ARLINGTON, Texas — Missouri got the big plays it needed at the end of the Cotton Bowl to beat an old rival.
Henry Josey ran for 92 yards and three touchdowns, the last a 16-yarder with 3:08 left, and Shane Ray returned a fumbled 73 yards for a touchdown after that, and the No. 9 Tigers beat No. 13 Oklahoma State 41-31 late Friday night.
The former Big 12 and Big Eight rivals traded points on six consecutive possessions in the fourth quarter, until Oklahoma State quarterback Clint Chelf was sacked and fumbled with a minute left. Ray picked up the ball and rumbled 73 yards down the sideline in front of the stunned Cowboys bench to score.
“All the drama you don’t want as a coach in the fourth quarter,” Mizzou coach Gary Pinkel said. “We had a lot of adversity, and our team handled the adversity well and made the plays we needed to win. I wanted that trophy really bad, wanted it bad for them.”
SEC East champion Missouri (12-2) matched its school record for victories, giving the SEC its 10th win in the last 11 Cotton Bowls, all against the Big 12.
Josey’s go-ahead TD came a play after James Franklin’s 27-yard pass to Dorial Green-Beckham to convert third-and-9. Franklin, the Missouri quarterback whose final two seasons were plagued by injuries, had two fumbles earlier in the second half when Oklahoma State (10-3) overcame a 10-point deficit to tie it in just over 3½ minutes.
Ray had been dragged into the end zone by Desmond Roland when the Oklahoma State running back bulled through the line for a 2-yard TD run with 5 minutes left to give the Cowboys their only lead of the night. Ray hit him immediately at the line, but couldn’t keep Roland from scoring.
Franklin was only 15-of-40 passing for 174 yards with an interception, and almost another returned for a score.
Chelf threw for 381 yards and two touchdowns with two interceptions, completing 33 of 57 passes. He also ran 10 times for 48 yards, including a 23-yard run to convert third-and-10 only a few plays before he was sacked by All-SEC defensive end Michael Sam sacked Chelf and knocked the ball loose.
That gave Sam 11½ sacks, the most in the SEC and matching a school record