Big 12 Flashbax Series: Missouri

That entire drive leading up to the final play was pretty unbelievable. If I recall, we actually dropped a spot after this game, and this was why the coach’s poll had to bump NU up a spot after the bowl game for the national title split. Had this game been the easy victory it should have been, there never would have been a debate about the 1997 national title.

Setting aside any distaste I may have for Mizzou fans, I must give some begrudging respect that they have been able to put together a program that at least maintains some consistency now, and doesn’t just pop up once every 10 years. I won’t miss seeing this “rivalry” come to an end, and not for the games we’ve lost to them recently, but just never really enjoyed the interaction with their fans.

Yeah, sure it’s the freshest in all of our minds. But give it some time and that game will stand out in the minds of Husker fans. Nothing will ever top 1997, but the 2009 game was a big deal. It put Nebraska on the fast track to win the Big 12 north. It snapped a 2-year streak of embarassing losses to Missouri. It was Ndamukong Suh’s emergence on to the national scene. It was an extremely epic 4th quarter comeback.

Other than watching Suh terrorize Missouri’s offense, the first 3 quarters sucked, and I was about to shut off the TV. A few of my friends had already quit watching. But then at the very end of 3rd quarter we converted a 3rd down and it looked like we were starting to put together a drive. I decided to stick around for a bit longer. Then the 4th quarter started. Zac Lee throws a bomb to Niles Paul, and we suddenly have life at 7-12. Missouri gets the ball back and Gabbert throws an interception to Suh. We score again on another TD pass to Niles Paul and suddenly it’s 14-12. Then Gabbert throws another INT and within such a short time the outlook of the game totally changed from “Mizzou might shut us out!” to “We’re dominating!” It was sweet! I’ll never forget that game!

I’m from Tecumseh, NE, and was in the 9th grade in 97. My friends and I watched Matt Davison all through high school, he was an amazing athlete in football, baseball, basketball, and track and we loved him, he had recently led our school to the state basketball championship and a perfect record of 28-0 which up until this game was the coolest sporting moment we had ever been a part of.

Me and about 8 of my friends (and their parents of course) drove to KC on friday, stayed for the night, and then made the trek to Columbia the following day, we got there about an hour before game time and were all pretty excited because it was the first road game that most of us had been to at the time…we were also hoping that we won and that we would get a chance to watch Matt catch a few balls through the course of the game. Our emotions throughout the game went from high, to medium, to low, to what-the-F-are-we-doing…I know most of us had given up by the time we started to come back…after “the catch” no one really knew what the hell was going on, I remember Mizzou fans rushing the field (I would later find out that TV coverage went out about this time) only to be hurried off when they found out there was actually a touchdown.

The rest of the game went well as we all know, we won, and my friends and I hung around for quite some time by where the players were supposed to board the bus home, this is also when I began to dislike Mizzou fans as 5 or 6 drunk tiger fans came by and threw beer at us. We got a picture with grant wistrom (whom had his arms spread out around all 9 of us), and then we got to say hi to Matt…it was the greatest sporting memory of my child hood.

Missouri – Nebraska was my first Husker game…. from an earlier story this year:

1976. It was my first Nebraska game – the Huskers were undefeated and the Tigers came to town. It was an excellent game – I remember it mostly because of Dave Butterfield. Nebraska had taken the lead in the fourth quarter – the Huskers had Missouri bottled up on their own two yard line, and Dave Butterfield gave up the longest pass play in Big Eight history – a 98-yard bomb that broke the hearts of Husker fans everywhere as Nebraska suffered their first loss of the season, 34-24, to the Missouri Tigers. I don’t know if it was Dave Butterfield’s fault or not, but my brother-in-law walked all the way back to the car repeatedly using his name with several adjectives, so I just assumed. Dave – if you’re reading this – maybe you could set the record straight?

And of course, ‘97. One of the best lines I ever heard was from a good friend who attended that game. After we scored and won in overtime, he said one of the Missouri fans turned to him and said "Don’t you have some cows you need to tend to?"

Hahahaha. Still makes me laugh after all these years.

My dad used to tape-record all NU games and keep them, and when I was young for some reason I would love re-watching the tape of that 1983 Nebraska at Missouri game. Some great runs from Rozier and great Gill-to-Fryar passes.

I just googled it and got this teaser of an NYT article:

Mike Rozier and his playmates in the awesome Nebraska backfield got off to a slow start today but finished with big performances to lead the nation’s No. 1-ranked team to a 34-13 triumph over Missouri. The victory was Nebraska’s 17th in a row, currently the longest winning streak of any major college team, and its seventh this season. Rozier, the tailback who leads the nation in rushing, scored 2 touchdowns on spectacular runs of 60 yards and 9 yards before a national television audience and a crowd of 72,348. Turner Gill, the Nebraska quarterback, threw touchdown passes of 38 yards and 4 yards to the third star of this backfield, Irving Fryar, who was ill throughout the game. And the unsung member of the quartet, the fullback Mark Schellen, scored on a 20- yard trap play straight up the middle.

That 60-yard Rozier run I vividly recall being a tip-toe special down the far sideline. Great game in a great season, with outstanding performances by several NU legends.

… but probably around ‘73 or so. I’ll have to look it up.
Lyle Bremser was describing a loss to Mo on the radio. Oh could he paint a mental picture with words. But it seems there was sadness in my heart that day. My dad and my uncles were drinking Falstaff and shouting words I didn’t understand. I remember wondering how this could happen. Nebraska had the only good football team anywhere right?

No, its not my favorite memory of the Mizzery rivalry. You all have laid out the best in better detail above.
Its just that it is the earliest memory, as a born and raised Husker fan, I have been able to retain in my helmet-to-helmet squished skull.

So if you want to know why I hope the Missouri Tigers never win a football game again …

could I go for a Falstaff and a Runza right now!