There was a special energy around Columbia, Missouri this year. Mizzou football season epitomized that.
The day started in Lawrence, Kansas. for the love of god please stay with me.
On the night of December 28th, I was lying in bed in my AirBnB thinking about how strange it was that I would be spending all day in Lawrence for Mizzou’s biggest bowl game in a decade. Don’t blame me for having family ties in this area. It’s part of me.
I happened to be on my way home when kickoff time approached and my wonderful wife took the evening drive shift so I could watch the game. And for the first three hours of the trip, I spent the first three hours of her trip hunched over in the passenger seat of a minivan looking at my cell phone so that my bleachers were appropriate for the level of performance going on in Arlington, Texas. I saw. I wasn’t expecting an explosion of offensive power. Ohio State plays a terrible but successful brand of football in my opinion. But I was hoping for a little more than 28 passing yards and a Riley Williams showcase.
Coincidentally, I passed through Colombia in the three hours I had to fly home. As I passed the Stadium Boulevard exit, I looked out the window. This is the area I lived in for several years when I was at Mizzou. “I thought, if Mizzou can turn things around right after we get out of Como, something will happen.”
A few minutes later, Brady Cook connected with Marquise Johnson on a 50-yard post route. A few minutes later, Cody Schrader scored the decisive touchdown.
A confluence of events that happened during my road trip probably led to Brady Cook’s accuracy, Cody Schrader’s constantly pumping legs, or Daylan Carnell’s ability to reach the quarterback at Mach 10 speeds. It had nothing to do with it. But I’d be lying if I didn’t feel like they were cosmically aligned for even a moment.
And that’s how it felt for Mizzou sports in 2023. Dennis Gates, with a motley crew of transfers and an unlikely first-round NBA Draft pick, led the program to its first NCAA Tournament championship in 13 years. Brian Smith led his wrestling program to yet another top finish at the 2023 championships, putting him in prime position to rise to the top in 2024. Jocelyn Moore perfected the vault. Dawn Sullivan quickly brought a struggling volleyball program back to the NCAA Tournament in her first year. Lo and behold, Kerrick Jackson is back at Mizzou and he’s bringing Tim Jamaison with him too!
But perhaps no college program embodies that sense of magic more than this Missouri football team. Consider…
Very few people in history were able to kick a ball 61 yards using the uprights. Even fewer have achieved that in the final minutes of the game.
The sophomore business major, who also happens to play punt on the football team, scored a 40-yard touchdown in a stadium that Mizzou hasn’t won in nearly a decade.
Mizzou probably won by swinging over 700% in the final 90 seconds of the game against Florida, and that’s largely due to No. 4 and No. 17, which are in Tiger fans’ lexicon.
The former walk-on, who took a DoorDash job to prepare for life without football before coming to Mizzou, set the program’s single-season rushing record and was a unanimous All-American selection.
Again, all of these things probably have nothing to do with each other, and especially nothing to do with the great things happening with other athletics programs. That’s not how sports work.
Or is it? After all, sports are not always rational in nature. Statistical anomalies occur all the time. Weakness is a feature, not a bug. A late-game penalty that leads to a more dramatic last-second field goal is still a mistake by definition. They just happen to be wrong and only make the memories even more appealing.
So roll your eyes as I believe a little bit of CoMo’s magic rubbed off on me and was technically transferred to the team in Arlington via the ESPN+ stream. At least you’ll agree that it took the bad smell out of me.
But I also happen to believe that something magical is happening in Colombia in 2023. And who can say how magic works or doesn’t work?
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