day 8. At Night

Faurot Field At Night

It was our SEC debut against the Georgia Bulldogs. Memorial Stadium was sold out with 71,004 fans in attendance. The atmosphere was electrified. The moment Mizzou fans had been waiting for since the announcement in November had finally arrived. Columbia was swarming with fans dressed in red. It was reminiscent of when Nebraska would come to town - just swap the N for a large G. I spoke with some tailgating Georgia fans prior to the game. The general consensus was "you guys will fit right in the SEC." I was really happy to hear this.

And I really wish I could say we won the game.

The points didn't come on the board until the second quarter. We were playing right with the number 7 team in the nation stride for stride. The stats were nearly identical. Scores were traded back and forth in the second quarter, and Mizzou was up 10-9 at the half. I had high hopes that the Tigers would come out with a win.

Early in the third quarter, Washington caught a beautiful 69-yard TD pass. The crowd went wild. But, the Bulldogs had an answer. With a score of their own and a two-point conversion, it was tied 17-17. We were back on the board with a field goal near the end of the third to bring the score to 20-17 Mizzou.

It was all Georgia after that. With some questionable play calls and mistakes by the Tigers, the fourth quarter belonged to the Bulldogs. Final score was 41-20.  

If you just look at the final score, it implies a domination by the Bulldogs, but that wasn't the case. We pushed them. We put up a good fight... for the first three quarters. We flirted with an upset, but in the end Missouri beat Missouri. Now that we have our SEC debut butterflies out, we can concentrate on getting better. Keep fighting, Tigers!