AMHERST, Mass. — Luther Burden III got the ball in his hands once and Missouri’s win was secure.
On the second play of Saturday’s novel nonconference game at Massachusetts, the dynamic wide receiver grabbed the ball on a jet sweep handoff. He stiff-armed one defender and then weaved calmly through the rest of the UMass defense for a 61-yard touchdown.
No. 21 Mizzou cruised the rest of the way, basking in the surrounding Amherst foliage en route to a 45-3 victory over the Minutemen.
The game was not competitive and, in the grand scheme of the Tigers’ season, rather insignificant.