Picked to finish sixth in its division before the season started, No. 5 Missouri will now play for the SEC championship after rallying for a 28-21 victory Saturday night against No. 19 Texas A&M.
Fittingly, it was junior running back Henry Josey’s 57-yard touchdown burst with 3 minutes, 34 seconds remaining that lifted the Tigers to the win.
No player better epitomized Missouri’s rebound season from last year’s 5-7 disappointment than Josey, who missed the entire 2012 season with a gruesome knee injury.
The Tigers, 11-1 and 7-1 in the SEC, will face Auburn, which upset No. 1 Alabama on a 100-yard field-goal return, on Saturday at the Georgia Dome for the conference title.
Celebrating Senior Day in front of the season’s third sellout crowd (67,124), Missouri trailed at halftime before limiting Texas A&M’s high-powered offense led by limiting Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel to 153 second-half yards on offense.
While Missouri showed flickers of life on offense late in the second quarter, the first half was a disjointed and disappointed 30 minutes on the whole for the nation’s 13th-best scoring offense.
Trailing 14-7 at halftime, Missouri marched 75 yards in seven plays after receiving the opening kickoff for the game-tying touchdown.
One play after senior quarterback James Franklin drilled a 35-yard strike to senior L’Damian Washington on a post route, junior Marcus Murphy trotted into the end zone on a 2-yard touchdown, his ninth of the season.
Murphy returned a punt on A&M’s next drive 31 yards, setting up the Tigers near midfield to the delight of the season’s third sellout crowd (67,124).
Eight plays later, Franklin connected with Washington on a 5-yard fade for the go-ahead touchdown and Missouri’s first lead of the game. The pass originally was ruled incomplete, but was overturned on review.
The Aggies, 8-4 and 4-4 in the SEC, didn’t exactly wilt, tying the game early in the fourth quarter on a 7-yard touchdown run by senior running back Ben Malena.
That score capped a 98-yard march by A&M, but served as a mere prelude to Josey’s heroics.
During the first half, the Aggies broke on top midway through the first quarter when sophomore running back Tra Carson weaved through the Missouri defense on a 29-yard touchdown, sliding from the gasp of senior defensive end Michael Sam and senior safety Matt White on his circuitous route to the end zone.
Meanwhile, the Tigers’ offense was stuck in neutral for the first quarter and a half against a defense that entered played ranked dead last among SEC teams in total defense and ahead of only Kentucky in scoring defense.
Not even redshirt freshman quarterback Maty Mauk’s preplanned, second-quarter series, which came on the heels of a fumbled punt return forced by Morgan Steward and recovered by John Gibson, could get Missouri on track.
Pinned at the 6-yard line, senior quarterback James Franklin seemed to put the game on his shoulders. He had three carries for 19 yards, including a 2-yard sack, and completed all three pass attempts for 67 yards on a game-tying drive.
Franklin floated a 38-yard rainbow touchdown over the top to sophomore Dorial Green-Beckham.
Unfortunately for the Tigers, Manziel and the Aggies had an immediate answer.
Sophomore tailback Brandon Williams broke free for 43 yards on the first play of A&M’s ensuing drive, which ended with a vintage Manziel touchdown toss.
He scrambled from the pocket and, with Sam bearing down from behind, lobbed an off-balance, 32-yard touchdown to senior Derel Walker, restoring the Aggies’ lead.
The score remained 14-7 at halftime when Missouri sophomore Andrew Baggett pushed a 47-yard field-goal try wide right on the final play.
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