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COLUMBIA, Mo. — Missouri scored points when it needed them most.

The Tigers struggled to move the ball in the first half of Saturday’s game against Oklahoma, then figured it out in the second. But when a fumble returned for a touchdown by the Sooners put Mizzou down seven points with two minutes to play, MU passed a crunch-time test.

Led by backup quarterback Drew Pyne, who started for the injured Brady Cook, Missouri scored a game-tying two-minute drill touchdown through wideout Theo Wease Jr., who posted two touchdowns against his former team.

Then the defense chipped in with its most important play of the season, forcing a fumble that defensive end Zion Young returned for the game-winning touchdown just 43 seconds of game time after Wease's score.

At the end of a chaotic fourth quarter, Missouri emerged the winner: MU 30, OU 23.

Pyne finished with 143 passing yards and three touchdowns. Wease had four catches for 70 yards and two scores. 

Mizzou is now 7-2 overall and 3-2 against Southeastern Conference teams.

That the biggest offensive plays of the first half — offensive being a misnomer, since it was really special teams situations — came on punt plays summed up the nature of the opening 30 minutes.

Oklahoma quarterback Jackson Arnold dropped the ball twice on the Sooners’ first two drives. On the first, it slipped out of his hands on a third-down scramble, requiring him to fall on it. On the second, MU hybrid safety Daylan Carnell punched the ball out of Arnold’s clutches following a quarterback keeper.

The Tigers weren’t up for the challenge of turning strong defense into any kind of points early on, though. They went three-and-out to start the game, then punted from the OU 39-yard line following Arnold’s turnover — a stroke of caution that, because of a touchback, netted just 19 yards.

When, near the end of the first quarter, the Sooners lined up to punt around midfield, they found their breakthrough. Punter Luke Elzinga caught the deep snap and ran up toward the line of scrimmage. He released a jump throw to tight end Bauer Sharp, who’d leaked ahead and sprinted d— and hurdled — down to the MU 10-yard line for a 43-yard gain.

With first and goal, Arnold took two sacks, including one from an unblocked and blitzing linebacker Chuck Hicks. Oklahoma wound up being backed up into a 40-yard field goal attempt, which it converted.

Missouri turned the ball over on downs in its attempt at a response. Wide receiver Luther Burden III took a jet sweep handoff on fourth and 1 but ran backward in pursuit of open space, failing to reach the line to gain.

Starting a drive at the Mizzou 44-yard line, Arnold scrambled for 20 yards by fooling the home defense on a counter play, enough for the Sooners to tack on a 35-yard field goal.

MU punted the ball away on its next drive, but OU returner Peyton Bowen muffed a fair catch. Mizzou’s Ja’Marion Wayne pounced on the loose ball, setting up a possession from the Sooners’ 28.

Pyne completed a sideline pass to Wease to earn a set of downs from inside the 10-yard line, but no dice for the hosts: They assembled a negative rushing play, short scramble from the backup quarterback and Pyne throwing the ball away out of the back of the end zone on third and goal.

Kicker Blake Craig made a 25-yard field goal to put Mizzou on the board in the second quarter following the special teams recovery.

Oklahoma snuck a 56-yard field goal in before halftime to take a 9-3 lead into the break despite starting its final drive of the first half with only 22 seconds — albeit the ball right around midfield because of a late hit penalty called on MU during the preceding punt.

That punt came to a chorus of boos within Memorial Stadium with Missouri fans unhappy that their team did no more than drain the clock when presented with a two-minute drill opportunity.

Mizzou scored the game’s first touchdown some nine minutes into the third quarter, putting together a solid drive to march down the field. Tight end Brett Norfleet made a sliding catch, running back Jamal Roberts pushed through the trenches for key runs and Pyne completed a pass to Burden despite heavy contact to generate another set of downs with goal to gain.

The Tigers stalled there for a moment, falling back into third and goal from the 13-yard line. Wease bailed them out, catching a screen pass and busting through his former team’s defense for a touchdown and 10-9 Missouri lead.

Oklahoma coughed the ball up again early in the fourth quarter, thanks to some takeaway generation from the MU defense. Safety Marvin Burks Jr. punched the ball out of running back Taylor Tatum’s hands after a catch, and fellow defensive back Tre’Vez Johnson gobbled up the ball at the OU 30-yard line.

Pyne kept the bonus possession from slumping into a field goal attempt with an 8-yard scramble on third and 7. A draw play designed for Pyne on third and 9 just inside the red zone also moved the sticks.

He made another big third down play to cap off the drive, moving mentally through his progressions on third and goal before finding Norfleet in the back of the end zone for a five-yard touchdown.

Backed up by a false start, Craig missed the extra point, leaving Missouri’s lead at 16-9 with 8:45 to go in the game — something that very quickly became impactful.

The Sooners, in need of offense themselves, kept the ball on the ground to drive into the red zone. And then they got tricky one more: Tatum, the OU running back, threw the ball back to Arnold on a play, and the Oklahoma quarterback sprinted into the end zone for an 18-yard touchdown that tied the game at 16 apiece with 3:18 left in the game.

Next came catastrophe. Roberts, taking a routine carry, lost the ball at his own 40-yard line, where OU’s Billy Bowman Jr. recovered it. The Sooners’ safety was off to the races for a scoop and score that gave the visitors a sudden 23-16 with two minutes flat for Missouri to respond.

Pyne hit Wease over the middle of the field for a completion on the first play of the two-minute drill. A third-down defensive holding call preserved the drive and funneled the Tigers across midfield.

Facing third and 16, Pyne heaving the ball downfield for Burden, who caught it along the left sideline for a 33-yard gain to set up first and goal from the 10. 

Then Pyne let Wease make a play against his former team, tossing the ball toward him in the corner of the end zone. Having a defender on him didn't matter — Wease, whose contested catch prowess had yet to really flash in 2024, caught it for a game-tying touchdown.

The game-winning scoop-and-score in MU's favor came on a Triston Newson sack of Arnold that Young corralled and returned for a touchdown. 

Cook was ruled out Friday night due to a high ankle sprain, injury to his throwing hand/wrist or a combination of the two injuries. Wideout Mookie Cooper also missed the game with an undisclosed injury. Starting center Connor Tollison left the contest after suffering an apparent leg injury blocking for Wease on the Tigers’ third-quarter touchdown.

Missouri next plays at South Carolina (6-3, 4-3 SEC). The Gamecocks beat Vanderbilt 28-7 on the road Saturday.