Cayden Lee has wasted no time becoming one of Missouri’s most dependable weapons, and Saturday’s Border War win showed exactly why.
The Ole Miss transfer was again right in the middle of everything for the Tigers, finishing with 120 yards and a touchdown on six catches in Mizzou’s 38-21 victory over Kansas. That came on the heels of an 89-yard, five-catch outing in the season opener, another sign that the chemistry between Lee and quarterback Austin Simmons is already driving this offense.
Simmons looked right at home in a hostile setting, completing 19 of 29 passes for 292 yards and three touchdowns. Lee was on the receiving end of one of the biggest throws of the night, slipping free from the slot for a 27-yard score just before halftime.
“We were able to go in there halftime, make halftime adjustments, but he’s just going to keep leading us, and we trust him. So we like the direction this team is going,” Lee said.
Missouri needed every bit of that calm. Kansas opened by blocking two field goals, then flipped the second into an 88-yard touchdown return in the second quarter. Lee said the Tigers had to steady themselves in the middle of that chaos.
“Didn’t go our way every play. Slow there in the first half, got to be better in the first half,” Lee said. “But just being able to rally the guys together and tell them to keep playing, that this is our game.”
Lee wasn’t the only Missouri receiver making noise. Donovan Olugbode, another sophomore who has the look of a future star, posted 121 yards and a touchdown on five catches. A big part of that total came on a 65-yard grab in the first quarter after Kansas miscommunication left him alone in the flat.
Still, Lee’s role stands out because of how many ways Missouri can deploy him. The Tigers moved him outside and into the slot, and some of his best moments came when he was shifted from the boundary to the field before the snap. That little bit of motion gave him a running start and created problems for Kansas corners.
“Coach Lindsey said he was going to use a lot of guys in a lot of different ways, and I feel like we did briefly do that tonight,” Lee said. “So just being able to just get guys in different matchups outside on corners, slots on corners, Don in the inside, just create different matchups. It makes it hard for defenses.”
Head coach Eli Drinkwitz said Simmons handled everything the Jayhawks threw at him without blinking.
“He played unbelievable, didn’t flinch,” Drinkwitz added of Simmons. “I thought his third-down conversions are as good as I’ve seen.
I mean, he’s putting balls in tight spots, and they were doing so many different things on the back end. And normally, a quarterback gets frustrated.
He didn’t. He just locked in.
I thought he made incredible reads. Didn’t make very many misses.
Ball was not in jeopardy.”
The Lee-Simmons connection has been building since the offseason, and it showed again on a night when Missouri’s passing game looked sharp and controlled. Lee said he’s gotten used to the way Simmons operates, to the point that the quarterback’s efficiency no longer catches him off guard.
Missouri also got a boost from the return of another Cayden. Senior left tackle Cayden Green made his season debut after having a procedure on his right knee to trim his meniscus, even though he was originally expected to wait until next Saturday’s game against Troy.
Green, a Lee’s Summit North alum, said the rivalry gave him no choice but to push hard in rehab.
“It’s a huge deal. Being a Missouri guy, you can’t miss you can’t miss games like this,” Green said. “Any chance, especially games like this, I’m gonna take that.”
Drinkwitz called him a warrior and praised the way he fought to get back on the field.
“In his mind, there was never a shadow of a doubt,” Drinkwitz said. “He refused, refused.
Like we would pull him out of practice. He’s like, ‘Coach, I need three more reps.’
But that guy, man, he is exactly what a captain’s about. And I’m super proud of him.
I’m super proud of his leadership.”
Green wore the captain’s role Saturday and helped keep Simmons upright all night. Drinkwitz said the game rewarded that kind of toughness.
“In a day and age when you have all this other stuff out there, man. It still mattered to him to play football for his teammates in this brotherhood, and everybody at the University of Missouri can understand that that’s big time.
And I’ll say this: The game knows. The game rewards those guys who value toughness and give it for their teammates, and that got rewarded tonight.”
Missouri’s offense did more than just throw it around, too. The Tigers ran for 177 yards, with Jamal Roberts accounting for 125 of them, and showed they can lean on multiple parts of the attack.
Now the schedule stiffens fast. After Troy next week, Missouri moves into its nine-game SEC stretch, and Lee said the Tigers are ready for what comes next.
“We’re gonna go out there and fight,” Lee said. “It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t start our way, but we’re gonna keep fighting and we’re gonna keep swinging punches. And we’re gonna come out victorious.”
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