Missouri running back Nathaniel Peat had one of the biggest SportsCenter Not Top 10 moments of the 2022 college football season when he fumbled the ball at the goal line during what would’ve been a game-winning touchdown against Auburn football during Week 4. That moment, as he revealed to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Dave Matter, almost caused him to quit the sport altogether after transferring from Stanford to his home of Columbia, Missouri.
“I think (the decision to return) built up over time, but there was definitely a conversation I had with myself whether I wanted to go somewhere else or if I wanted to stop playing football,” Peat said. “I talked to myself and I talked to God as well and prayed about it a lot and I definitely think my future, and what I wanted to prove, was going to be at Mizzou.” Peat takes responsibility for the play and no longer punishes himself for it, as he revealed.
“I definitely take responsibility over what happened,” Peat said. “I’ve got to be smarter. I’ve got to have better ball security. … I feel like I just needed to work a little bit harder. Whatever happened last year happened last year. I don’t have any resentment towards it because I feel like my mindset has to be if that happened to me last year, it means I have to work this much harder.”
Nathaniel Peat on fumble vs Auburn football: ‘Stuff happens in football games’
Peat has a healthy outlook about that infamous play against Auburn football during a season that actually turned out better for Mizzou than AU by the end of it. At this point, Peat recognizes that simply put, “stuff happens in football games.”
“It happened in the past, and I’m over it,” Peat prefaced before saying, “It’s all good though. At the end of the day it’s a football game. I love playing it. I love to put on for the city. But stuff happens in football games.”
Along with Cody Schrader, Peat figures to compete for the lion’s share of touches in the Missouri Tigers backfield in 2023.