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Mizzou Memories: 2007 Border War

It has now been more than two weeks since college athletics shuttered in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. No games will be played, by Missouri or anyone else, until at least next fall. But that doesn’t mean we can’t find sports to cover. In this series, Mitchell Forde is going to bring a fresh perspective to iconic Missouri games. Each week, Mitchell will watch a Mizzou football or basketball game that occurred before he enrolled in college (fall of 2013) and write a story about the contest. Today, he turns his attention from the hardwood to the gridiron, and the natural starting point there is Missouri's 2007 win over Kansas.

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Setting the stage: At the start of the 2007 season, no one would have predicted either Missouri or Kansas might be a top-five team when the two met for their annual rivalry matchup to conclude the regular season. Yet on the night of Nov. 24, 2007, the Big 12 North title was on the line when No. 2 Kansas (11-0) and No. 4 Missouri (10-1) played in Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium. Throw in the fact that No. 1 LSU lost the day prior, meaning the winner of this game would likely climb to No. 1 in the polls and control its own destiny to reach the BCS National Championship game, and the nickname “Armageddon” was appropriate. Leading up to kickoff, it wouldn’t have been a stretch to call the matchup one of the most important in the history of both programs.


It’s funny, this is one of the few Missouri games I distinctly remember watching from my childhood years. I remember exactly where I watched it. I thought I had a pretty good idea how it unfolded.

Yet upon re-watching, I realized I recalled very few details about this game they called “Armageddon.” I didn’t know Missouri shut Kansas out in the first half, nor that the Tigers built three-touchdown leads on multiple occasions. I didn’t realize it was never really as close as the score indicated, with Kansas only once getting the ball in a one-score game during the second half (I did, at least, recall how that drive ended.) I didn’t realize just how masterful Chase Daniel — or as play-by-play commentator Brent Musberger called him on a few occasions, “Chase Daniels” — played.

But even 12-year-old me grasped the significance of this matchup. I had been told by my father that Missouri and Kansas hated each other like Louisville and Kentucky (my local frame of reference for a rivalry). I knew seasons like this didn’t come around often at either school. And I knew, after LSU lost to Arkansas earlier in the day, that the winner had a legitimate chance to play in the national championship game.

My first thought, upon pulling up the replay on my laptop, is that I wish I could have been there. Covering big games is always fun, but a matchup between top five teams, at night, between bitter rivals, played on a neutral field in front of 80,000-plus fans — that’s the kind of game a beat writer is lucky to see once or twice in his career. Even through my headphones, I could tell before the opening kickoff that Arrowhead Stadium was rocking.

Head coach Gary Pinkel and quarterback Chase Daniel capped one of the best regular seasons in Missouri history when the Tigers beat Kansas in 2007.
Head coach Gary Pinkel and quarterback Chase Daniel capped one of the best regular seasons in Missouri history when the Tigers beat Kansas in 2007. (mutigers.com)

I think the atmosphere resulted in some jitters early. The matchup was billed as a shootout, with Missouri averaging 42.5 points per game coming in and Kansas averaging 45.8, but both offenses went three-and-out on their first two possessions. Missouri looked to get going on its third trip, but the drive stalled inside the red zone and a fake field goal attempt couldn’t cover the 12 yards needed for a first down. (While the fake didn’t work, it showed that Gary Pinkel and offensive coordinator Dave Christensen weren’t going to be afraid to take some chances, which would help Missouri.) Kansas then punted a third time.

The Tigers got their first shot of momentum when running back Tony Temple found a hole and ran for 12 yards to start their fourth possession. Two plays later, Daniel hit receiver Danario Alexander for 20. Later in the drive, Christensen dialed up a double-reverse from Daniel to Jeremy Maclin to Alexander that wasn’t exactly pretty but got a first down on second and three and put Missouri in the red zone. The Tigers had first-and-goal at the four but lost three yards on second down and wound up facing fourth down and goal at the one-yard line. Pinkel didn’t hesitate. He kept the offense on the field and called a screen for all-American tight end Martin Rucker, who scored the game’s first points.

Kansas’ offense showed its first signs of life when it got the ball back. Todd Reesing, the Jayhawks’ own mobile, undersized, yet accurate signal-caller, hit Kerry Meier for 39 yards to move into Missouri territory. The next play, Reesing tried to go deep again, targeting Dexton Fields down the seem for what would have been a touchdown, except Missouri safety William Moore jumped in front of the pass and picked it off. The interception would be the first of several self-inflicted errors by Kansas in scoring position that allowed Missouri to build an three-touchdown lead.

Missouri took over at its own two-yard line but quickly got away from its own end zone with a 17-yard Temple run. (Getting that initial first down was, and remains, so critical for an uptempo offense.) The key play on the drive came when the Tigers faced a third down and 14. Daniel threw deep for Will Franklin, who took a hard hit from Kansas safety Darrell Stuckey and couldn’t haul in the pass, but the Jayhawks got called for defensive holding — an automatic first down. Daniel then hit Alexander for 20 yards and capped off the drive by scrambling for what felt like an eternity and firing a dart to Alexander for a 10-yard score.

Once again, Kansas answered the score with a decent drive that ended in a miscue. The Jayhawks advanced as far as the Missouri 16-yard line, but the drive stalled due to a couple incompletions. That brought on placekicker Scott Webb for a 33-yard field goal. The kick faded right and doinked off the upright, keeping Kansas scoreless. The following possession, after a Missouri turnover on downs, Kansas once again got as far as the Missouri 16. Defensive end Stryker Sulak sacked Reesing to make Webb’s kick 45 yards, and Webb overcompensated from his first miss and hooked the ball wide left. After Kansas mismanaged the clock and allowed Missouri to run off nearly all of the final minute, the game went into halftime 14-0.

Kansas’ first drive of the second half continued the trend. The Jayhawks went from near midfield to the red zone when a 13-yard completion that gained another 15 due to a facemask penalty on Castine Bridges. But on third down and nine, Reesing threw behind an open Marcus Henry. Henry tipped the ball into the air, and Bridges redeemed himself by intercepting it and returning it 49 yards. At that point, Reesing, who had started the previous week’s game completing 19 of his first 20 passes and who hadn’t thrown an interception in seven weeks, was 10 for 19 with two picks.

After the interception, Missouri marched to another touchdown, capping the drive off with a one-yard run from Jimmy Jackson. The Tigers led 21-0, and you have to credit Kansas for not rolling over. On the following drive, Dezmon Briscoe laid out for a spectacular catch on a 34-yard pass from Reesing that put the Jayhawks at the Missouri five. Brandon McAnderson, who has to be one of the beefier running backs I’ve ever seen, scored a couple plays later to finally put the Jayhawks on the scoreboard.

With that score, Kansas had clearly broken through and gotten its high-powered offense on track. The Jayhawks went on to score touchdowns on their next three drives. But Daniel, who owned the fourth quarter all season, didn’t blink. He led a series of sustained drives that both ate the clock and resulted in points, which would prove critical.

Missouri initially appeared to score quickly after Kansas’ first touchdown. Maclin took a handoff and burst 36 yards for a touchdown, but the play got called back due to a hold. In hindsight, that might have been a fortunate break for the Tigers. The next play, Daniel made up for the lost yardage by hitting Alexander for 17 yards. He moved the chains on third and three with a completion to slot receiver Tommy Saunders. He hit Alexander for 14 more yards to get Missouri inside the five-yard line, then finished the drive off with a swing pass to running back Derrick Washington for a three-yard score. The 14-play drive not only restored Missouri’s three-score lead, it ate more than six minutes off the clock.

Kansas responded with a quick scoring drive, featuring a clutch touchdown run by Reesing on fourth and goal from the two. Missouri answered back with a 10-play drive. Although it eventually stalled, kicker Jeff Wolfert — a former Missouri diver who turned into one of the most reliable kickers in Big 12 history — nailed a 43-yard field goal to make the score 31-14.

This time, Kansas answered even more quickly, scoring in one minute, 27 seconds. At that point, up 13 points with 8:28 to play, some teams might have gotten conservative, trying to sit on the ball and run the clock. Instead, Missouri trusted Daniel to keep running its offense. He did so masterfully. Daniel either passed or kept the ball himself on nine of the next 11 plays (and the two handoffs netted minus-seven yards). He completed six of his seven passes on the drive, critical to keep the clock moving. The Tigers didn’t ultimately reach the end zone, but the drive took nearly five minutes off the clock. Wolfert came up clutch with another field goal to make the score 34-21 with 3:30 to play.

Once again, Kansas scored a touchdown in fewer than 90 seconds. But the Jayhawks only had one timeout, and with no two-minute warning in college football, their only real hope was to recover an onside kick. Saunders, who also had eight catches in the game, fell on the bouncing ball to recover it for Missouri. The Tigers ran the ball three times and nearly bled the clock dry, punting it back to Kansas with 27 seconds left. The Jayhawks sold out for the block, and Missouri tackled return man Aquib Talib at his own 11-yard line with 17 seconds left.

Kansas needed a miracle. Instead, the last gasp drive ended in one play. The Jayhawk offensive line appeared to have a miscommunication. No one blocked defensive tackle Lorenzo Williams, and Sulak got around the offensive tackle opposite him with ease. Sulak got to Reesing first, then Williams piled on, driving him face-down into the turf of his own end zone. The safety made the score 36-28 and gave the ball back to Missouri.

Reesing was left to pick the turf out of his facemask — the enduring image of the game. Missouri’s sideline erupted. Even Pinkel, who in classic coach fashion continued to yell at his players about their alignment for Kansas’ free kick, paused to give Daniel a hug.

I knew Daniel was an incredible college quarterback, but I was blown away by his accuracy, confidence and command of the offense in this game. He finished 40-49 for 361 yards, three touchdowns and no turnovers. The performance sealed his invite to New York City for the Heisman Trophy ceremony. It’s not uncommon to see uptempo, spread offenses struggle when they have to protect a lead late in a game, but Daniel remained poised and kept coming up with first downs.

Also, man, did that Tiger offense have some playmakers. Nine different players caught a pass against Kansas. Alexander, who finished with eight catches for a then-career-high 117 yards and a score, and Maclin rank first and second in school history for receptions in a season. Rucker and fellow tight end Chase Coffman were both first-team all-Americans at some point in their college careers. Franklin logged 40-plus catches three seasons in a row, and Saunders, a former walk-on, had a knack for making timely plays.

We often talk about how thin the line between victory and defeat, successful seasons and unsuccessful ones, can be in football. This game illustrated that. On one hand, Missouri seemed to control the game throughout, never trailing and really never appearing in danger of trailing. On the other, change two or three plays and the outcome could have been totally different. What if Reesing’s pass gets past Moore for a touchdown in the first half? If Webb makes just one of his two field goals or Wolfert misses one of his attempts? If Kansas, which finished with two penalties to Missouri’s 14, doesn’t extend a Missouri scoring drive with a holding penalty on third and 14? In a matchup of two fairly evenly-matched teams, Missouri simply made more clutch plays, and that was the difference.

The following day, Missouri would climb to No. 1 in the AP poll for the second time in school history. The Tigers were tied with Oklahoma at halftime of the Big 12 championship in San Antonio, but the Sooners pulled away in the second half to defeat Missouri for the second time that season, sending the team to the Cotton Bowl instead of the national title game. Still, the 2007 season will forever hold a high place in program lore, with the victory over Kansas the crowning jewel.

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