10/30/2023 football Edit

Ten Thoughts for Monday Morning presented by Will Ga...

Gabe DeArmond • PowerMizzou

Publisher

Gabe has covered the Tigers for PowerMizzou.com since August of 2003 and been the site's publisher since 2006.

1) Missouri's biggest football game in nine years is here. This is the biggest game the Tigers have played since the 2014 SEC Championship Game against Alabama. It's the biggest regular season game since the win over Arkansas in the 2014 finale that clinched the SEC East. It used to be a thing that happened around here quite a bit, but that was two coaching staffs and nine recruiting classes ago. Bud Sasser now works for Mizzou, L'Damian Washington is now a full-time college coach, James Franklin has played in and retired from the CFL and Evan Boehm has played in and retired from the NFL and joined the Mizzou staff. Those guys were key cogs in the last (only) Mizzou team to win in Athens, GA. That's how long it's been since Mizzou was regularly playing games like the one it will play this weekend.

I do not anticipate anyone from Missouri to talk about how big this game is. I think the approach will be simply to treat it as another game, another chance to go 1-0. It isn't just another game, but that's been working for them so far this season so you might as well keep it going.

I think the players and fans should embrace this moment. Understand that, yes, you're playing one of the two biggest games in college football this weekend. Yes, you're playing a phenomenal team that has won 25 consecutive games and is trying to be the first three-peat national champion since World War II. Soak all of that up because this is the reason you watch and the reason you play. But do not be afraid or intimidated. Georgia is good. No question. If they play at their best, Missouri probably can't win the game. But Missouri has earned the right to be in this game. It has won seven of eight and was in the other one until the final couple of minutes. It has proven to be one of the top 15 teams in the country. So go take your shot. If it doesn't work out, so be it. You regroup and move on. If it does, oh man, if it does, what the possibilities are...

2) I remember ten years ago this month sitting in a hotel lobby outside of Athens, GA. Someone had asked me on the board what chance I would give Missouri of pulling off the upset. I said 5%. Missouri pulled off that upset. I heard a lot about my skepticism (FWIW, I wasn't wrong, I did give the Tigers a 5% chance).That day Mizzou raced out to a 28-10 lead at halftime capped by a Shane Ray strip sack and a Michael Sam scoop and score off Aaron Murray. I always thought it was fitting that Missouri would end that dream season on a play by the same duo in reverse. Anyway, Georgia came most of the way back to make it 28-26 on a Murray TD pass to Chris Conley (yes, Chiefs fans, that one) but missed the two-point conversion to tie it. Missouri's next possession reached the Georgia 40 (after Maty Mauk had replaced an injured James Franklin) when Sasser unleashed one of the better non-quarterback throws you're going to see for Washington in the corner of the end zone. The catch gave Mizzou a 34-26 lead. The Tigers would add another score and walk out of Athens with the statement win of their early days in the SEC.

There have been bigger wins in Mizzou football history. There were bigger wins for Mizzou in that 2013 season. But that's the one that most people remember. That's the one you can look back at and say "That's the day I believed." Before that day, Mizzou was a nice story. When it ended, the Tigers were national title contenders.

3) That's, potentially, what this Saturday can be.

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