Missouri linebacker Chad Bailey suspended after arrest

Saul Young/News Sentinel/USA TODAY NETWORK
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COLUMBIA, Mo. — Missouri linebacker Chad Bailey was suspended from the team after he was arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated, the team said.

The 23-year-old, who was a team captain last season, was booked at about 2:45 a.m. and released after posting $500 bond, according to online records from the Boone County Sheriff’s Office.

“We are aware of the situation involving Chad Bailey,” Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz said in a statement to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “He’s been suspended according to Department of Athletics policy. We have high expectations for all of our student-athletes, on and off the field, and we will follow all departmental and campus policies.”

Bailey was Mizzou’s third-leading tackler with 57 stops last season. He started all 11 games he played, missing two with an injury. He’ll be a sixth-year senior this fall after opting to return for his final year of eligibility, the Post-Dispatch reported.

The Missouri student-athlete handbook says any athlete who is arrested must serve a minimum one-week suspension.

Bailey was pulled over at about 1 a.m. not far from the Columbia campus for an expired license plate and lane violation, a police statement said. Bailey told the officer he had consumed alcohol and then performed poorly on a field sobriety test, the Post-Dispatch reported.

Hartman throws 3 TD passes, Wake Forest beats Missouri 27-17

Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports
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TAMPA, Fla. – Sam Hartman completed 23 of 36 passes for 280 yards and three touchdowns in what was expected to be his final game with Wake Forest, a 27-17 win over Missouri in the Gasparilla Bowl on Friday night.

The redshirt junior now will look at entering the NFL draft or the transfer portal.

Hartman threw his 108th career touchdown pass to set an Atlantic Coast Conference record on a 5-yard strike to Taylor Morin that made it 7-0 in the first quarter. He had been tied with Clemson’s Tajh Boyd (2010-13), and ended up with 110 overall.

Hartman came up 33 yards short of joining North Carolina State’s Philip Rivers (13,484 from 2000-03) as the only quarterbacks in ACC history to reach 13,000 passing yards.

A.T. Perry had 11 receptions for 116 yards for Wake Forest (8-5)

Brady Cook threw for 215 yards on 29-of-48 passing for Missouri (6-7). He also rushed for 38 yards on 14 tries.

Missouri took its first lead, 17-14, when Cody Schrader scored from 4 yards out with 5:45 remaining in the third quarter. He finished with 54 yards on 13 carries.

Wake Forest went ahead 20-17 just 1:16 later when Hartman hooked up with Jahmal Banks for a 48-yard touchdown. Matthew Dennis missed the extra point, which ended the Demon Deacons’ streak of 269 consecutive successful tries, dating to Nov. 18, 2017.

Hartman and Morin hooked up for a 16-yard touchdown with 2 1/2 minutes to play,

Justice Ellison put the Demon Deacons ahead 14-3 on a 1-yard TD run five minutes into the second quarter. He had 64 yards on 21 attempts.

After Jaylon Carlies picked off a pass by Hartman in the end zone, Cook connected on a 1-yard touchdown pass to Demariyon Houston to get Missouri within 14-10 2 1/2 minutes before halftime.

Harrison Mevis made a 35-yard field goal to cut the Missouri deficit to 7-3 late in the first quarter.

BOWL BITS

Missouri DE Isaiah McGuire, DE DJ Coleman and S Martez Manuel didn’t play after deciding to enter the NFL draft. WR Dominic Lovett sat out after entering the transfer portal. … Perry has a reception in 34 straight games. … Missouri C Connor Tollison needed assistance to walk off the field after a second-quarter injury.

IT’S COLD, BUT .

It was 50 degrees at kickoff. At the same time, it was 15 degrees with a feel-like temperature of minus-1 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. In Columbia, Missouri, it was 2 degrees but felt like minus-18.

Missouri holds off Arkansas 29-27 to reach bowl eligibility

Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
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COLUMBIA, Mo. – Missouri and Arkansas will be headed to similar bowl games after the Tigers held off the Razorbacks 29-27 on Saturday night, leaving each of the bitter border rivals 6-6 on the season.

Only one walked out of Faurot Field with victory cigars.

Brady Cook threw for 242 yards and a touchdown while running for 138 yards and a score, and Missouri’s defense stuffed Arkansas when it mattered in the fourth quarter, allowing the Tigers to avenge last year’s loss to the Razorbacks.

“We wanted it so bad,” admitted Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz, who said he bought cigars for the entire team in anticipation of reaching bowl eligibility. “We tried not to make it bigger than it was, but we were playing for more.”

Cody Schrader added 97 yards rushing and a touchdown, and Dominic Lovett – who had to ditch his own lit cigar on the way to the postgame new conference – had six catches for 130 yards, helping the Tigers (6-6, 3-5) qualify for a third bowl game in Drinkwitz’s first three seasons in Columbia.

“We only won by two,” Lovett said after smacking the tobacco taste out of his mouth, “but a win’s a win. We got it done.”

Arkansas (6-6, 4-4) had the ball twice with less than 8 minutes left and a chance to drive for a go-ahead field goal, but the Tigers forced three-and-outs both times and essentially ran out the clock on their first league win in a month.

“We’ve all been through hell – can I say hell? Well, I just said it twice,” Lovett said. “It was a good day all around.”

The Razorbacks’ KJ Jefferson threw for 205 yards with two touchdowns and an interception while running for a score, though he was constantly harassed by Missouri’s aggressive defensive front. Raheim Sanders, the league’s second-leading rusher, was held to just 47 yards on the ground with a touchdown reception.

“We’ve got a very disappointed locker room right now and we’d certainly like to get this taste out of our mouth in a bowl game,” Razorbacks coach Sam Pittman said, “but this is going to be hard to get rid of.”

Missouri actually scored on each of its first four drives yet still trailed at halftime.

That’s because the Razorbacks were better at reaching the end zone.

While the Tigers got touchdown runs from Schrader and Cook to cap long drives, they also had to settle for a pair of field goals from Harrison Mevis, including a chipshot after a drive stalled at the Arkansas 10 late in the first half.

The Razorbacks were forced to punt twice, thanks to Missouri’s pass rush, but they also got a short TD run from Jefferson and his touchdown pass to Matt Landers. And when the Razorbacks got the ball back with 5 1/2 minutes before the break, they breezed 75 yards down field and Jefferson hit Sanders out of the backfield for a 21-20 lead.

Missouri regained the lead in the third quarter when Luther Burden III caught a short pass, put a move on the Razorbacks’ Quincey McAdoo, and reached the end zone from 23 yards out. And after Jefferson was picked off moments later, Mevis hit his third field goal to give the Tigers a 29-21 advantage.

The Razorbacks had a chance to retake the lead in the fourth quarter, after they’d closed to within 29-24, but they couldn’t get into the end zone after first-and-goal at the Missouri 2 and Pittman settled for another field goal.

That wound up being the difference in the game.

“We felt like coming in here we were ready to go,” Pittman said, “and physically we just got whipped.”

THE TAKEAWAY

Arkansas simply made too many mistakes to beat anyone in the SEC. The offensive line gave up seven sacks, penalty flags flew at costly times and Pittman’s conservative play on fourth down may have cost the Razorbacks the game.

Missouri’s defense made stops when it mattered the most, particularly in the fourth quarter. They stuffed Arkansas at the goal line, then forced consecutive three-and-outs in the waning minutes to essentially run out the clock.

UP NEXT

Both teams await bowl destinations with the Tigers possibly jumping the Razorbacks in the pecking order. “Honestly,” Drinkwitz said, “I don’t give a crap where we play. It’s a bowl game, it’s a celebration. Wherever our administration thinks it’s best for us to go, we’ll saddle up and go.”