When it comes to key ingredients, Missouri can’t be certain lately when a vital piece in its recipe for winning is available.
Tigers quarterback Brady Cook left each of the last two games due to different injuries.
Coming off a bye week, though, head coach Eli Drinkwitz is hopeful Cook can return when No. 24 Missouri plays Oklahoma on Saturday in Columbia, Mo.
Cook figures to be listed as either “probable” or “doubtful” for the matchup with the Sooners, as he was ahead of the 34-0 loss to Alabama on Oct. 26.
He played in that game, though suffered an apparent hand injury after completing 7 of 12 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.”
If Cook can’t go, Drinkwitz said Drew Pyne would 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.”
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.
The Sooners (5-4, 1-4) have dropped three consecutive conference games, and are coming off a 59-14 win over Maine last week.
–Field Level Media
