Brady Cook finishes Missouri Tigers career with Music City Bowl win vs. Iowa: Game recap

Brady Cook is leaving Mizzou with another bowl game victory.

The longtime Tigers quarterback made the most of his last game in black and gold, throwing for 287 yards with two touchdowns and leading Mizzou’s 27-24 win over Iowa in the Music City Bowl.

In his final season, Cook threw for 2,535 yards with 11 passing touchdowns. He posted more than 9,000 passing yards for his Missouri career, along with 49 passing touchdowns and 20 more on the ground.

“It’s meant everything to me,” Cook told ESPN of playing for Mizzou. “To the 12-year-old version of myself, I’m living out that little kid’s dream.”

Monday’s win moved the Tigers to double-digits for the second straight season. The Tigers finished 10-3 after going 11-2 in 2023. That’s the first time Mizzou has accomplished that feat since the 2013-14 seasons under Gary Pinkel.

Head coach Eli Drinkwitz also earned his second bowl victory.

“The story really is our football team and these guys right here and their commitment to finishing the season,” Drinkwitz said. “Just so proud of the way they battled.”

The Hawkeyes took advantage after the Tigers stalled on their opening drive, with Iowa QB Brendan Sullivan connecting with Terrell Washington for a 6-yard touchdown.

Then came three consecutive scores: Mizzou ended the first quarter with a score after Cook’s touchdown pass to receiver Theo Wease, but that 7-all score was short lived. Iowa’s Kaden Wetjen returned the ensuing kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown.

Kaden Wetjen earned All-America honors as a return specialist this season.

Of course, Cook and Mizzou had an answer, connecting with receiver Marquis Johnson for his first touchdown of the season. Johnson totaled 122 yards across seven receptions before exiting in the fourth quarter, as Drinkwitz called on the sophomore in the absence of Luther Burden.

The Hawkeyes scored once more before halftime, taking a 21-14 lead behind freshman running back Kamari Moulton. Then they pushed that lead to 24-14 in the third quarter.

From there, it was all Mizzou.

Cook connected with Johnson again for 44 yards to put the Tigers in the red zone. Despite a Cook rushing touchdown being called back for an illegal shift, the Tigers chipped away at Iowa’s lead. Sophomore wideout Joshua Manning rushed the ball in from 4 yards out, cutting the deficit to 24-21.

MU cornerback Toriano Pride Jr. was up next, thwarting a Sullivan pass attempt and intercepting the ball at the Mizzou 46-yard line.

“I think it’s belief in each other, belief in what we’re doing,” Drinkwitz said of Mizzou grinding out the close game. “We prepare really hard for these moments. We truly believe in an elite edge. We truly believe in faster, stronger, tougher than you in the fourth quarter. I think there’s a big belief.”

And with the Tigers down a field goal, who else to save the day — from more than 50 yards out — than Blake Craig?

The redshirt freshman from Liberty North, who was 4-for-7 from 50-plus going into the game, drilled two field goals from longer than 50 yards (51, 56). A massive Mizzou stop on fourth-and-short with just over a minute left sealed the deal.

“I had no doubt. I had no doubt. That was a team win all the way around,” Cook told ESPN of the fourth-and-short stop of an Iowa QB sneak. “I love seeing ‘Death Row’ finish out games. They’ve done it time in and time out the last two years.”