Brady Cook returns from the hospital and leads Missouri past Auburn

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Missouri quarterback Brady Cook returned from a mid-game hospital stay to undergo an MRI scan of his bad ankle and led his team to two fourth-quarter touchdowns, including Jamal Roberts' go-ahead 46 Seconds remaining in the game gave the Tigers a 21-17 victory over Auburn on Saturday.

Cook was injured on the opening series and didn't return until late in the third quarter, after his hospital stay and a session at the nearby indoor practice facility, where Missouri coaches wanted to see if his ankle would function properly.

“It was definitely a long hour and a half. I didn't think I would come back to play in the game. My stuff was off, my pads were off,” Cook said later. “Eventually I realized I had two and a half games left to play at Faurot Field. We wanted to find a way.”

The comeback began with Auburn leading 17-6, and Cook hit Theo Wease Jr. with a 72-yard pass, setting up Marcus Carroll's TD run. Then, as time passed, Cook led a groundbreaking campaign that kept his team's College Football Playoff hopes alive.

Cook took control at his own 5-yard line and with 4:26 left, Cook converted a third down by running onto his sore ankle and then hit Luther Burden III on fourth-and-5 for another first down. Cook found Wease later in the drive on third-and-10, then found Mekhi Miller inside the 10-yard line with just over a minute left, setting up Roberts' go-ahead touchdown.

“He could have sat outside and watched the game from the sidelines or on TV,” said Roberts, who himself filled in for injured starter Nate Noel, “and that showed the brotherhood we have here.”

Cook finished the game with 194 passing yards in less than two quarters of play, while the Missouri defense repeatedly shut down Auburn (2-5, 0-4) when it had a chance to put the game away and coach Hugh's team Freeze held for 286 yards total offense.

Payton Thorne finished the game with 176 yards passing and a touchdown. Antonio Kite recovered a botched punt for Auburn's other TD.

“We seem to as coaches from time to time not to make the right decision or make the right play in critical moments, and that's kind of been the case all year,” said Freeze, whose team played its first four SEC games in back-to-back games Lost for the first time years ago.

What should have been a showdown between two efficient offensive players – Auburn averaging 444.5 yards and Missouri leading the SEC in possessions – turned into a defensive slugfest, thanks in part to the injuries that ravaged the Tigers.

The biggest one was Cook, their consistent senior, sliding to the turf on the first series of the game. He got up and hobbled to the sideline, then up the tunnel to the locker room – and finally to the hospital and the practice facility.

“Despite all the criticism the young man has taken, 12 would certainly die for anyone on that field,” Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz said.

The score was 3-3 early in the second half as Auburn tried to take control.

Cam Coleman ran past Missouri's Dreyden Norwood and Marvin Burks Jr., and Thorne hit him with a 47-yard touchdown strike down the middle of the field to make it 10-3. A few moments later, after Missouri forced a punt, Burden was hit while trying to catch it and the ball bounced into the end zone, where Kite pounced on it and scored another score.

Cook didn't know what happened — cell phones weren't allowed in the hospital — but he knew his team needed him, and the coaching staff did everything in their power to get him back on the field in time to make some magic happen unfold happen.

“This team is very tough. There are a lot of young people on this team who have never won like this before,” said Drinkwitz. “There is a lot of fighting in this team. And getting it out this way bodes well for the rest of the year.”

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.