Oct. 21, 2002
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
TIGERS HOST ARCH RIVAL KANSAS IN HOMECOMING BATTLE SATURDAY
One of the nation's most fierce rivalries gets renewed Saturday in Columbia, as the Missouri Tigers (3-4 overall, 0-3 in Big 12 Conference play) host their arch-rivals, the Kansas Jayhawks (2-6, 0-4) in a 1 p.m. game at Faurot Field.
Saturday will mark the 91st Homecoming for the Tigers, who will be looking to break a current 3-game losing streak since beginning the season 3-1. Mizzou is coming off a 52-38 loss at Texas Tech, and will be looking for its first Homecoming win since a 20-6 win over Oklahoma in the 1998 season.
Kansas comes to Columbia having dropped 3 straight games since winning 2 of 3 in a stretch in the month of September. The Jayhawks are coming off a 47-22 home loss to Texas A&M last Saturday.
MU-KU RIVALRY NOTES
Dating back to the days of the Civil War, Missourians and Kansans have been adversaries to the bitter end. The heated rivalry has carried over to the gridiron, where the Tigers and Jayhawks will resume one of the country's most storied series this Saturday in Columbia.
Mizzou and Kansas will meet for the 111th time when they tangle on Saturday. That makes this game the 2nd-most played rivalry in NCAA history. It trails by just one game the Minnesota-Wisconsin rivalry, which will see its 112th contest played on Nov. 23rd of this season.
While being one of the most intense rivalries around, the MU-KU series has also been one of the most even over the years. Remarkably, there is only a one-game difference in the series standings, with KU holding the slimmest of margins, at 51-50-9, meaning a Tiger win Saturday would deadlock the series.
In fact, a glance at the NCAA records book shows that of every rivalry that has had at least 90 games played, the MU-KU series is the most even of them all. The next-closest to even would be Baylor vs. TCU, with BU holding a 49-47-7 edge. Army holds a similarly slim 49-46-7 edge over Navy as the next closest rivalry game.
MORE MU-KU FODDER
As is representative of the overall closeness of the Mizzou-Kansas series, the teams have split their last 24 meetings, dating back to 1978. It's also been each school grabbing 3 wins apiece over the last 6 meetings, dating back to 1996.
Overall, 49 of the previous 110 meetings have been decided by a touchdown or less. More recently, however, the games haven't been all that close, as only 3 of the previous 12 dating back to 1990 have been decided by 7 points or fewer.
For more detailed information on the storied MU-KU rivalry, please see pages 236-237 of the 2002 Mizzou Football Media Guide.
HOMECOMING COMES HOME
Legend says that the tradition of Homecoming got its start at the University of Missouri in 1911, thanks to the vision and efforts of Chester L. Brewer, MU's Director of Athletics at the time.
That year, the Missouri-Kansas football game was to be played on a college campus for the first time. Previously, the game had been played in either Kansas City or St. Joseph. Brewer wanted to add some spice to the season-ending game in Columbia, so he issued a plea to Mizzou alumni - and especially to former Tiger football players - to "Come Home" for the game. They did, with a record crowd of 9,000 overflowing Rollins Field to see a game that ended in a 3-3 tie.
Hence, "Homecoming" was born. Mizzou enters Saturday's game with a 49-36-5 record alltime in Homecoming affairs.
Fittingly, Kansas has been the Tigers' most common Homecoming foe, with Saturday marking the 27th time KU has been Mizzou's Homecoming opponent. Mizzou is 16-8-2 vs. KU in the previous 26 appearances.
Overall, the Tigers will look to break a string that has seen MU drop its last 3 Homecoming contests (20-13 to Iowa State in 2001; 38-17 to Kansas in 2000; 24-21 to Iowa State in 1999). Mizzou's last Homecoming win was a 20-6 victory over Oklahoma in 1998.
LAST TIME OUT
Mizzou rolled up 38 points and 445 yards of total offense at Texas Tech, but it wasn't enough, as the Tigers ran into a buzzsaw by the name of Kliff Kingsbury.
Tech's QB Kingsbury was virtually unstoppable all night long, as he completed 49-of-70 passes for 510 yards and 5 TDs - all single-game records for Tiger opponents.
Mizzou fell behind early, but scratched back to tie the game at 17-all midway through the 2nd quarter. But Tech reeled off 21 straight points, scoring TDs on 3 straight possessions sandwiched around halftime, and that was essentially the difference, as the Tigers could pull no closer than 13 points the rest of the way.
Field position played a huge role in the game, as the Red Raiders scored their 3 consecutive TDs to break the game open on drives covering only 44, 53 and 50 yards apiece. Tech's average starting position in the 2nd quarter was the Mizzou 49-yard line, while the Tigers started on their 20 in each of its 3 2nd-quarter possessions, thanks to going against a stiff 20-mph West Texas wind.
Conversely, Mizzou had a long field to travel virtually all night, as its first 4 TD drives had to go 81, 80, 89 and 79 yards, respectively. The Tigers actually averaged more yards per play than Tech on the evening (7.0 per snap to Tech's 6.1), but the Red Raiders ran a whopping 100 plays in the game, compared to only 64 for Mizzou.