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Missouri Postgame Notes
The No. 8 Mizzou Tigers claimed the school’s second-ever Cotton Bowl Classic championship with its 41-31 victory over No. 13 Oklahoma State on Friday, Jan. 3, 2014. It was Missouri’s third all-time appearance in the bowl, with the Tigers winning for the first time since the 2008 game (38-7 vs. Arkansas).
Head coach Gary Pinkel became Mizzou's all-time winningest coach with the Cotton Bowl victory. Through 13 seasons, Pinkel holds a 102-63 record, moving past legendary Don Faurot, who won 101 games from 1935-42, 46-56.
The 2013 Mizzou team has won a program-best 12 games for the second time ever, with its 12-2 season record matching the 2007 Tigers’ 12-2 mark.
The Tigers recorded their second consecutive bowl victory after winning the 2011 Independence Bowl over North Carolina by a score of 41-24.
With the victory, Mizzou improved to 29-23 all-time vs. Oklahoma State, a former conference foe from the Big Eight and Big 12.
This season’s Tiger squad is the fourth team in the last seven years at Mizzou to reach double-digit victory totals, as the Tigers went 12-2 in 2007, 10-4 in 2008, 10-3 in 2010 and this year’s final 12-2 mark.
Mizzou extended its nation-leading streak of games forcing a takeaway to 44 games when senior CB E.J. Gaines intercepted OSU QB Clint Chelf at 6:08 1Q, returning the ball from the MU 48-yard line to the 50-yard line. The pickoff was Gaines’ team-leading fifth of the season and the eighth of his career.
Senior LB Andrew Wilson’s seventh tackle early in 3Q action was his 324th career tackle and a special milestone, as it pushed his career tally past his father, Jay Wilson, who finished his time at Mizzou (1980-83) as the school’s career leader in tackles with 323 stops.
Wilson finished with 15 tackles, the most in a bowl game for Mizzou since current Atlanta Falcons LB Sean Weatherspoon brought in 17 vs. Northwestern in the 2008 Alamo Bowl.
Junior TB Marcus Murphy unleashed a season-best 38-yard punt return during 1Q action, besting his previous long of 31 yards from the 28-21 win vs. Texas A&M (Nov. 30).
Junior TB Henry Josey scored three times on the ground for Mizzou, first with a 3-yard scoring run at 3:00 1Q and followed by a 25-yard scoring run at 11:32 4Q, moving his career rushing touchdown total to 31. The mark ranks fourth in school history. His 16 rushing scores in 2013 ranks sixth all-time on the single-season list.
Redshirt freshman QB Maty Mauk ripped off a 35-yard scramble during 2Q action for the longest rush of his first season in the Black & Gold. He nearly matched the run on the very next play with a 34-yard scramble.
With his last-minute strip of Clint Chelf that resulted in the game-clinching score, senior DE Michael Sam finished the year with 11.5 sacks to tie Aldon Smith’s 2009 single-season Mizzou record.
Shane Ray’s scoop-and-score off of Sam’s sack was Mizzou’s first defensive touchdown in a bowl game since current Atlanta Falcons FS William Moore scored a pick-sick in Mizzou’s last Cotton Bowl appearance in 2008.
