The 2013 Missouri Tigers football team (also called "Mizzou") represented the
University of Missouri in the
2013 NCAA Division I FBS football season
The 2013 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the highest level college football competition in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
The regular season began on August 29, 2013 and ended on Dece ...
. It marked the Tigers' second season as a member of the
Southeastern Conference (SEC) in the
Eastern Division. The team was led by head coach
Gary Pinkel, in his 13th year and played its home games at
Faurot Field in
Columbia, Missouri
Columbia is a city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It is the county seat of Boone County and home to the University of Missouri. Founded in 1821, it is the principal city of the five-county Columbia metropolitan area. It is Missouri's fourth ...
. The Tigers went into the season hoping to return to a bowl game after missing out
the previous season. They succeeded after an 11–1 regular season and their first-ever SEC Eastern Division title. After a loss to
Auburn
Auburn may refer to:
Places Australia
* Auburn, New South Wales
* City of Auburn, the local government area
*Electoral district of Auburn
*Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region
*Auburn, South Australia
*Auburn, Tasmania
*Aub ...
in the
SEC Championship Game
The SEC Championship Game is an annual American football game that has determined the Southeastern Conference's season champion since 1992. The championship game pits the SEC East Division regular season champion against the West Division regula ...
they played in the
2014 Cotton Bowl Classic
The 2014 Cotton Bowl Classic was a college football bowl game between the #9 Missouri Tigers of the Southeastern Conference and the #13 Oklahoma State Cowboys of the Big 12 Conference. The 78th edition of the Cotton Bowl Classic took place on Janu ...
on January 3, 2014 against
Oklahoma State, which they won 41–31. The two teams had last met on October 22, 2011.
Recruits
Key losses:
* DT
Sheldon Richardson
Sheldon Adam Richardson (born November 29, 1990) is an American football defensive tackle who is a free agent. He played college football at Missouri, and was drafted by the New York Jets in the first round of the 2013 NFL Draft. Richardson has ...
* DE
Brad Madison
Brad may refer to:
* Brad (given name), a masculine given name
Places
* Brad, Hunedoara, a city in Hunedoara County, Romania
* Brad, a village in Berești-Bistrița Commune, Bacău County, Romania
* Brad, a village in Filipeni, Bacău, Romani ...
* WR
T. J. Moe
Taylor Jacob Moe (born October 14, 1990) is a former American football wide receiver.
He was signed by the New England Patriots
The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They ...
* OL
Trey Foster
* OL
Jack Meiners
* RB
Kendial Lawrence
All 20 recruits signed their
National Letter of Intent
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, ce ...
on February 6, during the
National Signing Period (February 6 – April 1).
On the eve of National Signing Day, Missouri ranks last in the SEC, 46th in the overall rankings according t
Rivals.comOn the day after National Signing Day
Scout.comranks Missouri as 36th (3.00) best overall, ahead of only Kentucky (39th) in the SEC.
Rivals.com
has Mizzou at 39th (3.00).
Coach Pinkel likes the 20-name recruiting class.
His coaching staff agrees with his analysis, as does former Mizzou wide receiver Jeremy Maclin.
Mizzou's class has 11 of the 20 recruits from Missouri. In 2011, Mizzou had 19 recruits, and in 2010, only 17.
The team added a needed defensive tackle
A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that will typically line up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the offensive guards, however he may also line up opposite one of the tackles. Defensive tackles are typically the la ...
, DeQuinton Osborne on May 31, 2013, but MU has not officially announced Osborne's addition to the recruiting class.
Four recruits of the 20 (listed in the recruit section below) left the program for various reasons. Freshman offensive tackle Harneet Gill left the Missouri football team three days into preseason camp after deciding he had “lost faith in the plan” to treat his surgically repaired foot and that Mizzou was not “the right fit,” he said. Tailback Chase Abbington (Fort Zumwalt South) and defensive lineman Antar Thompson (Maplewood Richmond Heights) both failed to qualify academically and enrolled in junior college. Duron Singleton, a safety from Fresno City, CA, Community College, was expected to transfer and arrive last week, but Pinkel announced Thursday that Singleton wasn't joining the program, citing undisclosed “personal reasons.”
Schedule
Mizzou Tigers, schedule, as of December 8, 2013 (Retrieved: December 8, 2013)
Recruits for 2013
Honors
On December 9, 2013,
defensive end Michael Sam was named the
SEC Defensive Player of the Year by the
Associated Press, and was also a unanimous first-team All-SEC selection. Before the bowl season starts, Sam led the SEC with 10.5 sacks and 18 tackles for loss. Offensive tackle
Justin Britt
Justin Britt (born May 29, 1991) is an American football center who is a free agent. He was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the second round of the 2014 NFL Draft. He played college football at Missouri.
Early life
Britt attended Lebanon ...
was also named to the first-team AP all-conference, as was
defensive lineman
In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numbe ...
Kony Ealy, and
cornerback E.J. Gaines.
Wide receiver Dorial Green-Beckham
Dorial Isaiah Green-Beckham (born April 12, 1993) is a former American football wide receiver. He was drafted by the Tennessee Titans in the second round of the 2015 NFL Draft and played college football at Missouri until he was dismissed from ...
and
linebacker Andrew Wilson were named to the second-team list. Defensive end
Markus Golden
Markus Golden (born March 13, 1991) is an American football outside linebacker for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Missouri and was drafted by the Cardinals in the second round of the 20 ...
made the honorable mention list. Ealy had the strongest finish to the regular season of any Mizzou defender and heads into bowl season with 7.5 sacks, 12.5 tackles for loss, a team-best 14 hurries and three forced fumbles, the most among all SEC defensive lineman. Gaines finished the regular season with 68 tackles and a team-best four interceptions. In the December 7 loss to Auburn in the SEC title game, he picked up a fumble forced by Ealy, and returned it for a touchdown. He also earned first-team All-Big 12 honors as a sophomore in
2011
File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...
. With a huge game against Auburn, Green-Beckham now shares the team lead with 55 catches for 850 yards and a team-best 12 touchdowns. Wilson leads Mizzou in tackles for a third straight season with 98, matching his 2011 total. Coach
Gary Pinkel is one of eight finalists for the
Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year award.
Michael Sam named a
Walter Camp Football Foundation First-Team All-American, the seventh for Coach Pinkel in his 13 years at Mizzou, and the first on the defensive side for Mizzou since
Justin Smith in 2000.
Rankings
Missouri cracked the AP poll (#25) on October 6, for the first time since the second week of the
2011 season when it was ranked #21.
Missouri jumped nine slots to #5 in the AP poll on October 19, after their 36–17 win over #22
Florida. The #5 ranking is Missouri's highest since reaching No. 3 in 2008 at 5–0 before a home loss to Oklahoma State. They debuted at #5 in th
BCS standings
They reached #5 again on the AP poll on Nov. 24, after beating #24 Ole Miss, 24–10, at Oxford the day before, and stayed at #5 on all four polls after beating Texas A&M on Nov. 30. The Tigers fell to #9 after its 42–59 loss to the
Auburn Tigers
The Auburn Tigers are the athletic teams representing Auburn University, a public four-year coeducational university located in Auburn, Alabama, United States. The Auburn Tigers compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...
in the
2013 SEC Championship Game
The 2013 SEC Championship Game was a college football game that was played on Saturday, December 7, 2013 in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia, with the kickoff at 4:12pm ET. The 22nd annual SEC Championship Game, determined the 2013 champion o ...
on December 7, ending its bid for a possible trip to the
BCS National Championship Game. The 2013 Tigers team is the fourth in the past seven years to reach double-digits in wins, with the previous time a 10–3 record in 2010. Missouri ended the SEC season with an 11–2 record. Mizzou extended its nation-leading streak of games forcing a takeaway to 43 consecutive games. Mizzou has jumped on top of opposing teams on the scoreboard all season, only trailing at the half for the second time this season vs. Auburn. The 8th ranked (
BCS) Tigers were invited to and accepted an invitation to the
78th Cotton Bowl against the (10–2) #13-ranked
Oklahoma State Cowboys on January 3, 2014, 7pm CT, to be televised on
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
. The Cotton Bowl appearance will mark Mizzou's 11th New Year's Day (or later) bowl game in program history, and its first since playing in the
2008 Cotton Bowl
The 2008 AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 2008, at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas, USA. The Cotton Bowl Classic was part of the 2007 NCAA Division I FBS football season and one of 32 games in th ...
against the
Arkansas Razorbacks. The invitation is a reward for an outstanding season which saw the Tigers post one of the top turnaround years in the nation, going from 5–7 in 2012 to 11–2 – a 6-1/2 game improvement. This is MU's 30th alltime bowl appearance. The Tigers will be making their third appearance in the tradition-rich game. Mizzou rolled to a 38–7 win over Arkansas in the 2008 game, as TB
Tony Temple
Tony Temple (born September 13, 1985) is a former starting running back for the Missouri Tigers football team representing the University of Missouri. Temple played for the Tigers from 2004 to 2007. He entered the 2008 NFL Draft, but was not c ...
rushed for a Cotton Bowl-record 281 yards and four touchdowns against the 25th-ranked Razorbacks. That win closed a stellar season for Mizzou, who finished with a 12–2 record and a school-best final ranking of 4th in the final polls. Mizzou's other appearance in the Cotton Bowl was back in 1946, when Texas claimed a 40–27 victory.
Coaching staff
Henson expected to take over as Missouri's offensive coordinator
Source: ''2013 Mizzou Football Roster'' (coaches)
Roster
SUMMER 2013
(as of August 30, 2013)
References
{{Missouri Tigers football navbox
Missouri
Missouri Tigers football seasons
Cotton Bowl Classic champion seasons
Missouri Tigers football
The Missouri Tigers football program represents the University of Missouri (often referred to as Mizzou) in college football and competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
Missouri's ...