30 Years, 30 Games, 30 Days: #18
Missouri goes in front of the press to preview the 2017 football season on July 13. To lead up to the unofficial kickoff of the college football season, PowerMizzou.com will take a look back at the 30 best Tiger games in the last 30 years.
In the course of compiling this list, there was no set criteria. I looked at the most memorable games, the most entertaining games, the most important games to the program at the time. All of these factored in when I put together the list. It is an entirely subjective list sure to inspire plenty of disagreement.
We continue the countdown today with Game No. 18.
No. 2 Kansas St. 31, No. 19 Missouri 25 -- Columbia, MO -- November 21, 1998
Missouri had gone back to a bowl game in 1997. But in 1998, the Tigers were back to being good.
The 1998 Tigers faced a brutal schedule. They faced teams that were ranked 1, 2, 6 and 7 at the time. They led every game at halftime. They lost all four of those, only one by more than a touchdown. They won every game against a team not ranked in the nation's top seven.
This game against Kansas State might be the most forgotten great game in Missouri history. Michael Bishop and the Wildcats were at the peak of the Bill Snyder revival. They entered this game with legitimate national championship hopes, having won their previous ten games, including a 40-30 win against 11th-ranked Nebraska the week before.
Missouri was in the top 25 itself, coming off a brutal loss to sixth-ranked Texas A&M in College Station (the Aggies would exact even more pain on K-State soon after this one).
The teams traded blows all day with the Wildcats holding a six-point lead late. Missouri drove to the KSU 42, but Corby Jones' long pass over the middle sailed over the head of John Dausman on fourth and 15 and the Tigers' upset bid fell one score short. Jones threw for 249 yards, but couldn't quiet outduel his counterpart, Bishop.
WHY IT'S ON THE LIST: It was a phenomenal football game. For most, simply seeing the Tigers and Wildcats playing in a game between ranked teams with these stakes was shocking. But the two put on a show on this Saturday night in Columbia. Missouri would beat West Virginia in the Insight Bowl to finish 8-4. Kansas State would have its national title hopes dashed in the Big 12 title game by Texas A&M and then fall to Purdue in the Alamo Bowl to finish 11-2.
The rest of the list
No. 30: Mizzou beats Arkansas, 2016
No. 29: Mizzou loses to Georgia, 2016
N0. 28: Gary Pinkel's last win, 2015
No. 26: Murphy returns with win over Florida, 2014
No. 25: Crossett sinks Cyclone title hopes, 2004
No. 24: Chase Daniel's Introduction, 2005
No. 21: Bullying the Blackshirts, 2007