For three-plus quarters, the Missouri Tigers did a great job of making doubters out of each and every set of eyes that happened to be watching Saturday night. With just over seven minutes to play, the Tigers trailed 20-7 and had only managed 181 yards of offense.“We were struggling on offense, that’s an understatement.” Head coach Gary Pinkel proclaimed after the game.
An understatement indeed, as his offense seemed completely out of sync most of the night. Mizzou managed to convert 2 of its 16 third down attempts and quarterback Maty Mauk struggled for most of the night as he completed only 12/34 pass attempts for 132 yards.
But football is a funny game and with hope all but lost, Mizzou rose to the occasion. Mauk completed a 41-yard desperation heave to Bud Sasser immediately followed by a 26-yard strike to Wesley Leftwhich which helped set up Russell Hansbrough’s second rushing touchdown of the game to pull the Tigers to within six.
“(The Sasser Catch) lit our team up, we were locked back in.” Pinkel explained.
Missouri would get the ball back following a South Carolina three-and-out and with 1:26 on the clock, Russell Hansbrough punched in the game winning touchdown on fourth-and-goal capping off an improbable come-from-behind victory for the Tigers. 80,000 fans stood in anemic silence as the final seconds ticked away as the Gamecocks suffered on their second home loss since October of 2011.
“These wins kind of define a program, against a really good football team in a great SEC environment.” Pinkel said before showing his appreciation to the thousands of Mizzou fans that attended the game at Williams-Brice Stadium. The victory puts Mizzou in terrific shape in the SEC East and a win over Georgia in two weeks would give the Tigers a two-game lead over the two teams previously thought of as division favorites. It takes a lot of guts and determination to pull of a win like Mizzou did Saturday night and it all but erases the nightmare against Indiana last week.
