Henderson hurt as Memphis loses at Missouri
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Drew Lock threw for 350 yards and four touchdowns on 23-of-29 passing as Missouri defeated Memphis 65-33 Saturday in a nonconference battle of Tigers.
After losing three straight Southeastern Conference games, Missouri (4-3) responded with a much-needed victory against its visitors from the American Athletic Conference. Missouri, which led 21-0 less than six minutes in, never trailed as it won on homecoming.
“I thought the offensive staff leading up to today, they did a heck of a job of putting together a game plan, finding a way to get us some matchups, some one-on-one matchups,” Missouri coach Barry Odom said. “And formationally, we were able to do some things that really gave us an advantage.”
Albert Okwuegbunam took advantage of one-onone coverage multiple times, finishing with six catches for 159 yards and three touchdowns, and Jalen Knox added five catches for 104 yards and a score.
All of the visitors’ scoring came without star running back Darrell Henderson, who exited the game after four carries in the first quarter. He was seen riding on a stationary bike and headed to the locker room in the second quarter.
Henderson entered the game leading the nation with 1,133 rushing yards, 15 total touchdowns and an average of 10.3 yards per carry. Tony Pollard and Patrick Taylor Jr. split carries the rest of the way, and Memphis (4-4) averaged 4.6 yards per carry.
Missouri sprinted out of the gates by blocking a punt on the game’s first series, and Christian Holmes intercepted Brady White’s pass for a 42-yard touchdown return on the second possession for Memphis.
Down 21-0, Memphis scored 17 straight points before Missouri answered with a 20-0 surge.
After a close game against No. 10 Central Florida the week before, Memphis looked thoroughly outplayed.
“Not the showing we wanted to have,” Memphis coach Mike Norvell said. “Got off to a slow start, turned the ball over, had miscues in every phase, and gave up too many explosive plays defensively and had some missed assignments that really cost us.”
› MTSU 21, Charlotte 13 MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Brent Stockstill threw two touchdown passes to Ty Lee in the second quarter to give Middle Tennessee State enough cushion to hold on for a Conference USA victory.
Charlotte rallied to the game’s final margin with 1:27 to play as Evan Shirreffs connected with Mark Quattlebaum on a 23-yard touchdown pass and Jonathan Cruz made the extrapoint kick. The Blue Raiders recovered the ensuing onside kick and held on for the win.
Lee finished with six catches for 60 yards for the Blue Raiders (4-3, 3-1), who scored 21 straight points, taking a 21-6 lead after Gatlin Casey recovered his own fumble in the end zone after a catch and Crew Holts kicked the extra point.
Charlotte (3-4, 2-2) took an early lead when Benny LeMay broke for a 57-yard scoring sprint on the 49ers’ first possession. LeMay finished with 129 yards on the ground. › Tennessee State 41, Tennessee Tech 14 NASHVILLE — Micheal Hughes completed 22 of 27 passes for 318 yards and three touchdowns as the Tigers moved back to .500 overall and in the Ohio Valley Conference, at 3-3 and 2-2.
DeVon Johnson totaled 138 yards on five catches, including a 33-yard touchdown on Tennessee State’s first offensive play with less than two minutes gone from the game clock. Treon Harris added 73 yards and two scores on five catches.
Tennessee Tech (0-7, 0-4), which had a threegame winning streak in the series snapped, has lost 10 in a row dating to its 30-26 win over Tennessee State last Oct. 28.
› Eastern Illinois 24, UT-Martin 21, OT
CHARLESTON, Ill. — Nick Bruno’s 38-yard field goal lifted the Panthers (2-6, 2-3 OVC) to victory two plays after Johnathan Brantley recovered his own fumble for a 6-yard loss. On the play before he had a 6-yard pass to Aaron Gooch, and on the play after he had a 5-yard completion to Gooch.
On the first possession of overtime, Ryan Courtright’s 42-yard field-goal try bounced off the crossbar after Joe Hudson threw three straight incompletions. Hudson drove the Skyhawks (1-6, 1-3) 90 yards on 10 plays to tie the game on his 26-yard strike to Jaylon Moore with 25 seconds left in regulation.
Larry Galloway had two short touchdown runs in the first half for the Skyhawks, who finished with a 205-204 advantage in total offense.
› Trinity 28, Sewanee 14
SAN ANTONIO — Three Wyatt Messex touchdown passes to Tommy Lavine gave the hosts a 21-0 lead in the matchup of Tigers in the Southern Athletic Association, and Blake Johnson’s throw to Chris Stewart made it 28-7.
Sewanee freshman Grayson Baker had touchdown passes of 5 yards to Allan Puri late in the third quarter and 35 yards to Cyrus McCullough with 5:25 left in the game. Baker was 21-of-42 for 188 passing yards, with three interceptions, and Warren Holland ran 19 times for 76 yards for Sewanee (3-5, 2-4).
Lavine caught eight passes for 132 yards for Trinity (4-3, 3-2), and Evan McDowell had 96 rushing yards on 17 carries.