Backup backs step up for Tigers

Leon, Roberson, QB Smith combine for 266 yards in Missouri victory

? Missouri running back Zack Abron, who leads the team with 10 rushing touchdowns, missed Saturday’s game against Kansas because of a partial tear of his left posterior cruciate ligament.

He wasn’t missed much, as running backs T.J. Leon and Tyrone Roberson and QB Brad Smith combined for 266 yards and three touchdowns in the Tigers’ 36-12 victory against the Jayhawks at Faurot Field.

“I was rooming with Zack, and he told me he wasn’t going to go, so Tyrone and I knew we had to step it up,” Leon said. “To have two touchdowns today is beyond anything I would ever comprehend coming in. It was a lot of fun.”

Leon carried the ball 17 times for 104 yards and two touchdowns, Smith ran 15 times for 117 yards and a score, and Roberson gained 45 yards on 11 carries. After the Tigers’ passing game struggled in the first half, the trio wore down the Jayhawks’ defense as the Tigers ran away with the game in the second half.

“We decided in the second half to crank up the run,” Missouri coach Gary Pinkel said. “When you have problems with one thing, you fall back on the other.”

The Tigers had little problem running in the third quarter, keeping the ball on the ground 12 consecutive plays during one stretch. Leon scored on a five-yard run his second touchdown of the game during that stretch, and Smith ended it with a 75-yard touchdown draw, sprung free by a block from Roberson.

“That block was the biggest thing,” Roberson said. “When I saw him running, I was like, ‘Thank you, Jesus.’ I saw him chopping out and nobody could catch him and that meant a lot more to me.”

Smith had a hand in a big passing play, tossing a 62-yard scoring pass to Justin Gage. Actually, Smith threw a screen pass about a yard behind the line of scrimmage to Gage, who scampered behind blockers before breaking free and sprinting to the end zone.

“The line did a job of running downfield and getting blocks,” Gage said, “and making the number of defenders shrink. There were open holes so I just hit one and went to the house.”

Gage’s career-long reception was his 15th touchdown, a school record. The senior wide receiver caught four passes for 77 yards against the Jayhawks, giving him 176 for his career.

That total breaks Kwame Cavil’s Big 12 record of 174 for Texas from 1997 to 1999, a mark Gage was pleased to set against KU.

“It makes it a lot better,” Gage said, “because of the hard-fought battles and everything that’s happened in the past. It makes it feel real good.”

Missouri felt good enough about its victory to prod its fans into tearing down the goalposts, cheering and waving the crowd to the field after singing the fight song. The victory may not have been against a highly ranked opponent, but it was against the rival Jayhawks on Homecoming.

“We really don’t like Kansas,” Missouri senior cornerback R.J. Jones said. “We wanted the fans to run out on the field, but I guess they needed some motivation so we ran toward the goalpost first, and then they came.”