Roberts runs for 122 yards and a TD, No. 20 Missouri hangs on after a slow start to beat Troy 27-17

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- — Jamal Roberts ran for 128 yards and a touchdown, DaMarion Folkes returned a punt 68 yards for another score, and No. 20 Missouri shook off a slow start before holding on to beat Troy 27-17 on Saturday night. Former Ole Miss quarterback Austin Simmons struggled most of the way for Missouri (3-0), completing 10 of 19 passes for 91 yards and a touchdown. But the Tigers did enough on defense to win their 16th straight regular-season non-conference game. “I told the guys in the locker room, it's hard to win college football games,” Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz said. “It’s better than the alternative. We’re a 3-0 football team with a whole heck of a lot of room to improve, and that’s really got to be our focus. We’re going to celebrate the win tonight and come back to work tomorrow.” Goose Crowder completed his first five passes of the game and finished with 230 passing yards and two touchdowns for Troy (2-1), which was looking for its third win over a ranked opponent in school history. Ethan Head missed a 54-yard field goal attempt with 2:46 left in the fourth quarter, which would have pulled the Trojans to within a touchdown of the Tigers. Missouri nearly ran out the clock from there on the victory. The Tigers capitalized on turnovers on back-to-back drives by Troy late the second quarter. First, Sione Laulea intercepted Crowder and returned it to the Troy 18, setting up Simmons’ touchdown pass to Donovan Olugbode and giving Missouri a 17-10 lead — its first of the game. Then, Langden Kitchen strip-sacked Crowder and Jason Dowell scooped up the ball and returned it to the Troy 13, setting up Roberts' TD run to put Missouri ahead 24-10 with 1:44 left in the half. “Just knowing guys have our backs,” Roberts said about the defense stepping up. “Just knowing that defense can get takeaways or the special teams can make explosive plays, like DaMarion had the touchdown on special teams — that’s a momentum change and the momentum swing that we all need in a football game. So, kudos to those guys.” Fowlkes’ punt return had tied the game at 10-all with 9:39 remaining in the second quarter. It was Missouri’s first punt return for a touchdown since Luther Burden III returned a punt 78 yards against Abilene Christian on Sept. 17, 2022. “The punt return was huge for us,” Drinkwitz said. “For the special teams to bounce back to be a real liability last week but really be the difference in us winning the game this week with the two field goals, the punt return for a touchdown. I thought Brunno (Reus) really punted the ball really, really well tonight.” Reus punted seven times, averaging 46.8 yards per punt and landing five of his seven punts inside the 20-yard line. Troy pulled out to a 10-0 lead in the first quarter. Crowder connected with TK Keyes on a 76-yard touchdown pass on the second play of the game, and Head kicked a 27-yard field goal to cap a 19-play, 81-yard drive that lasted more than 10 1/2 minutes. The Takeaway Troy: The Trojans outgained Missouri 323 to 224 and held the ball for 37 minutes, 23 seconds. Missouri: The Tigers missed several tackles and committed nine penalties for 90 yards. Up next Troy: Visits Utah State on Saturday night. Missouri: Opens SEC play at Mississippi State on Saturday night. ------ Sign up for Top 25 poll alerts here, visit the Top 25 here and see AP’s full college football coverage here