In a narrow 24-20 win over the Arizona State Sun Devils, Missouri had to rely on back-up quarterback Corbin Berkstresser to lead the Tigers to victory with James Franklin out with a shoulder injury. However, it wasn't the Missouri coaches that decided to withhold their starting quarterback. It was Franklin himself who chose to sit out.
"It was just too painful for him, and he didn't want to play," Missouri head coach Gary Pinkel told reporters after the game, "He said, ‘It hurts too much. I can't play.'"
It was also reported that Franklin refused cortisone injections prior to the game that would've dulled the pain enough for the junior to take the field. In an interview with the St. Louis Post Dispatch, his father, Willie Franklin, revealed that the quarterback has never had medication before in his life.
"He's never even taken an aspirin once in his life," Willie Franklin said. "In our family, we don't believe in taking medication (for pain) or trying to soften anything with any drugs."
In Franklin's absence, Berkstresser completed 21-of-41 passes for 198 yards.
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