After taking its first loss of the season last week against LSU, Missouri bounced right back and picked up a gutsy win over Kentucky Saturday night, improving 6-1 on the season and claiming bowl eligibility 5 games earlier than its past 2 seasons.

The win for the Tigers was another reminder that this Missouri team under Eli Drinkwitz is a program on the rise, and Missouri is very capable of winning some big games against Georgia, Tennessee and others later this season.

With the way South Carolina played against Florida last week, the Tigers should have no trouble against the Gamecocks next week.

Player of the Week: Luke Bauer

Luke Bauer has never thrown a football for Missouri. That didn’t deter Drinkwitz from putting his trust in the punter on a pivotal moment in the second quarter.

Down 14-0 at the beginning of the quarter, Missouri faced a 4th and long and a big decision on Kentucky’s 39-yard line. The Tigers could punt and pin Kentucky deep, but that wouldn’t cut into a big deficit before halftime and it would give the Wildcats another opportunity to score.

Instead, Drinkwitz called for a fake punt, giving Bauer the chance to launch one deep. He took his chance and found Marquis Johnson, who made a nice grab and carried the ball into the endzone. The touchdown made it a 14-7 game, but it sparked a 20-0 run for the Tigers that ultimately won them the game.

Bauer was the hero for Missouri on Saturday, and that earns him the player of the week.

Not to mention, he had 3 solid punts as well.

Newcomer of the Week: Theo Wease Jr.

On a slow offensive night, Theo Wease Jr. was the one making plays for Missouri.

The Oklahoma transfer had 58 yards on 6 receptions to go along with a touchdown that gave Missouri the lead heading into halftime.

So far this season, Wease has racked up 392 yards and 5 touchdowns, continuing to make himself a huge part of Missouri’s offense.

Biggest surprise: Clutch interceptions

Missouri has been far from outstanding when it comes to forcing turnovers, but the Tigers did exactly that against Kentucky on Saturday, and the turnovers came in some crucial moments.

Up 2 touchdowns in the fourth quarter, Missouri was looking to put the Wildcats away. After opening up the final quarter with a touchdown, Missouri’s defense came up huge and picked off Wildcats’ quarterback Devin Leary.

On Kentucky’s next offensive drive, the Wildcats were putting in a last ditch effort to cut into the lead, but they were stopped short as the Tigers came up with another interception, all but ending Kentucky’s chances of mounting a comeback.

Getting stops when it matters is a sign of a good team, and Missouri did just that on Saturday against Kentucky.

Biggest concern: Run game still lacking

One of Missouri’s weakest areas this season has been its lacking run game. The Tigers have yet to eclipse 150 rushing yards in a game against SEC opponents and that is cause for concern.

Saturday was no different as Missouri recorded just 118 rushing yards against the Wildcats.

So far, Missouri has been bailed out by outstanding passing from Brady Cook, but Cook didn’t have the best game against Kentucky and the Tigers were lucky the offense didn’t cost them the game.

Moving forward, the run game needs to step up and start contributing on offense, because those kinds of performances won’t slide when Missouri faces teams like Georgia and Tennessee down the road.

Developing trend: Playing to competition

As good as Missouri has looked, it has yet to have a game where the Tigers flat out dominate and don’t give the opposing team a chance.

Even in early games against South Dakota, MTSU and Memphis, the Tigers didn’t come out and win the game from start to finish. Perhaps the Tigers are struggling with playing to their competition.

But that can play in their favor, too.

Coming into the game against LSU, it seemed like LSU was due for a dominant, blowout performance. It didn’t get that, and Missouri hung with the Tigers all game.

If Missouri can play to its competition against teams that are much better than the Tigers, they’ll have a chance to pull off some big upsets.

Key stat: 6-14 on third down

Just looking at Missouri’s third down conversion numbers, you would think the Tigers lost on Saturday. Missouri needs to improve on third downs so it doesn’t have to rely on fake punts to get first downs.

First impression about Week 8: Mayor’s Cup vs. South Carolina

Missouri has dominated the Mayor’s Cup in the last 4 meetings, and that shouldn’t change this time around.

The Tigers are hitting their stride and South Carolina is plummeting fast after back-t0-back losses, including a crushing one to Florida on Saturday.

Missouri should get an easy win, but South Carolina will put up a fight. The Tigers need to come out fast and put the game away in the first half, something they have failed to do this season. If they can manage that, they’ll have plenty of positive momentum heading into the bye week.