30 Years, 30 Games, 30 Days: #24
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. 24.
Missouri 27, Iowa State 24 -- Columbia, MO -- October 15, 2005
The Program was down. Not just figuratively, but literally. With just more than nine minutes left and Missouri trailing 24-14, Brad Smith took a hit to the head and didn't get up. The fortunes were bleak.
A little-used (to that point) true freshman wearing No. 10 trotted on to the field. By the end of the day, every Missouri fan knew who Chase Daniel was.
Daniel's first pass was a 13-yard completion to Brad Ekwerekwu to convert a third and 10 at the Tigers' 25. He hit Chase Coffman for 25 yards on fourth and seven. He ran four yards for another first down. Adam Crossett made a 19-yard field goal with 4:44 to go. Missouri still trailed 24-17.
Missouri's defense forced a punt on the Cyclones' next possession. Daniel took over at his 12 with 2:32 to play needing a touchdown.
Daniel went 6-for-9 for 81 yards. He ran twice for two yards, including a first down. His pass to Sean Coffey in the back of the end zone with 20 seconds to play drew Missouri within a point at 24-23. Crossett tied it with an extra point and the Tigers and Cyclones were headed to overtime for a second straight season.
The Tiger defense held and Bret Culbertson missed a 37-yard field goal on Iowa State's overtime possession. Daniel guided the Tigers to one first down, then kept the ball three straight times to set up a game-winning field goal attempt. Crossett was good from 25 yards, beating the Cyclones in OT for a second year in a row.
WHY IT'S ON THE LIST: Up to this point, Brad Smith was Pinkel's program. The Tigers had some guys around him, but largely hadn't proven they were much more than a great individual quarterback. The win put Missouri at 4-2 and they would finish the regular season 6-5. Without that win, Mizzou misses a bowl game for the fourth time in Pinkel's first five seasons. There was immense heat on Pinkel after a terrible 2004 season. The program was reeling after the death of Aaron O'Neal the previous summer. Nothing was certain about Pinkel's future in the fall of 2005. Daniel's heroics got Missouri to the Independence Bowl where it would beat South Carolina (more on that in a few days). After that, Missouri would win at least eight games for six consecutive seasons. They would be No. 1 in the country and play in two Big 12 title games. Daniel was a Heisman finalist and put together probably the greatest individual career in Missouri history. Without this win, who knows if any of it happens?