GREAT IDEA and fun thread on the HIGHLIGHTS of memorable games over the past 30 years...as well as Gabe's daily articles counting the list down.
As Gabe said in his OP...there are no definite right or wrong answers...but going back and searching each season made me realize how fickle this game really is...and sometimes how a W or an L in a particular game cn sometimes shape and set the tone for a whole rest of the season.
I am quite sure 2007 vs kU at Arrowhead will top the list...it HAS to for so many reasons.
I think the 2010 "GAME DAY" vs. Oklahoma will probably be #2 and Ghan McGaffie's opening TD kickoff return may be the single greatest moment I have ever witnessed.
HERE is a RECAP from my memory and some digging of the last 30 years in cronological order
1990 - "5th Down" loss vs #1 CU...painful as it may have been...still one of the most talked about games in college football...all these years later
1997 - 51-50 OT win over an 8-4 Okie State team...huge for early season momentum and confidence and kinda put us back on the college football map
"Kicked Ball" OT loss to #1 Nebraska...despite the loss, our play in the game vaulted us into the top-25 for the first time in YEARS. BEST game I have ever watched for pure excitment and drama from begging to end.
1998 - Wins over Bowl teams Texas Tech and 8-4 Colorado that pushed us to 7-2...and the big Insight.com Bowl win over WV that capped a great 8-4 season
2001 - GP's first season...a 38-34 win over kU was HUGE to the program at the time.
2002 - Arch Rivalry win over defending big-10 Champ Illinois which was Brad Smith's "Coming Out Party!" Fun, fun game and the start of something much bigget down the road.
2003 - Agree with earlier poster ITT...the 41-40 ovetime win over Middle Tennesse was HUGE...a loss could have REALLY set us back...after the horrible "hang over" loss to kU a week later...we rebounded with the GREAT 41-24 win over Nebraska...GP's first really significant win.
2004 - After a great 17-9 win over CU...the wheels really came off the rail and we lost 5 in a row going into the season finale up at Ames Iowa against a highly motivated Cyclone team that just needed to beat us to win the Big-12 North title. GP's beaten down squad somehow pulled off an amazing OT comeback win that likely saved his job at the end of this dissappointing season.
2005 - We started out 5-2 (despite a dissappointing loss to New Mexico) highlighted by an OT comback win over ISU led by Chase D off the benck... but then dropped 4 out of our last 5 and "limped" into the Missouri Bowl (aka the Independence Bowl)...the stunning comeback win over the Ole Ball Coach's Gamecocks was a fitting and fun way to cap off Brad smith's career
2006 - Chase D's career started great with a 7-1 start before a 3 game losing skid (lowlighted by a loss up at ISU) was capped off by an important win over kU in the finale. A 38-39 loss to Steven Jackson's Oregon State Beavers in the Sun Bowl took a little luster off of a decent year that set the stage for '07.
2007 - A magical season. An early 41-6 blowout over hated NU was the first time I remember Faurot being a "sea of gold!" and of course the highlight was THE "Armegedon" win over kU at Arrowhead that vaulted us to #1 for a week. After a dissappointing loss to OU in the Big-12 title game...a HUGE win over Arky in the Cotton Bowl punctuated the BEST season of this 30 year era.
2008 - A dissapointing home loss to OSU (which was keyed by a Cowboy interception which I swear to this day bounced off the turf) seem sap a lot of the mojo from the team and they finished 10-4 which seemed like a huge letdown...especially the painful loss to kU at Arrowhead and the butwhipping by OU in the title game. A dramatic comeback win over Northwestern in the Alamo Bowl let Chase & Co go out as winners with a second double-digit-win season.
2009- A yo-yo 8-5 season for first year starter Blaine Gabbert...a 4-0 start was followed up by 3 losses in a row and we dropped 4 of the next 5 before...ending with 3 straight wins in the regular season...the late surge was spoiled when the team laid an egg in The Texas Bowl with a puzzing blowout loss to Navy.
2010- A great 7-0 start was capped off by the GREAT "Game Day" win over the hated Sooners before we laid eggs at Lincoln and Waco in the following 2 weeks. We seemed to right the ship over the next three weeks with wins over KSU, ISU, and kU...only to let a win slip away in the Insight Bowl vs. Iowa with a costly interception on BG's last throw as a Tiger. Had Gabbert led us down for the winning TD, as he seemingly appeared to be doing on the last drive...not only would a "good" 10-3 season morphed into a GREAT 11-2 campaign...I am thoroughly convinced that Gabbert's Mizzou legacy would be viewed quite differently. in the aftermath.
2011- An entertaining 8-5 season which was hightlighted early by Frank-the Tank's highlight run bowling over A&M like a young James Wilder. After a dissappointing 39-42 loss to Baylor (who none of knew was as good as they were at the time) was followed up by 4 straight wins to end the season...including resounding 41-24 Missouri/Indy Bowl win over a North Carolina team with nearly half a dozen early NFL draft picks on their defense.
2012- A 5-7 season with only 2 league wins had us all wondering if we were in over our head in the vaunted SEC. GP's personal life turmoil (divorce plus DUI) caused a lot of whispers and seemed to hang a cloud over the program in the eyes of fans. All the doubting by the media and the majority of our own fan base seemingly ignited a fire galvanized an under-appreciated, high-charachter roster that was ready to break out and shock the world just one season later.
2013- Out of nowhere...a most special 12-2 SEC East Championship season emerged in arguably the GREATEST SURPRISE SEASON in Mizzou History. After a 5-0 start...GP got his first big SIGNATURE SEC WIN with a 41-26 shocker over Georgia between the hedges in Athens. A Gator "MOCK-Chomping win" over Florida set the stage for a huge game vs the Ole Ball Coach and resulted in a highly dissappointing 27-24 OT loss at home...but the team held togther and finished the regular season 11-1 highlighted by fan favorite Henry Josey's gallop to the endzone in dramatic 28-21 win over Johnny-Football's Aggies. The SEC Championship "track meet" resulted in a entertaining/maddening 59-42 loss to Auburn...but SEC Def POY Michael Sam's "strip/sack" and Shane Ray's scoop/gallop/score capped a great Cotton Bowl win over the OSU Cowboys and a most unprobable and highly entertaining 12-2 year.
2014- The magic of '13 was followed up by a good but inconsistent 11-3 season...one which seemed to be going NOWHERE when we inexplocably lost to lowly Indiana at home in week #4, won a dramatic 21-20 come back thriller at South Carolina, and then were THRASHED at home 38-0 in week #6 against Georgia. After bizzaire 42-13 win at Florida the following week (fueled by the defense and Marcus Murphy's returns covering up for an anemic offense)...no one knew just what to think of our Tigers...but 6-straight wins capped by a comeback over the Hogs (on what was to become a Black Friday tradtion) had us back in the Georgia Dome playing for the SEC Championship for the second straight year. We hung around with Bama for nearly three quarters (despite a BOGUS targeting call early in the game which cost us SEC Def POY Shane Ray)...but got blown out in the end. A nice comeback win over Minnesota in the Citrus Bowl left us feeling good at the end of the year.
2015- All the good fortune, bounces.and memories of the back-2-back SEC East Titles quickly vanished in 20015 which proved to be and "unfitting end" to GP's career as the Tiger Head Coach. Injuries on consecutive plays of the opening drive in game #1 vs SEMO cost us our two Offensive Leaders (Evan Boehm and Russell Hansborugh) and neither player was ever the same and the offense sputtered all season. Maty Mauk's "personal demons" and discipllinary issues eventually lead to his "ouster" and he became the most hated 17-5 winning record as a starting QB in the history of Mizzou Football. TRUE Freshman QB Drew Lock showed flashes...but was ill prepared to lead what was an under-manned offense anyway. Close road losses (9-6 at Georgia and 10-3 at Vandy) probaly doomed our bowl chances (back to Shreveport, no doubt) but in the aftermath of of the CS1950 Fiasco...the team rallied to beat BYU at Arrowhead and gave us a glimmer of hope before we limped to the finish line with losses to Tennessee and Arkansas that unceremoniously capped off GP's career with a 5-7 record that didn't seem fitting.
2016- Mizzou hired popular DC and Tiger Alum Barry Odom to had to take the reins of a fractured program for a reeling fanbase...as the University was seemingly "rudderless ship" at one time was without an AD, Chancelor, and University Systems President. The bitterness and distrust in the aftermath of CS1950 kept both students and fans away in alarmingly high numbers. The 4-8 Football season was played...but the young first time Head Coach had to learned a tough lessons on the job...as an early season late game play by Georgia, a completed 4th and 12 pass that turned victory into heartache. A 51-45 loss to Middle Tennesse State turned on early season-ending injuries to leaders Michael Scherer and Terry Beckner Jr. The defense...was was reeling anyway...never recovered. Wins in 2 of the last three games (at home over Vandy and Arkansas...plus an astounding 700 yards of offense in 63-37 loss to Tennesee) offer a glimpse of hope for 2017...but LOTS of fans and media have to be won back.
Can 2017 morph into a reincarnation of the magical 2013 season??? Only time will tell...but this Tiger fan is cautiously optimistic.
As Gabe said in his OP...there are no definite right or wrong answers...but going back and searching each season made me realize how fickle this game really is...and sometimes how a W or an L in a particular game cn sometimes shape and set the tone for a whole rest of the season.
I am quite sure 2007 vs kU at Arrowhead will top the list...it HAS to for so many reasons.
I think the 2010 "GAME DAY" vs. Oklahoma will probably be #2 and Ghan McGaffie's opening TD kickoff return may be the single greatest moment I have ever witnessed.
HERE is a RECAP from my memory and some digging of the last 30 years in cronological order
1990 - "5th Down" loss vs #1 CU...painful as it may have been...still one of the most talked about games in college football...all these years later
1997 - 51-50 OT win over an 8-4 Okie State team...huge for early season momentum and confidence and kinda put us back on the college football map
"Kicked Ball" OT loss to #1 Nebraska...despite the loss, our play in the game vaulted us into the top-25 for the first time in YEARS. BEST game I have ever watched for pure excitment and drama from begging to end.
1998 - Wins over Bowl teams Texas Tech and 8-4 Colorado that pushed us to 7-2...and the big Insight.com Bowl win over WV that capped a great 8-4 season
2001 - GP's first season...a 38-34 win over kU was HUGE to the program at the time.
2002 - Arch Rivalry win over defending big-10 Champ Illinois which was Brad Smith's "Coming Out Party!" Fun, fun game and the start of something much bigget down the road.
2003 - Agree with earlier poster ITT...the 41-40 ovetime win over Middle Tennesse was HUGE...a loss could have REALLY set us back...after the horrible "hang over" loss to kU a week later...we rebounded with the GREAT 41-24 win over Nebraska...GP's first really significant win.
2004 - After a great 17-9 win over CU...the wheels really came off the rail and we lost 5 in a row going into the season finale up at Ames Iowa against a highly motivated Cyclone team that just needed to beat us to win the Big-12 North title. GP's beaten down squad somehow pulled off an amazing OT comeback win that likely saved his job at the end of this dissappointing season.
2005 - We started out 5-2 (despite a dissappointing loss to New Mexico) highlighted by an OT comback win over ISU led by Chase D off the benck... but then dropped 4 out of our last 5 and "limped" into the Missouri Bowl (aka the Independence Bowl)...the stunning comeback win over the Ole Ball Coach's Gamecocks was a fitting and fun way to cap off Brad smith's career
2006 - Chase D's career started great with a 7-1 start before a 3 game losing skid (lowlighted by a loss up at ISU) was capped off by an important win over kU in the finale. A 38-39 loss to Steven Jackson's Oregon State Beavers in the Sun Bowl took a little luster off of a decent year that set the stage for '07.
2007 - A magical season. An early 41-6 blowout over hated NU was the first time I remember Faurot being a "sea of gold!" and of course the highlight was THE "Armegedon" win over kU at Arrowhead that vaulted us to #1 for a week. After a dissappointing loss to OU in the Big-12 title game...a HUGE win over Arky in the Cotton Bowl punctuated the BEST season of this 30 year era.
2008 - A dissapointing home loss to OSU (which was keyed by a Cowboy interception which I swear to this day bounced off the turf) seem sap a lot of the mojo from the team and they finished 10-4 which seemed like a huge letdown...especially the painful loss to kU at Arrowhead and the butwhipping by OU in the title game. A dramatic comeback win over Northwestern in the Alamo Bowl let Chase & Co go out as winners with a second double-digit-win season.
2009- A yo-yo 8-5 season for first year starter Blaine Gabbert...a 4-0 start was followed up by 3 losses in a row and we dropped 4 of the next 5 before...ending with 3 straight wins in the regular season...the late surge was spoiled when the team laid an egg in The Texas Bowl with a puzzing blowout loss to Navy.
2010- A great 7-0 start was capped off by the GREAT "Game Day" win over the hated Sooners before we laid eggs at Lincoln and Waco in the following 2 weeks. We seemed to right the ship over the next three weeks with wins over KSU, ISU, and kU...only to let a win slip away in the Insight Bowl vs. Iowa with a costly interception on BG's last throw as a Tiger. Had Gabbert led us down for the winning TD, as he seemingly appeared to be doing on the last drive...not only would a "good" 10-3 season morphed into a GREAT 11-2 campaign...I am thoroughly convinced that Gabbert's Mizzou legacy would be viewed quite differently. in the aftermath.
2011- An entertaining 8-5 season which was hightlighted early by Frank-the Tank's highlight run bowling over A&M like a young James Wilder. After a dissappointing 39-42 loss to Baylor (who none of knew was as good as they were at the time) was followed up by 4 straight wins to end the season...including resounding 41-24 Missouri/Indy Bowl win over a North Carolina team with nearly half a dozen early NFL draft picks on their defense.
2012- A 5-7 season with only 2 league wins had us all wondering if we were in over our head in the vaunted SEC. GP's personal life turmoil (divorce plus DUI) caused a lot of whispers and seemed to hang a cloud over the program in the eyes of fans. All the doubting by the media and the majority of our own fan base seemingly ignited a fire galvanized an under-appreciated, high-charachter roster that was ready to break out and shock the world just one season later.
2013- Out of nowhere...a most special 12-2 SEC East Championship season emerged in arguably the GREATEST SURPRISE SEASON in Mizzou History. After a 5-0 start...GP got his first big SIGNATURE SEC WIN with a 41-26 shocker over Georgia between the hedges in Athens. A Gator "MOCK-Chomping win" over Florida set the stage for a huge game vs the Ole Ball Coach and resulted in a highly dissappointing 27-24 OT loss at home...but the team held togther and finished the regular season 11-1 highlighted by fan favorite Henry Josey's gallop to the endzone in dramatic 28-21 win over Johnny-Football's Aggies. The SEC Championship "track meet" resulted in a entertaining/maddening 59-42 loss to Auburn...but SEC Def POY Michael Sam's "strip/sack" and Shane Ray's scoop/gallop/score capped a great Cotton Bowl win over the OSU Cowboys and a most unprobable and highly entertaining 12-2 year.
2014- The magic of '13 was followed up by a good but inconsistent 11-3 season...one which seemed to be going NOWHERE when we inexplocably lost to lowly Indiana at home in week #4, won a dramatic 21-20 come back thriller at South Carolina, and then were THRASHED at home 38-0 in week #6 against Georgia. After bizzaire 42-13 win at Florida the following week (fueled by the defense and Marcus Murphy's returns covering up for an anemic offense)...no one knew just what to think of our Tigers...but 6-straight wins capped by a comeback over the Hogs (on what was to become a Black Friday tradtion) had us back in the Georgia Dome playing for the SEC Championship for the second straight year. We hung around with Bama for nearly three quarters (despite a BOGUS targeting call early in the game which cost us SEC Def POY Shane Ray)...but got blown out in the end. A nice comeback win over Minnesota in the Citrus Bowl left us feeling good at the end of the year.
2015- All the good fortune, bounces.and memories of the back-2-back SEC East Titles quickly vanished in 20015 which proved to be and "unfitting end" to GP's career as the Tiger Head Coach. Injuries on consecutive plays of the opening drive in game #1 vs SEMO cost us our two Offensive Leaders (Evan Boehm and Russell Hansborugh) and neither player was ever the same and the offense sputtered all season. Maty Mauk's "personal demons" and discipllinary issues eventually lead to his "ouster" and he became the most hated 17-5 winning record as a starting QB in the history of Mizzou Football. TRUE Freshman QB Drew Lock showed flashes...but was ill prepared to lead what was an under-manned offense anyway. Close road losses (9-6 at Georgia and 10-3 at Vandy) probaly doomed our bowl chances (back to Shreveport, no doubt) but in the aftermath of of the CS1950 Fiasco...the team rallied to beat BYU at Arrowhead and gave us a glimmer of hope before we limped to the finish line with losses to Tennessee and Arkansas that unceremoniously capped off GP's career with a 5-7 record that didn't seem fitting.
2016- Mizzou hired popular DC and Tiger Alum Barry Odom to had to take the reins of a fractured program for a reeling fanbase...as the University was seemingly "rudderless ship" at one time was without an AD, Chancelor, and University Systems President. The bitterness and distrust in the aftermath of CS1950 kept both students and fans away in alarmingly high numbers. The 4-8 Football season was played...but the young first time Head Coach had to learned a tough lessons on the job...as an early season late game play by Georgia, a completed 4th and 12 pass that turned victory into heartache. A 51-45 loss to Middle Tennesse State turned on early season-ending injuries to leaders Michael Scherer and Terry Beckner Jr. The defense...was was reeling anyway...never recovered. Wins in 2 of the last three games (at home over Vandy and Arkansas...plus an astounding 700 yards of offense in 63-37 loss to Tennesee) offer a glimpse of hope for 2017...but LOTS of fans and media have to be won back.
Can 2017 morph into a reincarnation of the magical 2013 season??? Only time will tell...but this Tiger fan is cautiously optimistic.
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