Mizzou Network Highlights: 2014 Spring Game

Mizzou’s annual Black and Gold Game brought with it an air of springtime sunshine and warm, invigorating air. The perfect weather might have been the reason Mizzou’s play at The ZOU was hotter than the temperature inside the historic stadium.

Sophomore quarterback Maty Mauk kicked things off with a perfectly zipped back-shoulder seam route to senior wide out Gavin Otte, before an encore seam to fellow senior receiver Darius White. Senior tailback Marcus Murphy then gashed the Tigers’ defense for a generous gain up the left sideline in the second quarter. Later on in the second, Mauk scored the first touchdown of the game for the first teamers just before halftime on a third and six quarterback keeper.

A scoring drought that lasted nearly a whole half was broken when redshirt freshman Trent Hosick dropped back into the pocket, and with one foot in the back of the end zone, rocketed a pass down the left sideline to a wide open Aaron Bailey, another redshirt freshman, who then sprinted to the house to give the black team a 20-14 lead. True freshman Marvin Zanders and the rest of the gold squad would not be denied, however.

The speedy true freshman answered immediately with a long scoring run off of a quarterback bootleg in which he rolled left and sprinted back toward the right hash marks seeking daylight, which he of course found. With less than a minute left, this ended up being the knockout punch for Mizzou’s second unit, as they edged out the first unit by a score of 21-14 (albeit the second group was spotted 14 points to start the game).

When all was said and done though, folks who decided to spend this glorious sunny Saturday at the Zou were rewarded with a stellar showing from the entire Mizzou roster and got a glimpse of the success that is sure to find them on the field this fall.