Dallas ? Missouri finished its season by routing Arkansas in the Cotton Bowl. The Tigers will soon learn whether the victory in their first Jan. 1 bowl appearance since 1970 helps as much as their lopsided loss in the Big 12 championship game hurt.
Missouri (12-2) was No. 1 in the AP poll and the BCS standings before a 38-17 setback to Oklahoma on Dec. 1, then plummeted to No. 7 in the poll and No. 6 in the BCS. Kansas, which lost to Missouri for the Big 12 North title, ended up drawing the Orange Bowl.
At least one team now ahead of Missouri is guaranteed to lose, with No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 LSU playing for the national championship on Jan. 7. In any case, the Tigers appear to have a strong case for their highest final ranking since they finished No. 5 in 1960.
“We can’t change it, we can’t be in the Orange Bowl,” quarterback Chase Daniel said. “This is the fifth-best bowl in my opinion, and we came away with a dominating win.”
A springboard for 2008, too.
Missouri has gone to four bowls in the last five years under coach Gary Pinkel, but the Cotton represents a quantum leap for a long-dormant program. The No. 1 ranking was the school’s first since 1960. The last title before Missouri won the North came in the old Big Eight in 1969.
The immediate future appears bright, especially if most or all the five juniors who are seeking input from the NFL – Daniel, defensive end Stryker Sulak, defensive tackle Ziggy Hood, tight end Chase Coffman and safety William Moore – return for one more year.
Nose tackle Lorenzo Williams is the only defensive starter who it’s certain must be replaced. Six starters should be back on offense, with All-American tight end Martin Rucker and offensive linemen Adam Spieker and Tyler Luellen the toughest to replace.
Tony Temple, the only running back in school history with consecutive 1,000-yard seasons after his record-smashing day on Tuesday, is trying to get a medical redshirt fifth year. The appeal is based on limited play as a freshman, when he had six carries against Nebraska in a late-season game.
Pinkel was 37-35 in his first six seasons at Missouri with losing records three of the first four years, but is 20-7 the last two and has produced the first 12-win season in school history.
In late January, he plans on repeating his game plan from last winter, bringing in the new seniors to replace the leadership of the bunch that is departing.
“Just because we have great chemistry this year, just because we have this real tight team, no way it means it’s going to happen next year,” Pinkel said. “It starts all over again and our players, they’ll understand it.”
