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<\/a><\/p>\nMissouri forward Mark Mitchell (25) celebrates defeating Kansas in the Border War game against Kansas on Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024, at Mizzou Arena. (CAL TOBIAS\/ROCK M NATION)<\/p>\n
Mizzou\u2019s defense flustered Kansas for most of the afternoon. Tamar Bates and Anthony Robinson II had five steals apiece, and the Jayhawks committed 22 turnovers. Bates masterfully created his own shots, dropping a game-high 29 points. The Jayhawks couldn\u2019t do much about Josh Gray and Mark Mitchell near the basket. Mizzou led by as many as 24 points. It was ridiculously fun to watch.<\/p>\n
The Tigers almost blew it, as the Jayhawks brought the game back within one possession multiple times late in the second half. But Mitchell canned a clutch corner triple, and Mizzou pulled away in the final two minutes.<\/p>\n
The lead-up to the court storm was pretty epic. I saw one of my friends making their way down the aisle toward me. They told me they drove \u201cabout 100 miles an hour\u201d from work in St. Louis to catch the end of the game. Fellow Rock M\u2019er Matthew Gustafson also made a beeline for Mizzou Arena, as he and some friends had driven back from MU volleyball\u2019s Sweet 16 loss to Kentucky in Dallas. Luckily, they made it inside just in time to join the mosh pit on the court.<\/p>\n
Mr. Brightside was bellowed a little louder that day. Gray put on a horse head and paraded through the crowd with his hands in the air. Kansas turned out to be not-so-great, capturing a No. 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament and losing to Arkansas in the Round of 64. But on this day, no one seemed to care about the future, which is ok when you\u2019re in college.<\/p>\n
I remember watching a lot of Mizzou basketball the summer before I got to campus as a freshman. One of the first highlights was Marcus Denmon\u2019s heat check against Kansas in 2012. I remember saying to myself that I wanted to experience that kind of atmosphere as a student.<\/p>\n
That December day was a gift. I guess that\u2019s why they call it the present.<\/p>\n
Favorite game in the big picture: Football defeats Kansas State (Sept. 16, 2023) <\/p>\n
This was the game that changed the trajectory of Mizzou football.<\/p>\n
Brady Cook, who had a rocky first season and change as the starting quarterback, started the day getting booed and ended it having put together one of the better performances by a Tiger signal-caller this decade. Luther Burden III was electric. The defense made a few big-time plays.<\/p>\n
And most notably, Harrison Mevis kicked a 61-yard game-winning, buzzer-beating, stadium-shaking, student section-emptying field goal that marked my favorite Mizzou football moment as a student. It\u2019s the loudest I heard Memorial Stadium get in my four years of school. It\u2019s also the first field storm I ever witnessed.<\/p>\n
The win blew the top off of what many thought was possible for the Tigers that season. An offense that was stagnant the year prior looked completely different with a new offensive coordinator. A team that\u2019d lost four one-possession games the year prior found a way to pull off what was considered an upset at the time. And the way they won couldn\u2019t have been more exciting.<\/p>\n
Worst game in a vacuum: Football loses vs. Auburn (Sept. 24, 2022)<\/p>\n
Akin to professional athletes having a \u201cwelcome to the league\u201d moment, this was my \u201cwelcome to Mizzou\u201d moment. I knew that an unfortunate part of Mizzou\u2019s foundation was made up of catastrophic defeats, but having one happen as a student was an entirely different experience.<\/p>\n
This game was unbelievably boring. Mizzou and Auburn entered halftime tied at 14, but the second half felt less like an SEC game in September and more like a Big Ten game in November, as Mizzou and Auburn punted on 12 consecutive drives across the third and fourth quarters.<\/p>\n
But MU finally found life late in the fourth quarter. After the defense forced a turnover on downs, Cook completed a huge pass to Dominic Lovett to put Mizzou inside the Auburn 5-yard line. MU knelt out the clock for Mevis, who had a chip shot field goal attempt for the win.<\/p>\n
I remember the moment vividly. I was sitting in KCOU, Mizzou\u2019s student-run radio station, listening to Ben Greenberger and Jack McGrath, both of whom are excellent, who were on the call from Jordan-Hare Stadium. Their radio broadcast was ahead of the studio\u2019s television, so we\u2019d hear what was happening before we saw it. Greenberger initially called the kick good because he was looking at Mizzou\u2019s sideline, which started celebrating because they thought the kick was good. Thus, we thought MU had won.<\/p>\n
But then, both broadcasters looked at the referees \u2014 the ones who actually had the authority to make the call \u2014 who signaled the kick was no good. It was an honest, yet gutting mishap. We saw Mevis\u2019 miss on the TV moments later.<\/p>\n
As if the state of affairs couldn\u2019t get any worse, that\u2019s exactly what happened.<\/p>\n
I still can\u2019t believe this happened. This was a microcosm of many years of Mizzou athletics: getting so close to success, only to (literally) fumble it away.<\/p>\n
The postgame show felt like an eternity. We all sounded paralyzed by sudden and unexpected defeat. To make matters worse, I was simultaneously watching Miami (Fla.), the college I grew up rooting for, getting shellacked by Middle Tennessee State at home.<\/p>\n
Mizzou fans weren\u2019t done getting punched in the gut during that school year.<\/p>\n
Worst game in the big picture: Men\u2019s hoops loses to Princeton (March 16, 2023)<\/p>\n
One of my first memories of anything Mizzou-related was the Tigers losing to Norfolk State in the 2012 NCAA Tournament.<\/p>\n
For some reason, I watched this game in The Shack. I sat among a mix of adults and students, where we witnessed Princeton raining 3-pointers and snatching rebounds for much of the first half.<\/p>\n
The game\u2019s vibes were summed up, funnily enough, during an ad for Jack Link\u2019s Beef Jerky. A guy walks up to a urinal with a pack of beef jerky (?) and takes a bite (??), which causes the Sasquatch, the Jack Link\u2019s mascot, to magically grow out of the guy\u2019s back (???). The Sasquatch then shoots a fire hose of piss at the urinal on the other side of the bathroom while moaning in relief. My favorite part of this ad is a guy at another urinal who looks utterly bewildered at the events unfolding in front of him because that\u2019s just about the only normal part of this ad.<\/p>\n
There was a guy in The Shack who thought this was the funniest thing he\u2019d ever laid his eyes upon. His laugh sounded like he hadn\u2019t laughed in years. The only issue was that no one else laughed with him. Everyone else was silent because they were watching their favorite team getting pulverized by a No. 15 seed.<\/p>\n
I went back to my dorm for the second half. Nothing about the game seemed to change.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t just that Mizzou became the second team to ever lose to a No. 15 seed in the NCAA Tournament twice (the other was Arizona, which Princeton beat in the Round of 64). It was also the path ahead that made the loss hurt more.<\/p>\n
Mizzou would\u2019ve faced No. 6 seed Creighton in the Sweet 16, then No. 5 San Diego State in the Elite Eight, then No. 9 seed Florida Atlantic in the Final Four. The Blue Jays had a few future NBA players and were an above-average team on the glass. The Aztecs had a stingy defense and would\u2019ve been fresh off a win over Alabama, which beat Mizzou twice by double-digits that season. The Owls\u2019 top four scorers \u2014 Johnell Davis, Alijah Martin, Vladislav Goldin and Nick Boyd \u2014 all transferred to (and succeeded at) power conference schools after the season. The path to a national title game would\u2019ve been difficult, but more manageable than other paths there.<\/p>\n
Mizzou would\u2019ve faced No. 4 seed UConn in the national title game, where I think the Tigers would\u2019ve gotten annihilated. The Huskies were a No. 1 seed in disguise who dominated everyone else they\u2019d played in the tournament. Adama Sanogo and Donovan Clingan might\u2019ve combined for 40 rebounds.<\/p>\n
Most heroic performance: Laurin Krings vs. Omaha (May 19, 2024)\/Brady Cook vs. Auburn (Oct. 19, 2024)<\/p>\n
In May 2024, Laurin Krings, one of the best pitchers Mizzou softball has ever had, delivered an all-time performance when her team needed one the most. In a 1-0 nine-inning win over Omaha that sent the Tigers to Super Regionals, Krings pitched a complete-game shutout, allowing just four hits and one walk while tallying 15 freakin\u2019 strikeouts.<\/p>\n
Exactly five months later, Brady Cook rolled his ankle early in Mizzou\u2019s Homecoming game against Auburn. He went to University Hospital, came back to Memorial Stadium and led a double-digit comeback win, which included this game-saving connection with Luther Burden III on fourth down.<\/p>\n
Cook was far from a perfect quarterback, but he was incredibly tough and monumentally clutch. Whenever Mizzou needed him to make a huge throw, he seemed to deliver every time.<\/p>\n
I tried to avoid ties as best as I could, but I believe this is an acceptable one.<\/p>\n
Jermaine Kearse Moment: Luther Burden III\u2019s one-handed go-ahead touchdown at South Carolina (Nov. 16, 2024)<\/p>\n
Cook and Burden III connected for a few big-time completions at Mizzou. This might\u2019ve been their finest work.<\/p>\n
Fourth-and-five, trailing by five points on the road late in the fourth quarter with your team\u2019s College Football Playoff hopes hanging by a thread, and you do this? Unreal.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, South Carolina drove right down the field and scored the eventual game-winning touchdown with 15 seconds left in regulation, relegating Cook and Burden\u2019s heroics to a footnote in Mizzou football lore.<\/p>\n
A question I\u2019d considered after the game is whether the Tigers could\u2019ve made the College Football Playoff if they\u2019d beaten South Carolina and won their final two regular-season games (which they did in real life). They still probably wouldn\u2019t have made it, as they likely would\u2019ve competed with 9-3 Alabama for the last at-large spot. The Crimson Tide\u2019s 34-0 win over Mizzou in October likely would\u2019ve triumphed.<\/p>\n
Biggest what-if moment: What if Brady Cook doesn\u2019t throw an interception against Georgia? (Nov. 4, 2023)<\/p>\n
Mizzou was hanging with No. 2 Georgia for most of this afternoon.<\/p>\n
Had Mizzou won in Athens, its season would\u2019ve looked completely different.<\/p>\n
Assuming the rest of the real-life regular season results held steady in this hypothetical, Mizzou and Georgia would\u2019ve both finished the regular season tied atop the SEC\u2019s West Division at 11-1 overall and 7-1 in the SEC. The Tigers would\u2019ve won the head-to-head tiebreaker and played Alabama in the SEC Championship for a spot in the College Football Playoff. The fact that this was even a thought was indicative of a massive shift in expectation.<\/p>\n
Biggest what-if game: Football loses to Georgia (Oct. 1, 2022)<\/p>\n
Across the 2021 and 2022 seasons, there were only four teams that were within at least one possession of Georgia in the fourth quarter: Clemson, Alabama (twice), Ohio State and Mizzou. The former three teams each won double-digit games across the \u201821 and \u201822 seasons, while the Tigers combined for just 12 wins.<\/p>\n
But for one almost-magical night at Memorial Stadium in 2022, Mizzou had the eventual back-to-back national champions on the ropes.<\/p>\n
Tyler Stephens made a one-handed catch for his only collegiate touchdown. One week after the Auburn debacle, Mevis made all five field goals he attempted, his last two being from at least 50 yards away. This would\u2019ve been one of the greatest nights in the history of Columbia.<\/p>\n
The game\u2019s turning point came late in the second quarter when Cody Schrader ran 63 yards all the way down to Georgia\u2019s 1-yard line. But a false start on MU right tackle Mitch Walters pushed the Tigers back five yards, and they settled for a field goal to go up 16-3.<\/p>\n
Late in the second half, Mizzou\u2019s stagnant offense kept sputtering in scoring position, and the defense couldn\u2019t keep the dam closed for long enough. Georgia did just enough to escape Columbia with a 26-22 win.<\/p>\n
For all that went wrong in 2022, I truly think Mizzou could\u2019ve won eight or nine games that season. The only two contests the Tigers weren\u2019t competitive in were road losses to Kansas State and Tennessee by a combined 70 points. Even so, the Tigers only trailed the Vols by four points early in the third quarter.<\/p>\n
Team that deserved more: 2025 Mizzou football <\/p>\n
Missouri junior wide receiver Marquis Johnson brings the war drum to the Missouri student section after the Tigers won the Border Showdown on Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025, at Faurot Field in Columbia. Hannah Henderson\/Rock M Nation<\/p>\n The defense, which had future pros at all three levels, was one of the best in the nation. Mizzou had arguably the best running back duo in the FBS. The offensive line, which had future pros at both tackle spots and a four-year starter at center, was rock-solid. The wide receiver room had a future pro (Kevin Coleman Jr.) and a burgeoning star (Donovan Olugbode).<\/p>\n And yet, this team finished 8-4. They had electric wins over Kansas and Auburn, but they came up agonizingly short against more difficult opponents in Alabama and Vanderbilt. They trailed Texas A&M by a touchdown with two minutes left in the first half, but the game quickly got away from them by the early portion of the third quarter. Oklahoma only scored 17 points on the Tigers. Mizzou\u2019s defense constantly kept the team within striking distance, but the offense fell short on numerous occasions. Quarterback play and untimely misses by backup kicker Robert Meyer were arguably the biggest reasons why MU\u2019s record wasn\u2019t better this past season.<\/p>\n Favorite stat: Mizzou football being 11-1 in one-possession games across the 2023 and 2024 seasons <\/p>\n After Mizzou beat Oklahoma in 2024 \u2014 a game that featured four touchdowns in the final three-and-a-half minutes and a game-winning scoop-and-score from Zion Young \u2014 Theo Wease Jr. said that he was starting to believe that there was magic in Faurot Field.<\/p>\n Do you know how f\u2019ing crazy that is to say considering Mizzou\u2019s history? So many terrible things have happened to the Tigers in that stadium, especially the north end zone. But a major part of Mizzou\u2019s rise to prominence included finding all sorts of ways to win, a complete reversal from most years past.<\/p>\n Other games from that stretch that haven\u2019t been mentioned include \u2026<\/p>\n Cook completing a game-saving pass to Burden III against Florida on 4th-and-17 that helped set up Mevis\u2019 game-winning kick in Nov. 2023. Both plays preserved Mizzou\u2019s hopes of playing in a New Year\u2019s Six bowl. Vanderbilt\u2019s almost-automatic kicker shanking a 31-yard field goal wide left in double overtime to seal a Mizzou win the following SeptemberMizzou beating Arkansas in the snow and iceCorey Flagg Jr. pulling a Troy Polamalu to assist a game-sealing fourth-down stop against Iowa in the 2024 Music City Bowl <\/p>\n This kind of stuff almost always went against Mizzou. I\u2019m glad I was there to witness a changing of the times.<\/p>\n Least favorite stat: Mizzou baseball ain\u2019t great<\/p>\n Margo Jenkins<\/p>\n Since 2023, all but one SEC school has made the NCAA Baseball Tournament at least once. Texas and Oklahoma will have each made the tournament in their first two years as members of the SEC.<\/p>\n I bet you can guess who that one tournament-less SEC team is.<\/p>\n In a conference that\u2019s defined by beer showers, iconic chants and high-level college baseball, Mizzou did not (and does not) have any of those things.<\/p>\n But not all of the baseball team\u2019s past, present and future is doom and gloom. They\u2019re still one of only two teams at Mizzou with a national championship. The program has produced a handful of quality MLB players. Going forward, more resources are likely to be invested into the program. Plus, the Tigers won their first SEC Tournament game since 2017 on Tuesday, upsetting Ole Miss 10-8.<\/p>\n I believe that better days are ahead.<\/p>\n Best butt-kicking: Football defeats Tennessee (Nov. 11, 2023)<\/p>\n The final score of 36-7 does all the talking. After Joe Milton hit Dont\u2019e Thornton for an early touchdown on a star-scraping moonshot of a throw, Mizzou ended this nationally-televised game on a 33-0 scoring run, one that was punctuated by a pick-six from Daylan Carnell. Oh, and Schrader had 321 all-purpose yards. That guy ruled.<\/p>\n Worst butt-kicking: Football loses to Texas A&M (Oct. 5, 2024) <\/p>\n This was not a loss. This was a humiliation. Mizzou has lost by much greater margins than 31 points before, but it felt like the Tigers lost by more that day.<\/p>\n Coolest gameday experience: Cotton Bowl<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n