Mizzou Football’s best moments against Alabama

Oct 25, 2024 | Uncategorized

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Denny Medley-Imagn Images

The Tigers don’t have a glamorous record against the Crimson Tide, but they have a couple of big wins and a few more memorable moments, too.

The morning before each Mizzou football game in 2024, Rock M’s Quentin Corpuel will look back at MU’s best moments versus that week’s opponent. This week: Alabama.

Opponent: Alabama Crimson Tide

Gametime: Saturday, Oct. 26 at 2:30 p.m. CST

Location: Bryant-Denny Stadium, Tuscaloosa, Alabama

Record versus Alabama: 2-5

For almost all of my life (post-2004, apologies to our older readers), Alabama has been a terrifying force of nature that played football on a different planet than most of its opponents.

However, some solace can be taken in the fact that it’s been that way across multiple generations. The clouds hanging over not just Tuscaloosa, but the entirety of college football, simply had different names in Bear Bryant and Nick Saban.

While Mizzou never bested Saban, the Tigers conquered the Bear on multiple occasions; even amidst defeat to Saban’s team, Mizzou was still able to string together a few epic highlights.

Honorable Mention: Trey Boomstick (but not with his leg) (10/13/2012)

This was a weird game at a weird time in Mizzou football history.

Sandwiched in-between historic success in the late 2000s and early 2010s was 2012. From 2006-14, the Tigers won at least games in every season except 2012, when they went 5-7. Although there were some positive moments, which included electric wins over Arizona State, UCF and Tennessee, Mizzou struggled in its first year as a member of the Southeastern Conference.

Part of the rocky road was a 42-10 blowout loss at the hands of Alabama. Eddie Lacy and T.J. Yeldon combined for 321 rushing yards, with 73 of them coming on a touchdown run by Lacy on the second play from scrimmage. Corbin Berkstresser was eaten alive by Alabama’s vaunted defense, which registered double the amount of shutouts (4) as the number of times it allowed more than 20 points (2).

This was also the game where freshman Russell Hansbrough got suplexed by Lamichael Fanning. The Crimson Tide were up 28-0 early in the second quarter, and the only thing that seemed to stop them was Mother Nature, as the game went into a weather delay after Alabama’s fourth touchdown of the half.

At the end of the first quarter, however, one guy wasn’t ready to give in: punter Trey Barrow. Christion Jones, who returned a kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown against Ole Miss the week prior, found a crease and looked like he could take it to the house.

Enter Barrow.

In fact, Barrow’s hit was so hard that Jones died lit; he was unknowingly six and a half years ahead of Playboi Carti’s immensely popular album.

#5: How do they keep doing this? (12/6/2014)

Jimmie Hunt was, in a way, an early version of Marquis Johnson. Hunt averaged over 16 yards per catch in his three seasons with the Tigers, and he shined in an explosive way during the 2014 SEC Championship, reeling in six catches for 169 yards.

Alabama rolled to a 42-13 victory – although Mizzou trailed by just eight in the third quarter, the Crimson Tide controlled most of the game. But what they couldn’t seem to control was Maty Mauk rolling out and throwing the ball as far as he could in the direction of Hunt.

They did it not once…

Not twice…

But three times!

#4: Almost had ‘em (9/16/78)

For a half, the 1970s Mizzou Tigers were really 1970s Mizzou Tigers-ing against No. 1 Alabama.

Mizzou had knocked off No. 5 Notre Dame, the defending national champions, 3-0 the week prior, and the Tigers appeared on their way to another monumental upset after overcoming a 17-point deficit.

In front of almost 74,000 fans at Faurot Field, the comeback began with a 72-yard touchdown, which was followed by a 69-yard touchdown run by Phil Bradley not too long after. On the ensuing Alabama possession, Russ Calabrese picked off Jeff Rutledge and took it to the house, putting Mizzou ahead 20-17. The turnover broke Rutledge’s streak of 100 consecutive passes without an interception.

Unfortunately for the Tigers, they couldn’t carry the momentum over into the second half; in fact, momentum seemed to take a stroll over to the visitor’s locker room at halftime and stayed on that side. Alabama scored 17 unanswered points over the final two quarters, which included a blocked punt for a touchdown to start the second half.

#3: Emerging from the rain (10/13/2012)

After the aforementioned weather delay, Alabama kicked off to Marcus Murphy, which was a historically poor idea; by the end of his Mizzou career, Murphy had seven return touchdowns – three on kickoffs and four on punt returns.

In front of a rain-soaked, poncho-clad crowd, Murphy made the Tide pay for giving him a chance to return the kickoff.

#2: A season-opening shocker (9/8/1975)

From 1971-74, it was extremely difficult to defeat Alabama. Here’s the list of teams that knocked off the giants led by Bear Bryan in that timespan:

1971 Nebraska (13-0, national champions)
1972 Auburn (10-1, finished No. 5 in final AP poll)
1972 Texas (10-1, finished No. 3 in final AP poll)
1973 Notre Dame (11-0, national champions)
1974 Notre Dame (10-2, finished No. 6 in final AP poll)

Even so, all of those losses were at neutral sites. Prior to the 1975 season-opener, Alabama hadn’t lost at Legion Field since Nov. 7, 1970 against LSU and hadn’t lost to an unranked opponent at Legion Field since Oct. 12, 1963 against Florida.

Of course, many elite clubs had to include Mizzou from 1970-79, this one included.

After Mizzou, Alabama would outscore its next 11 opponents 367-52 en route to a national championship. The Crimson Tide would win its next 10 games by at least two possessions; its next six would see them score at least 30 points. But on one particular day in Birmingham, sense took a vacation, and overall ability swapped places like Thunderstruck.

The Tigers ran the Tide into the ground from the get-go; they led 20-0 at halftime behind 89 rushing yards from Tony Galbreath, who would finish the game with 120 total. On 34 carries, Alabama’s Wishbone offense produced a grand total of 31 yards; its only touchdown came on a deflected pass that ended up in the hands of Ozzie Newsome. When the dust settled, Mizzou had entered rarified air, and naturally went on to finish the season 6-5.

Back in Columbia, Francis Quadrangle was sparkled with fireworks and the sounds of Marching Mizzou. After the game, Bryant didn’t need too many words to sum up his team’s brutal loss.

“They kicked the hell out of us,” Bryant said. “What more can I say?”

#1: Em-Bear-assing (12/28/1968)

If you thought Mizzou’s win over Alabama in 1975 was incredible, it was preceded by arguably a more shocking victory.

The Tigers, ranked No. 16 in the AP Poll, were the underdogs against the No. 12 Crimson Tide entering the 1968 Gator Bowl.

Like many seemingly improbable wins in MU football history, the Tigers didn’t do much over the air. In fact, Terry McMillan went 0/6 with two interceptions; that statline normally shouldn’t push a team to victory, but it did this time around with the help of a killer rushing attack.

Mizzou ran for 402 yards on the ground; Greg Cook had 179 of them. Alabama, meanwhile, finished with 32 total yards. UA quarterback Scott Hunter was sacked a ludicrous 12 times and went just 7/27 with a pair of interceptions. The Tigers would claim the postseason victory in dominant fashion, 35-10.

It was a loss of historic proportions for Alabama. Bear Bryant would retire with this game being his greatest loss in a bowl game. It was UA’s worst loss under Bryant since he took over a decade prior. The Tide hadn’t given up more than 16 points in a game all season, and it was the first time they’d lost three games in a season since 1958.

Until the 2007 Cotton Bowl, a 34-7 rout of Arkansas, this win would stand as Mizzou’s largest win in a bowl game. As mentioned previously, Bryant said that the Tigers kicked the hell out of his team in ‘75; the same could’ve been said seven years before.

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