LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas entered its season finale against Missouri allowing better than 50 points per game in its previous five games.
The Razorbacks' defense, compared to performances in weeks past, tightened up against the Tigers, but it was still far from enough to secure a Southeastern Conference win for the first time in more than two calendar years.
Former Fayetteville High star quarterback Taylor Powell threw a touchdown pass and a pair of Missouri running backs found the end zone as the Tigers handed Arkansas a 24-14 loss, sending the Razorbacks into the offseason with their second consecutive 10-loss season.
"(They) made plays. That’s what I would say," Arkansas interim coach Barry Lunney Jr. said. "That’s what this game is about. It’s our job to put them in the best position to have those opportunities. But I thought they made more plays than we did and that was the really the difference in the game."
The biggest plays of the game were made by Missouri receivers in the fourth quarter against Arkansas' starting cornerbacks Jarques McClellion and Montaric Brown.
On the Tigers' first drive of the final period, Powell connected with Tauskie Dove for 37 yards to the Razorbacks' 27. Powell threw the deep ball up for grabs and it floated, but McClellion did not turn his head to look for the pass. It turned out to be Missouri's longest play from scrimmage.
After four Larry Rountree runs totaling 17 yards, Powell picked on another Arkansas corner - Brown. With the ball sitting on the Razorbacks' 10, a defensive lineman jumped offside, giving the Tigers a free play offensively. Powell almost immediately looked left and fired a dart to former Arkansas receiver Jonathan Nance for a touchdown.
Nance, the Tigers' leading receiver this season, set the final margin with his fourth score of 2019. It was Powell's first career touchdown pass.
"Before the snap you are IDing where your 1-on-1 is and the safety was inside the hash," Powell said. "So I knew I would have a 1-on-1 to the boundary, so I just took a three-step drop, read where the corner was at and he was high and eyes on top, so I back shouldered it and gave Jon Jon a chance.”
Linebacker De'Jon Harris, who finished with 11 tackles and two tackles for loss in his final game with the Razorbacks, said Missouri's uptempo offense was not a difference maker in the second half. Some players' heads simply weren't in the game.
"I just think some of the guys weren’t ready," Harris added. "The majority were ready, but probably one or two weren’t ready and they were hitting up the creases."
Arkansas allowed 329 yards of total offense to Missouri, the second fewest by an opponent this season and fewest by an SEC opponent. Friday also marked the first time since Sept. 28 against Texas A&M that the Razorbacks surrendered less than 150 yards rushing (144).
Despite that, Rountree and Tyler Badie did enough on their 36 combined carries. Rountree finished with 88 yards and Badie totaled 59. Another former Fayetteville star, Barrett Banister, was the game's leading receiver with six grabs for 60 yards - all in the first half.
Missouri's timely plays offensively coupled with an inefficient showing from Arkansas and quarterback Jack Lindsey, who made his first career start, sparked the Tigers' first win since Oct. 12. The fifth starter for the Razorbacks in as many games, Lindsey threw pair of touchdown passes but completed just 10 of 26 throws for 75 yards.
The Razorbacks finish the season completing less than 50 percent of their passes in each of their final seven games.
Bumper Pool, who capped his sophomore season with a team-high 13 tackles and one tackle for loss, said he thought the defense fought hard without starting safety Kam Curl, cornerback LaDarrius Bishop and linebacker Hayden Henry, who missed the game for a variety of reasons, according to a team spokesperson.
"This season hasn’t necessarily been what we wanted or anyway close to that, but tonight I feel like we came together as a team and rallied around coach Lunney," Pool added.
"Losing is never acceptable, but seeing the fight in everybody, especially for the seniors tonight, was really cool to see.”