When it comes to key ingredients, Missouri can’t be certain lately when a vital piece in its recipe for winning is available.
And it turns out Tigers star quarterback Brady Cook won’t be on the field Saturday when No. 24 Missouri plays Oklahoma on Saturday in Columbia, Mo.
Cook was ruled out Friday due to ankle and wrist injuries. He missed parts of the past two games due to the ailments — first the ankle injury and then the wrist injury.
Coming off a bye week, head coach Eli Drinkwitz was hopeful Cook could return as he was ahead of where he was in terms of health prior to the 34-0 loss to Alabama on Oct. 26.
He played in that game, though, and sustained the wrist injury after completing 7 of 12 passes.
The missed contest will end Cook’s streak of 35 consecutive starts. He ranks fourth in school history with 8,053 career passing yards and sits fifth with 45 touchdown passes.
With Cook, the Tigers offense has been dynamic.
“He’s got great juice and just, he’s fearless,” Oklahoma coach Brent Venables said of Cook. “I don’t know his entire background, but he’s a winner. I think he brings out the best in the players around him. … You can see the guts and the toughness.”
With Cook out, Drew Pyne will start for Missouri (6-2, 2-2 SEC).
Pyne came on in relief of Cook against both Auburn and Alabama, throwing three interceptions in the loss to the Crimson Tide.
“We put him in some bad situations,” Drinkwitz said of Pyne. “We’ve got to protect better. We’ve got to establish the run better and can’t turn the ball over.”
Saturday’s meeting will be the first between the Tigers and Sooners in the SEC.
The teams were longtime rivals in the Big 12 and Big Eight, meeting 96 times during their history, with Oklahoma leading 67-24-5.
The teams met in back-to-back Big 12 Championship Games in 2007 and 2008 before the Tigers moved to the SEC in 2012.
Venables was the Sooners’ defensive coordinator for those games.
A pair of former Oklahoma players are on Missouri’s roster, including wide receiver Theo Wease, who has 37 catches for 482 yards and a touchdown. Wease and Luther Burden, who has 40 catches for 450 yards and four touchdowns, make for a dangerous tandem.
“He’s one of the best players in all of college football,” Venables said of Burden. “They find a lot of different creative ways to get him the ball in space.”
The Sooners (5-4, 1-4) have dropped three consecutive conference games, and are coming off a 59-14 win over Maine last week.
Oklahoma’s offense has shown improvement over the last two games since Jackson Arnold was reinserted as the starting quarterback and Joe Jon Finley took over the offensive coordinator duties following the firing of Seth Littrell.
Over the last two games, Arnold has completed more than 71 percent of his passes and thrown for four touchdowns with no interceptions.
Arnold threw three interceptions over the first four games before losing his starting job to freshman Michael Hawkins Jr.
The Sooners are hoping to get some weapons back in the receiver group after being without five key options for much of the season.
Jalil Farooq, who suffered a foot injury in the season opener, is nearing a return, as is Deion Burks, who hasn’t played since the Sept. 21 loss to Tennessee.
“It obviously adds an explosive aspect to our offense, and that leadership role too,” Arnold said of the duo.
–Field Level Media
