Mizzou RB Larry Rountree III on failed final play: 'It was the right thing to do'

Mizzou came up just short in the Liberty Bowl on Monday evening against Oklahoma State, with QB Drew Lock falling a yard short of converting a crucial fourth down late in the fourth quarter.

The play, which you can see here, was a questionable (at best) call from OC Derek Dooley, who took the ball out of Lock’s talented arm and trusted his legs to get the job done.

It was a read-option play, so Lock could have handed the ball to RB Larry Rountree III, but based on the way the defensive end reacted to the play, Lock kept it. Rountree said after the game that the senior quarterback absolutely made the right call:

Rountree on Lock’s keeper: “It was the right thing to do.” Said the defender Lock was reading crashed down and the pull was the right play

— Dave Matter (@Dave_Matter) January 1, 2019

The problem wasn’t Lock’s decision, it was Dooley’s play call. To not even give the potential first-round quarterback an option to throw was atrocious.

The play cost the Tigers a shot at a comeback victory, and it’s sad that Lock’s Mizzou career had to end on such a disappointing decision.