Sports

The Tigers Lose Chance for National Title Game

December 12, 2007

By Jacob Wilkins

The Missouri Tigers lost their chance for a shot at the national title by losing Saturday to the No. 9 Oklahoma Sooners by a score of 38-17. The loss came as a disappointment to a team that had found itself ranked No. 1 in the country after a bizarre turn of events the week before.

In what has been one of the strangest football seasons in NCAA history, the Tigers were voted the best team in the nation after they defeated No. 2 ranked Kansas, and No. 1 LSU was upset in triple overtime.

Unfortunately for the then No. 1 Tigers, the strangeness continued Saturday, with the top two teams again losing. Losing to Oklahoma was a particularly bitter defeat.

After Saturday, Missouri is 11-2 on the season, with both losses coming at the hands of the Sooners. In the first loss, Missouri generally outplayed the Sooners, but turnovers proved their undoing.

This time, Missouri did not even look like the same team that had played the rest of the season. “They looked intimidated,” said Josh Weller, a student at MBU. Their high-powered offense was held to under 30 points for the first time in the season, and in another season-first, Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel did not throw for a touchdown.

So, instead of playing for the national title, the No. 6 Tigers will have to settle for a New Year’s Day Cotton Bowl outing against the No. 25 Arkansas Razorbacks (8-4). While a disappointing end to the season, the Tigers can still look back on one of their best seasons ever.

They can also expect a tough game from the Razorbacks, whose star running back Darren McFadden will make life difficult for the Tigers if their defense against the run is as weak as it was against Oklahoma. “It should be a great game,” Weller added.

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