30 Years, 30 Games, 30 Days: #27
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. 27.
Oregon State 39, Mizzou 38 -- El Paso, TX -- December 29, 2006
Most bowl games are relatively meaningless exhibitions. The 2006 Sun Bowl fit that bill. Missouri entered the game 8-4, Oregon State was 9-4. Few outside of the two fanbases probably paid much attention. But they missed one of the most purely entertaining games in recent Tiger history.
The two teams combined for 1,018 yards of total offense and 51 first downs and Missouri entered its Golden Age of football...at least in the last half century...with a heartbreaking loss.
Chase Daniel hit Chase Coffman with an 18-yard touchdown pass to give Missouri a 38-24 lead with just 12:08 to play. It was Daniel's second touchdown pass of the day capping a marvelous sophomore season and Coffman both caught and threw a touchdown that day.
Yvenson Bernard caught a TD from Beaver quarterback Matt Moore with 6:02 remaining to close the deficit to seven points. With just 23 seconds left, Moore hit Joe Newton from 14 yards out to make the score 38-37 Missouri.
Mike Riley then took the type of gamble coaches can take in exhibition games. He went for two. Bernard scored and the Beavers won 39-38.
WHY IT'S ON THE LIST: In terms of sheer entertainment value, this might be a top five game in the time period we're talking about. For the vast majority of the day the teams were within one score as both offenses marched up and down the field. The game didn't really have a lasting impact on the program, but it gave Missouri fans a glimpse of stars like Daniel, Coffman, Tony Temple and other who would figure so prominently in Missouri's ascension to the nation's No. 1 ranking just a year later.