30 Years, 30 Games, 30 Days: #22
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. 22.
Missouri 38, Kansas State 12 -- Manhattan, KS -- November 14, 2009
Danario Alexander's 2009 season was already really good. He had 71 catches for more than 1,100 yards and eight touchdowns. It was an all-Big 12 season no matter what happened in the final three weeks.
This game at Kansas State made Alexander's season legendary.
Statistically, it wasn't even the best game of Alexander's season. He caught 10 passes for 200 yards and three touchdowns. But anyone who was there to see it remembers this as Alexander's best day.
Alexander gave Missouri a 10-3 lead with a 54-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter. The Tigers would lead the rest of the game. Twenty seconds before halftime, Alexander scored on a 16-yard catch, putting Mizzou up 17-6 at the break.
His 80-yard catch and run with 43 seconds left in the third quarter put the Tigers up 24-12. Alexander would later keep a game-icing drive alive by diving for a fourth down conversion after losing his helmet.
Pure and simple, Danario Alexander was a one-man show on this Saturday.
Here's the great thing about just showing up at a fairly random college football game: You just might end up seeing one of the best players in the country ... even if you have never heard of him before," Joe Posnanski wrote in Sports Illustrated.
Posnanski was going to write about Bill Snyder. He did not.
"But here was something surprising: Missouri (in the midst of what has been considered a disappointing year) might have the best wide receiver in America. His name is Danario Alexander. You can certainly be forgiven if the name doesn't ring any bells."
They knew who he was after this game. Alexander's final four game totals were 42 catches for 643 yards and six touchdowns. He finished the season with 1,781 yards and all-American status.
WHY IT'S ON THE LIST: It was the best game in the best non-quarterback offensive season in the history of Missouri football. Danario Alexander battled anonymity and injury and put together a season that no one who saw it will forget. For a month, he was the best player in college football. Alexander's story ultimately is one of "what if?" Knee injuries derailed his NFL dreams mostly before they got going. But 2009 was Danario Alexander's time to shine. And shine he did.