Eli Drinkwitz and the Missouri Tigers cruised to a 38-0 win over Buffalo on Saturday night at Faurot Field, becoming the first FBS team since Wisconsin in 2019 to start a season with 2-straight shutouts.

But one has to think that the Tigers would have won by an even wider margin if star WR Luther Burden III didn’t leave the game in the first half.

However, after the game, Drinkwitz put Mizzou fans’ minds at ease by revealing it wasn’t an injury that sidelined Burden for the second half of the shutout victory.

Instead, Drinkwitz said, Burden has been dealing with an illness and the coaches and medical staff decided not to risk him in a game they were winning comfortably:

Burden started the season with 4 catches for 49 yards and a touchdown in Week 1 against Murray State. He finished this game with 3 grabs for 15 yards, but he added 21 yards and a score as a runner. We’ll see if he can shake his illness in order to be at 100% against Boston College next weekend.

With how Boston College QB Thomas Castellanos has been playing, that won’t be an easy game. Having Burden on the field will be a big boost for a Mizzou offense that has looked good, but not great, through 2 games against inferior opponents this year.