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Like a blotch of black ink in the middle of a flowing white dress, Saturday’s first half featured but one major blemish.
Zach Zenner took his first handoff 75 yards for a touchdown. Missouri’s defense didn’t get a hand on him.
Most everything else went in favor of the home team, which leads 21-10 at halftime.
Maty Mauk and Darius White had trouble connecting on deep passes during the fall scrimmages, but the former five-star recruit caught touchdowns of 44 and 39 yards in the first quarter.
Marcus Murphy mostly played running back, though he did catch a 15-yard pass after releasing out of the backfield. He and Russell Hansbrough got yards in chunks on the ground, and Mauk was on point with his accuracy.
Following the Zenner touchdown, South Dakota State accomplished very little on offense.
Senior quarterback Austin Sumner needed help to get back to the locker room after getting his foot caught on the turf on a first-quarter scramble. South Dakota State’s all-time leading passer immediately grabbed his right foot, forcing the Jackrabbits to play junior college transfer Zach Lujan. Cameras later showed him wearing a boot and laying on his back.
It’s unfortunate for SDSU, possibly a national championship contender at the FCS level entering the season.
Kicker Andrew Baggett also missed two field goal attempts, and a running into the punter penalty kept a Jackrabbits drive alive in Missouri territory and led to an SDSU field goal.
Missouri clearly is in control, and with Sumner apparently out, the Tigers can load up the box and dare Lujan to throw.
The Tigers made a few mistakes, and would like to be sitting in the locker room with more than 21 points, but overall it wasn’t a bad half of football for the home team.
To summarize the first half from Missouri’s perspective in two words: Appropriately boring.
An itinerant journalist, Christopher has moved between states 11 times in seven years. Formally an injury-prone Division I 800-meter specialist, he now wanders the Rockies in search of high peaks.
