Motivated Missouri laid an old-fashioned whipping on North Carolina in Monday night's Independence Bowl, using a sinister spread offense to spoil Everett Withers' last game as UNC's coach.
Missouri won 41-24 in a game that wasn't in doubt after halftime. Using five receivers and often no running backs, the Tigers scored on all five of their first-half possessions and led 31-10.
Behind quarterback James Franklin, the Tigers sliced through the Tar Heels' defense almost at will on a cold, wet night. Attendance was announced at 41,728 tickets sold, but there might have been only about 5,000 fans in the stands.
The ease with Franklin and Missouri moved the ball was highlighted in the third quarter. UNC sliced the lead to 31-17 after Bryn Renner connected with Jheranie Boyd on a 44-yard touchdown pass, but Missouri marched down the field to score in five plays.
T.J. Moe returned the kickoff 49 yards to the UNC 34. A 12-yard, third-down run by Kendial Lawrence kept the drive alive. Franklin scored on the next play on a 2-yard run, and the lead was back to 21 only 2:26 after the Tar Heels had scored.
Tailback Gio Bernard said he thought that the Tar Heels were lacking concentration and desire.
"It was lack of focus," Bernard said. "They came out to play, and we didn't."
UNC finished 7-6 with its fifth loss in seven games. Missouri finished 8-5.
Withers, the interim coach, said he didn't believe his team was distracted by the pending coaching change, with Larry Fedora, formerly the Southern Mississippi coach, taking the job.
"Let me tell you: we've had issues for two years," Withers said. "I don't know why tonight would be a distraction. Their quarterback is excellent. We hardly could get to him to rattle him."
Franklin led Missouri to 513 yards of offense, including 344 rushing, and a 7.1-yard average on 72 plays. Franklin passed for 132 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 142 yards and two touchdowns.
Defensive tackle Sylvester Williams of UNC said he was at least slightly surprised that Franklin wasn't sacked or tackled for a loss.
"I wouldn't necessarily say it was Franklin; it was the (Missouri) coaches," Williams said. "Those coaches picked out the flaws in our defense, and he hit those flaws."
Missouri's first-half points were a bowl record and all came after UNC took the opening kickoff and drove for the first touchdown, on Renner's 22-yard pass to Dwight Jones.
After that, the game belonged to Franklin and the Tigers, who scored on their first two possessions to take the lead for good.
Missouri kept adding points with UNC's help, including consecutive turnovers that Missouri turned into touchdowns. Bernard fumbled on first down at his 43 and Missouri recovered at 40. Franklin connected with Jerrel Jackson on an 8-yard pass, helping push the lead to 24-7.
On the second turnover, Renner connected with Jones down the left side, but Jones lost control of the ball when he was hit by Trey Hobson. As Jones fought to regain control, the ball hit his left shoulder and rolled across the top of his back, and Zaviar Gooden made a sliding interception on one knee. Lawrence's 9-yard run helped make it a 24-point game with 1:58 left in the first half.
Withers will now join the Ohio State coaching staff as a co-defensive coordinator.
"You always want to go out a winner," Withers said. "You always want to win your last one. It doesn't always work out that way for you, so you just move on. I told the kids I love them, and I hope they learned life lessons in the last two years."
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