With time winding down in the fourth quarter and Arkansas driving, senior defensive end Markus Golden jumped from the line. Razorbacks running back Alex Collins darted toward the hole, but Golden stopped him. He wrestled Collins to the ground and came away with the football.
Golden’s strip secured Missouri a 21-14 victory and a second consecutive SEC East crown.
“Nothing is going to be given to you,” senior receiver Bud Sasser said. “In this league, you have to work all four quarters to get the win.”
The Tigers’ road back to Atlanta wasn’t the smoothest. The No. 13 Tigers (10-2, 7-1) had to win their final six games to clinch the division title.
But even after navigating a treacherous path through conference play, Mizzou enters Saturday’s game versus No. 1 Alabama (11-1, 7-1) as a 14-point underdog. The underdog label has been attached to this team all season — Mizzou was only favored to win in two of its final six victories — but senior receiver Jimmie Hunt and his team aren’t buying it.
“We really don’t care,” Hunt said. “Everybody’s entitled to their own opinion. We’ll roll with it.”
The Tigers’ game with the Crimson Tide marks the fourth straight week in which they won’t be favored to win.
During that stretch, Mizzou faced Texas A&M, Tennessee and Arkansas, which finished with a combined 8-16 conference record. Some might see that as a slight against the program, but Sasser said it doesn’t matter what outsiders think of his team.
“Honestly, there will be people who respect us and people who don’t,” Sasser said. “The whole respect thing has gone out the window and we’re OK with that. All it’s about now is winning.”
Mizzou won five of the six games in which it was picked to lose this season, the exception being its 34-0 loss to Georgia. Underdog or not, coach Gary Pinkel said it doesn’t matter to him or his team, and that preparation ultimately outweighs everything else.
“I don’t do the underdog thing,” Pinkel said. “You prepare regardless of what’s out there whether you’re a favorite or underdog. Players see things on TV, they read things and they hear things, and I’m not naive enough to believe that doesn’t motivate some of them. But our preparation will determine how we play.”
Sophomore cornerback Aarion Penton said his teammates don’t focus on the jerseys across from theirs.
“We’re not going to let a big name school intimidate us because we’ve been here several times,” Penton said. “Any team can be beat any day. It’s just how you execute.”
Even with the Tide favored, Missouri’s goal remains the same: win a conference championship. It’s something Golden has dreamed about even before his Mizzou career began.
“It would mean a lot not just to me, but to the program,” Golden said. “Coach Pinkel has put in a whole lot of work over the years to build this program. … We respect ourselves now, and we’re just trying to bring this program a championship.
“We know what we can do, and we’re not worried about what everyone else has to say about us.”
