The crowd rested on pins and needles.
Sophomore quarterback Maty Mauk held his outstretched hands for the ball sent spiraling toward him. He dropped back and scanned the field, frantically looking for a receiver.
Mauk fired a bullet to senior receiver Marcus Murphy over the middle. Murphy hauled it in before staring a Hoosier defender dead in the face. He tried to make a move, but was wrapped up and brought down on the spot.
The game was over.
Most of the crowd of 66,755 fell silent. The small cohort of Indiana fans in Memorial Stadium’s northwest corner were the only ones cheering.
The No. 18 Tigers had lost and nobody knew what to say.
“This is adversity,” junior defensive end Shane Ray said. “This is what (losing) is supposed to feel like.”
After junior kicker Andrew Baggett gave the Tigers a 27-24 lead, the Indiana Hoosiers stormed down the field and took it back. The Hoosiers only needed one minute and 58 seconds to march 75 yards and score the go-ahead touchdown with only 22 seconds remaining.
“We never thought it was going to slip away,” sophomore linebacker Michael Scherer said. “We had confidence until they got in the end zone that we were going to stop them, but that’s just how the game went.”
Missouri regained possession with only a handful of ticks left on the clock to make something happen. Mauk connected with senior receiver Jimmie Hunt for a seven-yard gain. 18 seconds.
The pocket collapsed, and Mauk threw it away out of bounds under pressure. 11 seconds.
Mauk looked deep downfield to Murphy but slung it too far. Six seconds.
Mauk hit senior wide receiver Bud Sasser over the middle and a frantic game of hot potato brought the ball to a final stop on the turf. Zero seconds.
“If we had executed better, it would have been different,” Murphy said.
But a brief moment of salvation came. A late flag and a roughing-the-passer call gave Missouri one final chance: an untimed down.
Although time was no longer a factor, yardage was and the Murphy’s reception only got the offense a third of the way there. Thirty-two yards are what separated the Tigers from maintaining their perfect record.
“We don’t ever expect to come out and lose a game,” Sasser said. “We had opportunities to make big plays. We just didn’t make those plays.”
The loss comes on the eve of the team’s first conference game and the timing could not be worse. With upcoming games against South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, Missouri needed a win tonight.
“This is our coming to Jesus moment,” senior left tackle Mitch Morse said. “We’re going to be attached at the hip this week to the guys that are backing us up.”
The Tigers were emotionally jarred by what they witnessed in those final fleeting seconds. The gutting sensation will still sting, but the team said they need to moving on.
“A lot of guys had their heads down, which is the way you should feel,” Ray said. “But we need to pick it up. We need to figure out what we did wrong and everybody needs to do something extra.
“Take this pain, accept it and move on to the next week. Whoever we play next week, make them feel this pain. Let’s not have this feeling anymore.”