30 Years, 30 Games, 30 Days: #29
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. 29.
Georgia 28, Mizzou 27 -- Columbia, MO -- September 17, 2016
Barry Odom's first season was off to a 1-and-1 start. The Tigers had lost at West Virginia and then destroyed Eastern Michigan. The first prime-time contest was a matchup with Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs in the SEC opener.
At halftime, Georgia led 21-20. Isaiah McKenzie had caught two touchdown passes for the Bulldogs, J'Mon Moore one for the Tigers. Both players would figure prominently going forward.
Just 66 seconds into the third quarter, Moore caught a six-yard pass from Drew Lock to give Missouri a 27-21 lead. The score would remain unchanged for the next 27 minutes.
Mizzou drove to the Georgia 40 with less than five minutes to play, but stalled out from there. The Tigers opted to punt. Corey Fatony's touchback gave UGA freshman quarterback Jacob Eason the ball at his own 20-yard line with 3:32 to play.
The Bulldogs drove quickly to midfield, but appeared to be facing fourth and ten. However a pass interference penalty on the Tigers on a third down incompletion gave UGA new life and a first down at the Mizzou 35. The Mizzou defense stiffened again, forcing Georgia into fourth and ten from the Tiger 20 with just 1:36 to play.
That's when McKenzie got loose over the top of Aarion Penton and hauled in a pass that tied the game at 27. The Bulldogs took the lead on the ensuing extra point for the first time in the second half.
Missouri still had a chance. On the first play of what they hoped would be a game-winning drive, Lock hit Moore on the left side. It was his eighth catch of the night covering 196 yards. Moore was a shoelace away from adding about 50 more and a touchdown to that total. But he didn't see Juwan Briscoe, who hit Moore and knocked the ball loose at midfield. Georgia recovered and ran out the clock in a devastating 28-27 win.
WHY IT'S ON THE LIST: Mostly because it was a fantastic football game. If you didn't care who won, you left that stadium thrilled with what you had seen. Eason and Lock looked like future stars, as did Moore and McKenzie. Both defenses made big plays at big times. But Georgia made the biggest one on each side of the ball. The game showed all the possibilities of what Missouri could be and exposed many of the flaws that showed how far they had to go.