Defensive domination

After a quick start by Missouri’s offense, it was the Tiger’s defense that dominated Colorado.

Missouri scored on its first possession and the Buffaloes got two scores in the first half, before a stingy Tiger defense shut out Colorado in the second half of Missouri’s 17-9 win Saturday at Memorial Stadium.

It was Missouri coach Gary Pinkel’s first win in Big 12 Conference openers. Pinkel improved to 20-20 as coach of the Tigers.

With Missouri (3-1, 1-0) leading 10-9 at halftime, linebacker James Kinney told receiver Sean Coffey and the offense the game was over.

“James Kinney looked me in my eyes and said, ‘We got it,’” Coffey said. “He told me we had it and they did it. I saw it in his eyes and he held up to his word.”

Coffey gave the Missouri defense some breathing room when he outraced three Colorado defenders to turn a short out into a 51-yard touchdown.

After the defense forced Colorado (3-1, 0-1) to punt on its first possession of the second half, Brad Smith hit Coffey on the five-yard pattern Coffey broke free of cornerback Terrence Wheatley as soon as he caught the ball and then raced down the right sideline, dodging safety Tyrone Henderson and receiving a key block Martin Rucker.

“I just had to get the first down,” Coffey said. “It was third down and the guy slid off me and T-Ruck gave me a great block and I just went up the sideline and went with it.”

The long touchdown would have been Coffey’s second of the game, but he was called for offensive pass interference on a 60-yard completion right before halftime. Coffey said it was disappointing to lose the score, but it gave him confidence that he could beat the Colorado defensive backs.

The Buffaloes threatened to tie late in the game, but cornerback Shirdonya Mitchell came up with a game-saving interception in the left corner of the end zone, wrestling the ball away from CU receiver Evan Judge with 6:47 left.

It appeared that Judge caught the ball before Mitchell took it away as the two fell to the turf. After the game, though, Mitchell said he had the ball the entire way.

“No, I had it the whole time,” Mitchell said. “I just tried to hold onto it, he was trying to grab it, but I had a strong grip on it, so I had it.”

Coffey said Mitchell has proven to be a playmaker at cornerback. .

“He makes more catches on defense than he did when he was on offense,” Coffey said. “We always give him a lot about that. But he’s been making big plays this season.”

Pinkel said Mitchell showed his athletic ability on the interception.

“I told my players during our Thursday meeting that when crunch time comes, somebody has to make a play,” Pinkel said, “and fortunately we had some guys make some plays.”

Judge said the turnover was a huge letdown for the Buffaloes.

“I had a chance to be a hero, but it didn’t turn out that way,” Judge said. “In that case, you usually think it’s going to be incomplete, but you never think about (the defender) taking it away from you.”

The interception came after the Buffaloes moved to the Tigers 6-yard line with relative ease behind Bobby Purify’s clutch runs and a timely 17-yard completion from Joel Klatt to tight end Joe Klopfenstein.

Klatt completed 18-of-28 passes for 171 yards, but also threw three interceptions. Marcus King intercepted Klatt on Colorado’s first possession of the game and defensive end Xzavie Jackson caught a pass that Brian Smith deflected at the line with ten minutes left in the third quarter.

Missouri did a good job of stopping Purify, who sprained his left shoulder on the first play of the third quarter. He returned late in the quarter and carried seven more times for 15 yards. He finished with 81 yards on 22 carries.

Atiyyah Ellison said the Tigers game plan focused on stopping Purify, whose only big play was a 32-yard run in the first half.

Colorado coach Gary Barnett who lost to his alma mater for the first time, said the Tigers’ physical defensive play was the key.

“When you play a good team like this, you can’t have the kind of mistakes that we made,” Barnett said. “We weren’t very good on offense and Missouri was very good on defense.”

The three Colorado turnovers turned into zero points and the Tigers’ offense struggled to move the ball after closing in on the red zone most of the game.

Kicker Joe Tantarelli, who entered perfect on extra points and field goals, missed three of his four field goal attempts to keep the Buffaloes close.

The game did not appear to be a defensive struggle early as the Tigers took the opening kickoff and marched down the field in 12 plays. Smith twice scrambled for first downs and Buffaloes’ linebacker Jason Ackermann held Martin Rucker in the end zone on third-and-4 from the CU 7-yard line. Damien Nash scored on a three-yard run on the next play.