Manhattan ? This spellbinding Missouri football team had methodically busted yet another ghost – winning at Kansas State for the first time since 1989 – and achieved the unprecedented: a 10th regular-season victory for the first time in the school’s 117 years of football.
So much for the preliminaries.
Now comes arguably the most meaningful game in school history, at least since 1960, when Mizzou went into the game 9-0 and ranked No. 1.
No wonder that within moments after Missouri’s 49-32 romp over the Wildcats, the Tigers were afflicted with amnesia and tunnel vision.
“I don’t even know who we played (Saturday); it’s over with,” said Mizzou quarterback Chase Daniel, adding, “Kansas, Kansas, Kansas – we can finally worry about it.”
For days, if not weeks, MU players had fought to suppress visions of what might be ahead: a clash against KU with the Big 12 North title on the line. But suddenly, unfathomably even weeks ago, the game is about far more.
If the winner of the Armageddon at Arrowhead on Saturday goes on to seize the Big 12 title game – and it’s a big if – it almost surely will play for the national championship in New Orleans.
The national championship. Of college football.
MU (10-1) is fifth in the current Bowl Championship Series standings, KU (11-0) is third, but No. 2 Oregon’s loss to Arizona means each should move up a notch.
“It’s a one-game playoff,” said Daniel, who solidified his stature in the Heisman Trophy derby with four touchdown passes. “If you lose, you go home. So you’ve got to win out.”
Playing in Kansas City adds to the setup, nose tackle Lorenzo Williams said, of a perfect storm. And now it’s blowing in from the horizon.
“The storm is definitely coming,” he said. “I don’t know who’s bringing it.”
Each team will, no doubt. And each likely spent less than the usual amount of time it might have basking in the glow of its victory Saturday.
Even MU coach Gary Pinkel, as cautious and riveted to task as anyone, allowed his attention to be diverted to KU in the final moments of the game, in which MU sputtered early but led 49-25 before K-State scored with just over two minutes left.
With reserve quarterback Chase Patton in the game, Daniel hugged Pinkel and said, “Coach, believe it or not, now we’re allowed to start talking about Kansas.” Pinkel teasingly yelled at Daniel and couldn’t wait himself.
“That place is going to be wild,” Pinkel said, adding, “It doesn’t get any better than that.”
The game, of course, always has ample intrigue, even when the teams weren’t enjoying the best simultaneous seasons they’ve ever had. Still …
“Thank God there’s something on the line,” said receivers coach Andy Hill, a former Tiger himself.
Early Saturday, it appeared there might be less on the line than expected.
In a scene reminiscent of quirky MU games in recent years in Manhattan, the Tigers fell behind 15-14 after K-State blocked a punt for a touchdown.
