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STARKVILLE, Miss. — Missouri’s football team was close to proving that its coach was right to worry and that his fears were correct.

And then, halfway through the first quarter of the Tigers’ win Saturday at Mississippi State, a scoop and score flipped the whole mood. The kind of start to a game that makes a head coach lose sleep at night yielded to a controlling performance from Mizzou (8-3, 4-3 Southeastern Conference), which held the ball for nearly 42 minutes in a 39-20 victory against the struggling Bulldogs.

Much often is made of the disconnect between what’s said about a college football program outside of it and what the conversations look like inside the locker room. Outside noise. Rat poison. That sort of thing.

For once, and in a key way, the external questions were aligned with MU coach Eli Drinkwitz’s worries over the past week. After all the chaos of the win over Oklahoma and all the letdown of a last-minute loss to South Carolina, he had the same questions as those outside his team.

“I was really nervous,� Drinkwitz said, “because I felt like these two games have been emotionally draining on our team. And I was really nervous about how much resolve and energy we would be able to have on the road. It was kind of exactly what I was thinking, the first quarter, with the offense.�

The Missouri offense started with a couple of fruitless three-and-outs that suggested even the SEC’s worst defense might be too much for a group of Tigers now playing without College Football Playoff ambitions.

But no, there was the fumble. Defensive tackle Kristian Williams jarred the ball loose from State quarterback Michael Van Buren Jr., and hybrid safety Daylan Carnell grabbed it off the ground for a 68-yard touchdown return.

“I didn’t know, immediately, who’s around me,� Carnell said of the play. “But after like 10 yards, I knew it was a touchdown.�

The scoop and score — a well-rehearsed maneuver that has popped up twice in MU’s last three games — gave Mizzou a 7-3 lead. The Tigers led the rest of the way.

“When the defense made the play, man, it just kind of lifted everybody and we were rolling again,� Drinkwitz said.

The ground game was especially vital to Missouri’s control of a Mississippi State team that is one more loss away from a winless season of conference play. The Tigers ran the ball 56 times for 204 yards.

“We went into it knowing that on offense, we had to control the line of scrimmage, and we did that today,� Drinkwitz said. “Felt very comfortable with us being able to just continually run the football.�

Primary tailback Nate Noel, looking close to fully healthy after missing time because of a foot injury, took 25 carries for 101 yards. He now has posted at least 100 rushing yards in each of the nine games in his career in which he’s earned 20 or more carries.

And his tandem partner, Marcus Carroll, scored three touchdowns to go with 61 yards. It’s Carroll’s second hat trick of the season, coming from punch-in duty close to the end zone.

“It’s awesome to be the goal-line back,� Drinkwitz joked. “I’m sure Nate’s pretty ticked off that he does most of the work between the 5s and then we let Marcus finish it off.�

The rushing touchdowns, of course, were instrumental in Mizzou building its lead — there was a late 2-point conversion that Carroll also scored, for good measure, too. But the terrene attack had a more abstract grasp on the game flow, too.

The Tigers led 28-13 at halftime, a solid advantage that still needed a seal. Starting the second half with the ball, they held onto it for eight minutes and 46 seconds — more than half of the third quarter — while picking up 57 yards to kick a field goal.

It was during that sequence that Carroll and Noel, trading carries, came to a shared conclusion.

“We was juiced up,� Carroll said. “We felt ourselves, like, ‘OK, yeah, let’s go ahead and get this game.’�

Mizzou had another scoring drive of nearly nine minutes in the fourth quarter, too, leading to Carroll’s third touchdown. Those drives were long enough that on the MU sideline, with post-sundown Starkville cooling off, defensive players were getting unique instructions from trainers.

“They was telling us, ‘Make sure you go stretch out, stay by the heaters’ — all type of stuff, just so we ready when we get out there,� Carnell said. “When the offense does stuff like that, it definitely takes stuff off our body.�

Missouri benefitted from key moments in the passing game, too. Quarterback Brady Cook, still playing despite the lingering effects of a wrist injury, found wideout Luther Burden III in the back of the end zone for a 28-yard touchdown connection in the second quarter. A better description of the play, though, might be that Burden improvised a way to shed his defender and sag downward for the catch — one of the more impressive connections between the duo.

Cook also landed a deep post through double coverage to wide receiver Marquis Johnson for a 45-yard gain shortly after Carnell’s defensive touchdown.

“The deep throw to Marquis was a huge play to let them know that we would go over the top,� Drinkwitz said.

But overall, the result — MU’s first SEC road win this season — was a testament to what Mizzou can do when running the ball is its priority, especially against a team ill-equipped to stop it.

“We just felt like with the way we’re able to run the football, and going into the game that was kind of their weakness, we wanted to be diligent in exploiting that,� Drinkwitz said. “Once we got a lead, (we were) able to lean into it.�

Missouri 39, Mississippi St. 20

Missouri 14 14 3 8 — 39

Mississippi St. 10 3 7 0 — 20

First Quarter

²Ñ³§³§°Õ—FG Ferrie 38, 11:42.

²Ñ±õ´Ü´Ü—Carnell 68 fumble return (Craig kick), 6:33.

²Ñ±õ´Ü´Ü—Carroll 2 run (Craig kick), 2:49.

²Ñ³§³§°Õ—Mosley 11 pass from Van Buren (Ferrie kick), :20.

Second Quarter

²Ñ±õ´Ü´Ü—Burden 28 pass from Cook (Craig kick), 9:58.

²Ñ±õ´Ü´Ü—Carroll 19 run (Craig kick), 4:32.

²Ñ³§³§°Õ—FG Ferrie 26, :30.

Third Quarter

²Ñ±õ´Ü´Ü—FG Craig 35, 6:14.

²Ñ³§³§°Õ—Booth 43 run (Ferrie kick), 5:31.

Fourth Quarter

²Ñ±õ´Ü´Ü—Carroll 1 run (Carroll run), 5:40.

MIZZ MSST

First downs 23 16

Total Net Yards 472 338

Rushes-yards 56-204 22-147

Passing 268 191

Punt Returns 1--10 1-8

Kickoff Returns 2-38 1-27

Interceptions Ret. 0-0 0-0

Comp-Att-Int 15-20-0 16-28-0

Sacked-Yards Lost 1-6 2-5

Punts 2-35.5 3-46.0

Fumbles-Lost 0-0 1-1

Penalties-Yards 4-50 6-40

Time of Possession 41:51 17:53

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

¸é±«³§±á±õ±·³Ò—Missouri, Noel 25-95, Carroll 14-61, Roberts 5-29, Cook 8-16, K.Lacy 1-6, (Team) 3-(minus 3). Mississippi St., Booth 12-124, Daniels 6-21, Van Buren 4-2.

±Ê´¡³§³§±õ±·³Ò—Missouri, Cook 15-20-0-268. Mississippi St., Van Buren 16-28-0-191.

¸é·¡°ä·¡±õ³Õ±õ±·³Ò—Missouri, Burden 7-91, Wease 4-72, Norfleet 2-24, M.Johnson 1-45, Manning 1-36. Mississippi St., Coleman 6-58, Akharaiyi 3-64, Traore 3-17, Mosley 2-28, J.Ball 2-24.

MISSED FG—Missouri, Craig 44.