endeavor calls for the ability to tramp the last mile, shape the last plan, endure the last hour’s toil,” Thoreau once said. “The fight-to-the-finish spirit is the one characteristic we must possess if we are to face the future as finishers.”

The last mile was a trip to the Tennessee Titans’ Nissan Stadium for a bowl that Drinkwitz referred to as an “exhibition game” the day prior. The last plan looked different from the usual Mizzou, without two offensive stars and more than 10 players absent due to opt-outs, injuries and the transfer portal. And the last hour saw the Tigers (10-3, 5-3 Southeastern Conference) come back from a 10-point deficit to halt the Hawkeyes and pick up a second consecutive bowl game victory over a Big Ten program.

“It’s just something I think speaks to us,” Drinkwitz said of the Thoreau quote. “There’s a lot of people that start things in life that they don’t finish. And if you’re going to be a person of significance, if you’re going to be the best at whatever you do, you got to have a fight-to-the-finish spirit. ... I just felt like these seniors had come this far. We just needed to finish.”

Among the seniors who finished in notable fashion: Tigers wideout Theo Wease Jr. put together a solid first half before the team ruled him out at halftime with an upper-body injury. He caught MU’s first touchdown of the day and finished with five catches for 75 yards and the score in his final collegiate game.

Defensive players Johnny Walker Jr. (two sacks) and Corey Flagg Jr. (a game-sealing fourth-down stop) both made key plays in the second half.

And Cook, closing out his time in a Missouri uniform, had his biggest passing game of the season with 287 yards and two touchdowns. He also accounted for 54 of the team’s 89 rushing yards.

Among the younger players who were also part of the bowl game, which was something of a bridge between 2024 and 2025, Marquis Johnson emerged with his first career 100-yard outing, posting seven receptions for 122 yards and a first-half touchdown.

Mizzou’s defense did not have an especially strong first half going up against an Iowa offense playing without its star running back. The Tigers were a flattering matchup early on, making Hawkeyes quarterback Brendan Sullivan look like a passing threat and struggling to tackle running back Kamari Moulton.

Special teams didn’t do much to help the wcause either, conceding a 100-yard kickoff return touchdown to Iowa’s Kaden Wetjen right after Missouri’s first offensive touchdown of the game.

A Moulton touchdown preceded by a 38-yard rush through some shoddy Mizzou tackling in the final minute of the first half and a third quarter field goal had the Hawkeyes up 24-14 with less than 20 minutes to go in the game.

But that field goal, which was Iowa’s last score of the contest, marked a turning point.

Walker had sacked Sullivan on third down to turn a promising drive into the field goal attempt.

When the Tigers took over on offense, Cook opted to play directly, targeting Johnson over the top of the defense. Cook’s deep ball was slightly underthrown, but the second-year speedster turned around to make a physical grab for a 44-yard reception. Fellow sophomore wideout Joshua Manning scored a rushing touchdown on a jet sweep play to get Missouri back within one score.

The defense then needed to make a stand, and it did. Cornerback Toriano Pride Jr. picked off Sullivan by muscling the ball away from his intended target on the sideline. Mizzou’s offense couldn’t make use of the interception when it nearly turned the ball over itself: Cook threw out of a sack, but the ball rolled backward for an 18-yard loss.

That significant negative play stunted the possession from the start, leading to Craig tying the game at 24-24 with a 51-yard field goal.

Outside linebacker Triston Newson delivered the next big defensive play, tackling Sullivan for a loss on a third down. Still, the offense struggled, and Drinkwitz sent Craig onto the field to try a 56-yard field goal.

“I’m going to be completely honest: I black out when I go out for kicks,” Craig said.

“Well, that explains a lot,” Drinkwitz chimed in from the peanut gallery.

“But definitely, before the kick, I’m thinking about all the seniors,” Craig said. “I’m there to do what I do for them, especially in this scenario with their last game.”

He made it, of course, booting the ball from the painted midfield logo and clearing the crossbar with several yards to spare. The ensuing 27-24 lead for Missouri was its first of the day, coming with 3:21 on the clock.

That was still enough time for two Iowa possessions. One ended in a punt, and the other functionally ended the game. Mizzou’s Flagg and Daylan Carnell combined to stuff a Sullivan sneak on a fourth-and-1 for the decisive stop.

Attendance for the game was 43,375, the second-smallest crowd for a Music City Bowl since 2005. Monday was just the third time since then that the game drew fewer than 50,000 fans.

During his Sunday news conference, Drinkwitz undercut what the bowl was for his team, which played without NFL-bound stars Luther Burden III and Armand Membou as well as a handful of players lost to the transfer portal.

“I hate to be like this,” Drinkwitz said then, “but it’s really an exhibition game.”

Yet in victory, he seemed to find some meaning for the bowl.

“The win total isn’t important, but being ranked — to start the season and finish the season ranked is a heck of an accomplishment for this senior class,” Drinkwitz said.