Ranking the top 10 seasons for Tiger Football – Part One
In the world of sports, we love comparing players, coaches and teams from different eras. Phil Bradley or Chase Daniel? Dan Devine or Gary Pinkel? The 2007 Tiger football team or the 2013 version?
There’s no tangible benefit in doing so, but us amateur historians love to try and assess historical significance to these things anytime we get the chance, so I wanted to consider the recently-completed 2024 Mizzou football season and see where it falls among the mythical rankings of best in school history.
Before I dig in, I fully acknowledge there are a lot of ways to interpret the assessment of “best” seasons. For one person, that might signify the most impressive team, or it could be the most unexpected great season, or maybe the most fun you’ve had following a particular Tiger team.
For this exercise I’m ranking them as best in terms of historical significance to the program in the modern era, which is technically considered since the Associated Press rankings system began in 1936. Although, one could argue the true “modern” era shouldn’t go back any further than about 1960. This is not an attempt to represent all eras equally, just one slappy’s take on the most important teams this program has ever produced.
I suppose I should also acknowledge that this type of evaluation short-changes teams in the distant past a little bit, but I also think it’s hard to assign too much historical significance to very recent teams because we just don’t know how impactful their results will have been until years down the road.
With all that prime-time fence sitting out of the way, here’s my list of the “best” seasons in Mizzou football history, with a bit of explanation on each entry.
1. 1960 – 11-0, Big Eight champs, Orange Bowl champs, final AP rank – #5
Dan Devine’s ultimate team that ascended to #1 in the polls late in the season, only to fall at home to a cheating rival to the west in the last game of the regular season. The game was eventually forfeited back to Mizzou (that’s why the history books list MU with an 11-0 record), but that was after the fact, and on the field, the Tigers finished 10-1 after an Orange Bowl win over #4 Navy. Back then, the AP poll didn’t do a post bowl game ranking, but if they had, Mizzou would likely have been named the national champ. It was a different era of media exposure, but this team got Mizzou a national brand for the first time, and any team that has been named a posthumous national champ has to be atop this list…
2. 2007 – 12-2, Big XII North champs, Cotton Bowl champs, final AP rank – #4
Gary Pinkel’s signature team that began the season unranked and ultimately rose to #1 in the polls for just the second time in school history. Oklahoma was this teams’ kryptonite, as both losses came to the Sooners, with the last one in the Big XII title game costing the Tigers a shot at playing in the BCS national title game against Ohio State, who lost in the actual BCS title game to LSU. Even so, this team was vital to Mizzou re-emerging as a player on the national scene. If this season doesn’t happen, it’s debatable that Mizzou would have garnered an invite to join the Southeastern Conference just five years later. And that is a critically huge development for the foreseeable future!…
3. 2013 – 12-2, SEC Eastern champs, Cotton Bowl champs, final AP rank – #5
I honestly think this team would beat the 2007 team 5.1 times out of 10. But even so, I rank 2013 just slightly below ‘07, due to the fact that the ‘07 team rose to #1 in the polls and had a Heisman Trophy finalist. Make no mistake though, this 2013 team was stacked with talent all over, and were it not for a bummer of a 4th quarter in the SEC Championship game against Auburn, this team would have played in the BCS title game against Florida State (which I submit Mizzou would have won). That being said, this team also was huge for the program in terms of national respect, with this being only the second year in the SEC, and given the fact that Mizzou went 5-7 in its first year with the league. That subpar record was mostly due to an inordinate outbreak of injuries, but all of the naysayers doubting that Mizzou belonged in the SEC were licking their chops heading into 2013. This team shut them up for good, and established the narrative that Mizzou indeed belonged in the league…
4. 1969 – 9-2, Big Eight co-champs, Orange Bowl, final AP rank – #6
It’s kind of depressing to recognize, but this team is the LAST Mizzou squad to win a conference championship (not including division titles here). The Tigers, led by QB Terry McMillan, RB Joe Moore and WR Mel Gray, had a prolific offense and began the year 5-0 before getting upset at Colorado (who would end 8-3 and ranked #16, so it wasn’t a bad loss by any means). The Tigers would close the regular season by winning four straight to end 9-1 overall. Included in that was a 69-21 curb stomping of kansas, during which the ku “coach” flashed the peace sign from his sideline late in the game to Tiger legend Dan Devine, in an attempt to get him to call off the dogs. In one of his finest moments ever for Ol’ Mizzou, Devine flashed him back with only half of the peace sign intact! Following that win, the Tigers represented the Big Eight in the Orange Bowl, but the offense had a melt down of epic proportions and turned the ball over an unreal NINE times (seven interceptions, two fumbles). Hard to believe they kept it close, but Penn State got 10 first quarter points and that held up in a Nittany Lion 10-3 win. This team, had it not slipped up in Boulder, would have clearly been playing Penn State with a chance to go undefeated, and if they’d beaten PSU, a claim to a national title at 11-0 wouldn’t have been outlandish…
WRITER’S NOTE: There is some debate that the peace sign incident didn’t actually happen exactly that way, but it’s such a wonderful tale, that even if it’s slightly embellished, it needs to be acknowledged as gospel.
5. 2023 – 11-2, Cotton Bowl champs, final AP rank – #8
As I mentioned above, the recency bias might help AND hurt this team, but I do think the importance of this season could potentially grow as the years progress, if Drink’s program continues to rise in national prominence. Just imagine if Mizzou starts making the CFP on a regular basis? If that happens I think we’ll all look back to the 2023 season and say that’s where it started. This team had very little outside expectations, rose to national prominence, won the Cotton Bowl and finished ranked in the top 10. Sounds eerily similar to the 2007 and 2013 seasons, doesn’t it? This team was unfortunately one year ahead of its time, because I think they make the CFP if it had been a 12-team tournament in 2023. But alas, we can still appreciate the greatness this team exhibited, even if it was one year too soon…
So I promised a top-10. But this is only a top-5, you say? Patience, grasshopper, I will deliver on that going forward, but wanted to start with the top-5 to get things going.
Check back next time on this same bat channel for the remainder of the list, and some honorable-mention squads that just missed making the top-10 cut.
As always, thanks for reading and be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments section to add to the debate!