COLUMBIA, MO. • With two minutes left on Faurot Field, Barry Odom was in position to do something Saturday no Missouri head coach had pulled off since Warren Powers in 1978: Beat his first ranked opponent.
Instead, the Tigers rookie head coach got smacked in the face with bitter defeat.
A touchdown underdog to No. 16 Georgia when the night began, the Tigers were one stop away from celebrating a victory. But in the same north end zone that’s seen so many crushing moments for the Tigers, Georgia was one play better.
On fourth and 10 from the Mizzou 20-yard line, with just 1:29 left on the clock and Mizzou nursing a six-point lead, the Tigers got the matchup they wanted: cover zero against Georgia’s five-wide formation, man to man across the board with their best defender, cornerback Aarion Penton, locked on Georgia’s best playmaker, Isaiah McKenzie.