Gary Pinkel, the stoic and cautious former Missouri head coach, probably would not have made the call, but Dave Steckel, his defensive coordinator, was in charge for this game.
“F--- it!” Steckel yelled into his headsets, “let’s go for it!”
On the sideline as a junior receiver, T.J. Moe remembers hearing the call. The Tigers, already trailing 14–0 to Texas Tech, went for it on fourth-and-1 from their own 30-yard line. “Coach Pinkel was the eyes of wisdom to not go for it on fourth down,” Moe says seven years later in what’s now a humorous moment.