2021 LOCKHEED MARTIN ARMED FORCES BOWL
MISSOURI TIGERS NOTES
• The 2021 edition of the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl, in Fort Worth, Texas, features the University of Missouri and the U.S. Military Academy. Kickoff is set for Wednesday, Dec. 22 (7 p.m. kick, ESPN) at TCU’s Amon G. Carter Stadium.
• Mizzou earned bowl eligibility against a strong schedule, having faced eight teams which are already bowl eligible this season. The eight bowl eligible opponents are tied for sixth-most in the nation.
• Mizzou has advanced to its 35th all-time bowl game, and it’s second under second year head coach Eliah Drinkwitz. The Tigers are 15-18 overall in bowl games after advancing to the 2020 TransPerfect Music City Bowl that was cancelled due to COVID-19 impact.
• After not having a team participate in the first 17 editions of the bowl game, this is the second straight year that the Southeastern Conference has placed in a team in the Armed Forces Bowl. Last year, Mississippi State defeated No. 24 Tulsa, 28-26. In all, the Armed Forces Bowl has featured teams from nine of the 10 FBS conferences, plus independents, over its first 19 games. The lone league yet to play in the game is the Big Ten Conference.
• After 14 consecutive years of day games, including 10 starts before noon, this year’s contest returns to primetime for the first time since 2006. The first four games (2003-2006) were played at night.
• On the flip side, this year’s game is being played on Dec. 22, which matches 2018 as the earliest date in the bowl’s history. It is the eighth time that the game has been played pre-Christmas Day.
• Over the past seven years, the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl is the highest scoring bowl game of the more than three dozen in the nation with a combined total of 511 points scored. The Rose Bowl is next with 494 points scored over that period, while the Orange Bowl is third (471).
• The 511 total points over the last seven Armed Forces Bowl games is an average of 36.5 per team. Only two teams over that time span have been held under 25 points. The 2016 game between Louisiana Tech (48) and Navy (45) is the highest scoring game in LMAFB history (93 points). In 2018, Army West Point set an all-time, all-bowl record with 70 points. In the four games from 2010-13, the bowl saw just 152 points scored (19.0 per team) and only one team reached the 25-point mark.
SERIES VS. ARMY
Mizzou football owns a 3-1 series lead over Army West Point, last winning 23-10 on Sept. 11, 1982 in Columbia. The Tigers last faced a service academy in the 2009 Texas Bowl and is 9-4 all-time against the Division I service academies.
LAST TIME OUT: MIZZOU
Tyler Badie ran a career-high 41 times for 219 yards and a touchdown in the Tigers’ 34-17 loss at No. 25 Arkansas on Fri., Nov. 26. The Razorbacks used a handful of big plays, a strong second half and a stifling defense of Mizzou’s passing game. It was Arkansas’ first victory over Missouri since 2015. The Tigers lead the all-time series 9-4. On Missouri’s final drive, Badie rushed nine times for 51 yards including a five-yard touchdown that produced the final score. Arkansas led 10-6 at halftime thanks to a 49-yard run by quarterback K.J. Jefferson that led to a 36-yard Cam Little field goal and a 43-yard completion from Jefferson to Treylon Burks to set up a one-yard scoring run by Raheim Sanders. Mizzou bracketed that touchdown with a pair of Harrison Mevis field goals. Late in the first quarter LB Blaze Alldredge forced a fumble by Arkansas’ Trelon Smith that was recovered at the UA 39-yard line by Chad Bailey. The Tigers turned that into a 46-yard Mevis field goal that tied the score at 3-3 early in the second frame. Mevis made it 10-6 with a 49-yard FG with 3:02 left before halftime.
LAST TIME OUT: ARMY
In the 122nd edition of America’s Game, presented by USAA, the Army Black Knights fell to service academy foe Navy by a narrow margin of 17-13 at MetLife Stadium. The Midshipmen scored 10 unanswered points in the second half to pull away from the Black Knights (8-4), who led by 13-7 at halftime. Linebacker Kemonte Yow had a game-and career-best 13 tackles while linebacker Arik Smith and nose tackle Nolan Cockrill rounded out Army’s top three tacklers with nine and eight stops, respectively. Cockrill additionally contributed a four-yard sack and a QB hurry en route to finishing with 1.5 TFL.
BADIE IS A BAD MAN
• Senior running back Tyler Badie ranks third nationally in rushing yards (1,604) and yards per game (133.7), second in all-purpose yards per game (161.8) 10th in total touchdowns (18) and 21st in total points (108). He leads the league backs in: total touchdowns 18), rushing yards (1,604), rush yards per game (133.7), attempts (268), attempts per game (22.33), all-purpose yards (1,939) and
all-purpose yards per game (161.6).
• Tyler Badie rushed for 219 yards in the regular season finale at Arkansas to break Mizzou’s all-time single season rushing record with 1,604 yards. He added his 14th rushing touchdown of the season as well.
• Badie’s yardage also moved him to seventh on the Mizzou all-time career rushing yards list with 2,740 yards. He needs 31 yards to reach Henry Josey in sixth.
• His one rushing touchdown tied him with James Wilder and Tony Temple for ninth in the Mizzou all-time career rushing touchdowns list.
• Badie has now contributed 108 points on the season, tying him for ninth with Devin West (108) on the Mizzou all-time single season scoring list. His next TD will tie him with Derrick Washington (2008) and two scores would surpass Brad Smith’s 2003 season.
• Badie has rushed for over 200 yards on five different occasions this season (219 at Arkansas, 209 vs. South Carolina, 254 vs. Vanderbilt, 209 vs. North Texas, 203 vs. CMU). He is the only player in the country with five, 200-yard games this season and the only SEC player to complete the feat since 2000, passing Leonard Fournette & Derrick Henry who each had seasons with four 200-yard games.
• His 254-yard rushing performance at Vanderbilt marked the most by a Mizzou back in the SEC era (2012-pres.) and the fifth most in program history. He is the only Mizzou player to ever produce four, 200-yard rushing games in his career – let alone a single season.
• With his 17-yard reception against Tennessee, Badie became the first Mizzou Tiger in program history to reach 1,000 rushing yards and 1,000 receiving yards in his career. He became the first SEC player to reach the mark since Kentucky wide receiver Lynn Bowden, Jr., did so in 2019.
• Another first, Badie is the lone Tiger to score a combination of 15 rushing scores and 10 receiving TDs.
• Badie is the first Tiger since Jeremy Maclin in 2007 to record four rushing and receiving touchdowns in a season.
• His 203-yard performance in the season opener was the first by a Tiger since Larry Rountree went for 204 in Dec. 2018 against Oklahoma State. The 203 rushing yards were the 15th most in Mizzou history.
• At Kentucky, Badie hauled in a career-best 10 receptions for 88 yards. He became the first Tiger to catch 10 passes in a game since Emanuel Hall did so against Wyoming in 2018.
• Badie is one of five Tigers to accumulate 500 yards on the ground and receiving alongside:
FINISHING STRONG
• While producing one of the best seasons in Mizzou history, Tyler Badie has also shown a knack for getting it done in crunch time, averaging 7.44 yards per carry in the fourth quarter and OT this season.
Badie by Quarter
QT ATT YDS TD YPC
1 77 403 5 5.23
2 66 357 4 5.41
3 64 401 1 6.27
4/OT 61 454 4 7.44
• Badie has rushed for over 100 yards in a quarter on four occasions this year:
4th vs. CMU – 122 (10 car.)
2nd vs. UNT – 102 (5 car.)
3rd at Vandy – 109 (12 car.)
4th vs. SC – 104 (12 car.)
TURNAROUND ON D
• Mizzou became bowl eligible behind a pair of strong defensive performances late in the season.
• The Tigers held both South Carolina (57) and Florida (93) below 100-yards rushing. Going back to Mizzou’s trip to No. 1 Georgia, the Tigers have held three straight opponents to less than 125 yards rushing.
• Mizzou scored 21 points off of three South Carolina turnovers in the Tigers’ 31-28 win over the Gamecocks.
• The Tigers produced a defensive score for the second time this season when Martez Manuel sacked Jason Brown and forced a fumble which was recovered in the end zone by Trajan Jeffcoat. It was Mizzou’s first fumble recovery for TD since 2018, also against the Gamecocks.
• Mizzou held SC to just 250 yards of total offense, the lowest total for the Gamecocks in series history.
• Against Florida, Mizzou limited the Gators to just six first-half points and surrendered just one touchdown in regulation.
• The Tigers recorded 11 tackles for loss against the Gators, including two sacks, while adding another seven quarterback pressures.
JEFFCOAT SEC D-LINEMAN OF THE WEEK
• The SEC Defensive Lineman of the Week for games played on Nov. 20, redshirt junior Trajan Jeffcoat had a career day getting into the backfield against Florida, racking up 3.5 tackles for loss.
• One of the TFL was a sack of QB Emory Jones while Jeffcoat added another hurry as well.
• Jeffcoat has recorded a TFL in each of the last six games for the Tigers and has piled up a career-best 10 TFL this season.
MEVIS STILL HAS MAGIC
• Sophomore kicker Harrison Mevis – the SEC Special Teams Player of the Week for games played on Oct. 30 and Nov. 20 – was responsible for Mizzou’s first nine points scored in the game, hitting field goals of 41, 46 and 49 yards in the first two quarters.
• On the season, Mevis is 20-of-22 in field goals, including 11-of-13 from 40-49 and 3-of-3 from 50+.
• Against the Gators, Mevis stayed perfect on PATs, going 1-for-1 on the day, improving to 40-for-40 on the season and 68-for-68 in his career.
• He saw his consecutive made field goals streak end at 20 against Georgia. The streak was the longest in the nation. Mevis bounced back, hitting each of his next two kicks
• Mevis started his season with a bang, drilling a 53- yard field goal in the waning seconds of the first half to give Mizzou a lead over Central Michigan. The kick was a then-career-long from Mevis and had plenty of leg to spare.
• He was equally impressive at Boston College, hitting a career-long 56-yard boot to send the game to overtime.
• Mevis is now 7-for-8 in his career from beyond 50 yards.
• He is one of just two Tigers in program history to make five or more kicks of 50+ yards, joining Tom Whelihan (6, 1984-87).
HEA NIKO
• Junior tight end Niko Hea scored his fourth career touchdown on a 41-yard breakaway reception, a new career long, in the OT win over Florida. He accumulated 68 yards on the day, also a new career high.
• On the season, Hea has hauled in 18 catches for 145 yards and two scores.
BAILEY BRINGING THE BOOM
• Redshirt junior linebacker Chad Bailey has made the most of his opportunity to step into the starting lineup this season, racking up 38 of his 46 tackles in his seven starts.
• Bailey produced a career day at No. 1 Georgia, making 10 tackles to help the Mizzou rush defense to its best performance of the season.
• At Vanderbilt, Bailey made two tackles for loss and recorded his first career sack in a six tackle effort.
• Bailey added a five-tackle day against South Carolina to give him three-straight games with five or more stops.
• In Mizzou’s win over Florida, Bailey made nine tackles, including a career-best three behind the line of scrimmage.
BANISTER DELIVERS
• In 11 games played, redshirt senior receiver Barrett Banister totals 25 catches for 173 yards and one touchdown. He averages 6.9 yards per catch.
• Of his 25 receptions, 11 have gone for first downs. Of those 11, seven have been part of scoring drives.
FOLLOW THE MANUEL
• Junior safety Martez Manuel leads the Tigers with 77 tackles this season, including a team-leading 60 solo stops.
• His 77 tackles mark a career high for the Columbia native.
• Against South Carolina, Manuel had a strip-sack which was recovered by teammate Trajan Jeffcoat in the end zone for a Tigers’ touchdown. The play helped stake Mizzou to a 31-14 lead in the second half and marked Manuel’s career-high 3.5 sack of the season.
• The junior earned his first interception at Vanderbilt, icing the game with a pick of Mike Wright with 1:31 on the clock in the fourth quarter.
• Manuel seven tackles for loss match his single-season best set last year in 2020.
• He had a career-high 10 solo stops against Tennessee while matching his personal best of 11 total tackles.
JACKSON STEPS IN
• Freshman defensive back DJ Jackson made his first start in Mizzou’s win over Florida, impressing with five tackles and a pair of pass breakups.
• The five tackles were more than Jackson had accumulated in the previous seven games he played this season.
• Jackson also recorded his first career tackle for loss in the game.
• At Arkansas, Jackson added two more pass breakups in his second start.
KAD ALL THE WAY
• Kris Abrams-Draine produced a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown against Tennessee. It was the first kickoff return touchdown for Mizzou since 2014 when Marcus Murphy housed a 96-yard return at Florida.
• The 100-yard return was just the fifth 100-yarder in program history and the first of its kind since Oct. 30, 1976 when receiver Joe Stewart went endzone-to-endzone against Oklahoma State.
BLAZE IS ON FIRE
• After a three-game hiatus from the starting lineup, graduate linebacker Blaze Alldredge has been strong in the past four games.
• Alldredge turned in an eight-tackle performance in the win over Florida, including a crucial 3rd-and-1 stop on an option play in the fourth quarter to stall a Florida drive and limit the Gators to a game-tying field goal.
• Alldredge added two tackles for loss and a pair of quarterback hurries to turn in his most complete performance in SEC play.
• At Arkansas, Alldredge stuffed the stat sheet with 11 tackles, 1.5 TFL, 0.5 sack and a forced fumble.
• Alldredge needs 11 tackles to reach 300 career tackles.
SCORE ON D
• Mizzou produced its first defensive score of the season against North Texas, as Trajan Jeffcoat deflected a pass which was intercepted by freshman defensive lineman Mekhi Wingo and returned 40 yards for a touchdown.
• The interception was the first of Wingo’s career and marked the first time a Mizzou defensive lineman has scored since Akial Byers in 2018.
• The INT return for TD was part of a three-turnover performance for the Tigers’ defense. Kris Abrams-Draine picked off a pass to setup Mizzou’s first score of the day and later recovered a fumble forced by corner Akayleb Evans.
• Evans forced two fumbles on the day, the first two forced fumbles
• Mizzou produced its first defensive score of the season of his career.
• Mizzou scored 14 points off the three turnovers.
SPREADING THE LOVE
• Mookie Cooper became the 10th Tiger to haul in a touchdown reception this season with his 60-yard bomb against South Carolina. The 10 players with a TD grab are the most by the Tigers since 2016.
• Four Tigers have multiple TD receptions, led by Tyler Badie with four.
• This season, 16 different Tigers have caught a pass with six Tigers making their first career TD grabs.
TAKE YOUR PICK
• Mizzou’s secondary has snagged an interception in nine of the 11 contests played this season.
• The Tigers have a total of 11 interceptions, ranking 30th nationally and fourth in the SEC.
• Six different Tigers have an interception this season, as Martez Manuel joined the INT crew with his first career pick at Vanderbilt.
• Jaylon Carlies leads the way with four INTs, Kris Abrams-Draine has three, while Manuel, Akayleb Evans, Shawn Robinson and Mekhi Wingo have one each.
CARLIES CREATING HAVOC
• Sophomore safety Jaylon Carlies has been a force at the back of Mizzou’s defense, creating five turnovers for the Tigers.
• The safety picked up his fourth INT of the season at Georgia, tying Carlies for 11th nationally and third in the SEC this season.
• Carlies recorded his first collegiate interception in the season opener against Central Michigan. He made it two-straight games with an INT by pulling in a deflected pass from Kentucky QB Will Levis in week two.
• The back-to-back INTs made Carlies the first Mizzou player to pick off a pass in consecutive games since Adam Sparks accomplished the feat against Vanderbilt and Arkansas in 2017.
• The safety also made one of the biggest plays of the game, forcing a UK fumble late in the first half which was recovered by the Tigers in the end zone. The play led to a
ARMY BLACK KNIGHTS NOTES
Entering their fifth Bowl appearance in the past six seasons, the Army Black Knights head southwest to Fort Worth, Texas to face the Missouri Tigers in the 2021 Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl. While the matchup will be the fifth time the Black Knights and Tigers will square off in school history, Wednesday will mark the first time in nearly 40 years (1982).
The Armed Forces Bowl will also be Army’s first matchup against an SEC opponent in 10 years, where the Black Knights closed out the 2021 regular season averaging 61 more rushing-yards per game than the SEC’s top rushing attack.
Tiffany Greene and Jay Walker are in the booth to make the call for ESPN, with Rich DeMarco and Dean Darling set on the national radio call for Army Sports Network and the Varsity Network App.
Kickoff at Amon G. Carter Stadium is set for 8:00 p.m. ET.
FIRST QUARTER FRONT
Week 1 saw a Cadets defense hold Georgia State to only 22 yards in the first quarter, accounting for the fewest yards allowed in the first quarter over the past six seasons. The top-ranked 2020 defensive unit held offenses to under 50 total yards of offense three times last season.
OPENING DROUGHT
In the Monken era, the Black Knights have not only held the opposing offense scoreless on the season opening drive in five- consecutive seasons, no team has earned more than 20 yards of total offense in the same time span. With OLB Andre Carter snaring his second collegiate-career interception in Week 11 against Bucknell, it also marked as the fourth time the Black Knights have created takeaways on the opponent’s opening drive in consecutive weeks since 2015.
FLURRY OF FIRSTS
The 2021 season opener saw a flurry of firsts, including RB Tyson Riley and RB A.J. Howard reaching the endzone for the first time of their collegiate career. It marks as the first time the Black Knights have found the endzone in back-toback season-opening drives since 2015.
CARTER’S QUARTERS
Following single-game high 3.0 sacks in Week 1 at Georgia State, OLB Andre Carter levied another 11.5 sacks in the following 11 games to sit at the top ranks in the nation for total sacks. Carter recorded two games with 3.0 or more sacks.
RULE OF ZERO
For the first time since 1996, the Army Black Knights opened the first third of the season undefeated. In the Black Knights’ first four games of the 2021 season, Army also outscored all opponents by a 35-0 margin.
WHO’S HOUSE?
In Week 4, the Black Knights secured their 13th consecutive-win on home turf at Michie Stadium. The homestand winning-streak
matches Monken’s prior 13-win streak, spanning from 2016-18. The 13-win streak at home sits at No.5 on the longest NCAA home-game winning streaks from Week 11 in 2019 through Week 8 of the 2021 season.
THE KNIGHT SHIFT
For three consecutive weeks closing out the regular season, the Army Black Knights ranked No. 2 in the NCAA for most rushing first downs.
DYNAMIC DUOS
In the 52-21 win against UConn in Week 3, RB Tyrell Robinson and RB Brandon Walters became the first duo to record a 50 yard-plus rush in the same game since 2016. The last Black Knight duo to hit the mark was QB Ahmad Bradshaw (65 yards) and RB Tyler Campbell (70 yards) at North Texas in 2016.
THE RUSHING RANK
Closing out the 2021 regular season, the Black Knights in the Top 2 for most rushing yards (3,437). Army also ranks No. 2 in average rushing yards per game (286.4). Army the top team in the nation for total rushing touchdowns (44).
SACK ATTACK
With the Black Knights recording 12.0 total sacks on the opponent through the first five games played of 2021, it marked as the most recorded in the first third of a season in Academy history since 2000.
OPENING PUNCH
Army has created takeaways on four opponent opening drives in 2021, marking as the second consecutive season to reach the feat.
The Black Knights have also snared the ball on the opponent’s opening drive in back-to-back games to open the 2021 season, marking as the second time to do so since 2000. The last time occurred in 2015. Army has created takeaways on the opponent’s opening drive in 3 games in 2021. Since 2015, the Black Knights have killed 15% of all opponent opening drives by creating a takeaway (13) – the most in all of college football. The rest of the NCAA has only averaged nearly 5% over the same time frame (4).
NO FLY ZONE
Since 2000, S Marquel Broughton’s two interceptions matches as the most for a Black Knight to snare in the first three weeks of action over the past seven seasons (B.Jackson, 2015). Only DB Donovan Travis snared more over the same time span (3, 2009).
THE SHORT GAME
In the opening week of 2021, the Army Black Knights halted Georgia State to only 22 total yards of offense in the first quarter. It sits as the fewest yards allowed in the opening quarter of a single game over the past six seasons. The 2020 top-ranked defensive unit held offenses to under 50 total yards in the first quarter three times last season.
KEEP AWAY
In 2021, Army closed out the season ranked No. 1 in the NCAA for nine consecutive weeks (Weeks 3-11) on the opponent’s total time of possession (260:06).
The Black Knights also sit at the top of the nation for fewest total defensive snaps played (5,819) through the 100 games played since Head Coach Jeff Monken joined in 2014
