NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Missouri’s final game of the 2024 season was like so many of the past two years.
It was a win, first and foremost — Monday’s Music City Bowl victory over Iowa was the Tigers’ 21st of the past two seasons. But it also came in a one-possession game, the type of contest that Mizzou has won 10 of 11 times in that span. MU’s performance wasn’t perfect, but it was enough.
Is that what Missouri football is now?
Gritty performances from individual players, in-game improvements that give the team just enough juice to get past their opponents and one or two big plays — in the case of the Music City Bowl, a 56-yard field goal and a fourth-and-1 stop — have frequently been the hallmarks of Eli Drinkwitz’s wins in his fourth and fifth seasons in Columbia.