It’s Homecoming week, and as we’ve all heard before, the tradition started at the University of Missouri in 1911. South Carolina is the opponent, making it the second time the visitors from the other Columbia have faced MU on the most cherished game of the regular season schedule. Ranking every homecoming game going back to 1911 would be fun but, I’m keeping this within a relatively short 1,850 words and ranking everyone within this century by how entertaining the game itself was. Let’s start with Michael Jordan’s number.
No. 23 Missouri 68, Idaho 21 (Oct. 21, 2017)
The only thing that would have made this game intriguing is if it was played in the Kibbie Dome. But an 11 a.m. kickoff against a team a year from demoting itself to the FCS is not. And yet, Missouri found themselves trailing early before Josh Huepel’ed its way to a 68-14 run. But, hey! Drew Lock tossed for 467 and six scores, but let’s not schedule Idaho again for Homecoming.
No. 22 #16 Missouri 58, Colorado 0 (Oct. 25, 2008)
Talk about letting off some steam. After a frustrating performance against Oklahoma State and Texas, Mizzou handed Colorado its first shutout since 1988 while picking up its first conference shutout since 1986. The Tigers outgained the Buffs 491-199, while Chase Coffman snagged an unreal one-handed catch in the back of the end zone for one of MU’s seven touchdowns.
No. 21 No. 3 Texas 41, Missouri 7 (Oct. 24, 2009)
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A year prior, Texas blasted a Mizzou team with Chase Daniel, Jeremy Maclin, and Chase Coffman. A year later, Missouri didn’t have any of those guys, while Texas still had Colt McCoy and Jordan Shipley on their way to a BCS National Title Game appearance. Also, Blaine Gabbert was precautionarily pulled in this one, just wasn’t Mizzou’s night for the second year in a row.
No. 20 Mizzou 52, Iowa State 17 (Oct. 15, 2011)
The 100th Homecoming featured a sellout of 71,004. Missouri’s offense did not punt until around the 12-minute mark in the fourth quarter (Ignore the turnovers and missed field goal). James Franklin engineered a 373 total-yard performance to go along with five touchdowns. Henry Josey, at perhaps his peak, tallied 129 yards, while Michael Egnew also went over the 100-yard mark in his second First-team All-Big 12 season.
No. 19 Kansas 38, Missouri 17 (Oct. 14, 2000)
Mizzou hosted Kansas on homecoming for the first time since the 1960 debacle and then proceeded to hand Kansas its first road win in conference play in 14 years. Unacceptable in front of 61,794 attendees. Darius Outlaw connected with Eric Spencer for a 60-yard score to bring MU within three at the half, but the offense was nowhere to be found in the last two quarters.
No. 18 Missouri 33, Kentucky 10 (Oct. 27, 2012)
No. 17 #11 Florida 21, Missouri 3 (Oct. 11, 2015)
No. 16 Missouri 20, Kentucky 10 (Oct. 24, 2020)
No. 15 Missouri 24, Vanderbilt 14 (Oct. 25, 2014)
Some pretty cool storylines with these four games. Corbin Berkstresser will forever be remembered as the first Tiger quarterback to win a conference game as a member of the Southeastern Conference. Will Grier played his final game as a Florida Gator on Homecoming in 2015, while Eli Drinkwitz snapped a six-game losing streak to the Wildcats in his first season.
No. 14 Missouri 48, North Texas 35 (Oct. 9, 2021)
No. 13 Missouri 38, Ole Miss 27 (Oct. 12, 2019)
Both these games resulted in Missouri taking massive leads before late scores by the visitors made it closer than it looked. In one game you have Kelly Bryant and Larry Rountree III putting on a show and it appears that Mizzou might be on its way to an SEC East title, while in the other game Tyler Badie is being 2021 Tyler Badie and carrying the offense with a 200-plus yard performance.
No. 12 #15 Missouri 41, #24 Texas Tech 10 (Oct. 20, 2007)
This was a season of destiny for Mizzou, while Texas Tech was a year away from participating in the controversial 2008 Big 12 South title race. Missouri was without Tony Temple in this one, but no problem. Graham Harrell threw it sixty-nine times (!!!!), not surprising in Mike Leach’s air raid, but Missouri’s defense picked him off four times, including a Stryker Sulak pick-six to set the tone early. Jimmy Jackson had the day of his life with three scores, and Jeremy Maclin broke a long one as the Tigers won a top-25 matchup between the two schools for the second year in a row.
No. 11 Missouri 36, Kansas 12 (Oct. 26, 2002)
Without its lead running back again (this time Zac Abron), Missouri still ran for 267 yards against the Jayhawks with Brad Smith’s 117 and T.J. Leon’s 104. In Smith’s only victory as a starter against kU, he struck hold with a 62-yard score to no other than Justin Gage as well as a 75-yard scamper himself to help Mizzou pull away in beating Kansas on Homecoming for the first time since 1956. Also, the players victoriously helped tear down the goalpost.
No. 10 Missouri 41, Kansas State 21 (Oct. 21, 2006)
Talk about getting a monkey off your back, Missouri lost 13 straight annoying games to K-State until October 2006. Chase Daniel finally broke the streak with a four-touchdown performance to Chase Coffman, Martin Rucker, Tommy Saunders, and Will Franklin. Meanwhile, Josh Freeman was held to a stat line of 5-19, 63 yards and a pair of picks. MU raced out to a 34-7 lead and didn’t look back.
No. 9 Missouri 65, Memphis 33 (2018)
Missouri’s offense was still explosive after it transitioned from a current Tennessee head coach, Josh Heupel, to a former Tennessee head coach Derek Dooley, thanks in part to the pieces it had: Lock, and a good running back and receiver room. Memphis was sure not stopping Lock and Albert Okwuegbunam as the Tigers snapped a three-game losing streak. Right idea with the helmets, just didn’t match the jerseys.
No. 8 Iowa State 20, Missouri 14 (Oct. 13, 2001)
Iowa State had Missouri’s number during the turn of the 21st century by winning four straight from 1999-2002. In Gary Pinkel’s first year, the Tigers stuck around with Seneca Wallace with the score tied at 14 in the fourth quarter, but the Cyclones pulled away late.
No. 7 Missouri 17, Vanderbilt 14 (Oct. 22, 2022)
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You had to really hold your breath for this one. Luther Burden III showed his elusiveness early, yards after catch ability early as Mizzou built a 17-0 lead, but after that, it was mistake after mistake after mistake. There’s no telling what would have happened if Ray Davis wasn’t stopped on a 4th and one with under two minutes to play but thankfully, we never found out.
No. 6 #21 Oklahoma State 20, Missouri 17 (Oct. 24, 2004)
Shades of a game that would happen nine years later, eh? 2004 was frustrating because if Missouri didn’t have two crushing blown leads, A.J. Kincade’s game-winning interception in Ames would have resulted in a Big 12 North Title. But no, that never came to fruition due to a 21-point blown lead against Kansas State and this game. Mizzou built a 17-0 lead, the predecessor of a game nine years later before Les Miles’ final Oklahoma State team came all the way back as Jason Ricks knocked in a field goal with under a minute to play. Heartbreaking but entertaining, to say the least.
No. 5 Missouri 62, Texas Tech 31 (Oct. 23, 2003)
It’s a game where two different offensive approaches light up the stat sheet. While B.J. Symons tossed for 408 yards, Missouri’s ground game churned out 469 yards. Brad Smith only needed 19 carries to produce 291 yards on the ground, and Abron complemented him with 139 of his own. Texas Tech found themselves within 10 points in the final quarter, but it was all Smith from there on. There was just something special about the way Smith ran the ball. Just watch him glide to the end zone in these highlights.
No. 4 Middle Tennessee State 51, Missouri 45 (Oct. 22, 2016)
A Mizzou victory doesn’t have to be a qualification for these games to rank high. These two teams always play close games at Faurot, see this year and 2003. Drew Lock, Brent Stockhill, Damarea Crockett, I’tavius Mathers, Ish Witter, and future Niner, Giant and current Kansas City Chief Richie James all lit up the stat sheet. Unfortunately, the Tigers just couldn’t take care of a Conference-USA opponent on homecoming and justifiably, the Bue Raiders were better than Barry Odom’s first team in 2016.
No. 3 Missouri 27, Iowa State 24 (OT) (Oct. 15, 2005)
Previewing the passing of the torch from one generational quarterback to another. Missouri found itself in danger of falling back to .500 as it already lost to New Mexico and Texas. After a 377 total-yard performance a week ago at Oklahoma State, Brad Smith left his final Homecoming game after taking a shot from Tim Dobbins, and to make matters worse, victory looked bleak as Missouri trailed 24-14 in the fourth quarter. Enter in the true freshman from Southlake, Texas, named Chase Daniel, who proceeded to chip away at the Cyclone deficit, including an 87-yard game-tying touchdown drive with a back-of-end zone touchdown pass to Sean Coffey with 20 seconds left. Adam Crossett capitalized off a missed Iowa State field goal in overtime, and the rest is history.
No. 2: #20 South Carolina 27, #5 Missouri 24 (2 OT) (Oct. 26, 2013)
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The only silver lining is that this game A) didn’t have any implications on how the rest of the season unfolded, and B) was one heck of a game. Before Mizzou’s kryptonite, Connor Shaw, who went 40-50, 471 yards, and five scores in two meetings against MU, came off the bench to rip the defense to shreds, it seemed as if this one was over. But South Carolina came all the way back from down 17-0, and Andrew Baggett became a victim of the north end zone curse, wrapping up what NCAA Football 14 would call an ESPN Classic.
No. 1: #11 Missouri 36, #1 Oklahoma 27 (Oct. 23, 2010)
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What is not to love about this entire day? Mizzou breaks the College Gameday attendance record as 18,000 people filled the Francis Quadrangle hours before Gahn McGaffie cribbed the opening kickoff for one of the most electrifying moments in Faurot Field history. It avenges the heartache of 2002, 2007, and 2008, Gary Pinkel’s only win over Bob Stoops and Mizzou’s only victory over the nation’s No. 1 ranked team. Outside of Kansas (2007) and Nebraska (2003), I don’t think there’s a sweeter victory, especially because it came on Homecoming.