Crowd boosts Tigers in mistake-plagued win

The team needed an extra boost to get their fourth victory.

By Nick Forrester

Published Sept. 22, 2008

In the first two home games this season, Missouri did not need its home-field advantage to help them win. That was not the case this weekend, as Missouri relied heavily on the 65,566 fans at Faurot Field to avoid an upset against the Buffalo Bulls.

"Our fans are great," senior defensive tackle Ziggy Hood said. "When we needed them, they were there. The louder they got, the worse that it got for Buffalo's offense. It was energizing the entire defense to get out there and get the stop."

The Missouri offense lacked its usual swagger until the end of the game, allowing three fumbles against a stringy Buffalo defense. Because of the fumbles, it was up to the defense to make sure the Bulls did not take the advantage.

"It's always good to have some adversity," senior linebacker Brock Christopher said. "No matter how good of a team you are, no matter how many good players you have, you're always going to have some. We got a good feel for that today, and it was good for us to have our backs to the wall. It was a good learning experience for the whole team."

Holding a narrow 20-14 lead at halftime, the defense came out in the second half jumping up and down and waving their arms to try and get the crowd involved. It seemingly worked, because Buffalo fumbled the ball early in the drive.

"The crowd was great today," junior linebacker Sean Weatherspoon said. "It really helped us out when it came down to crunch time."

In the fourth quarter, the crowd fired up the offense by making a wave that went around the stadium three times. Senior quarterback Chase Daniel responded to the crowd by hitting sophomore receiver Jeremy Maclin in the middle of the field for a 36-yard pass.

"It didn't have a huge impact on our play call," Daniel said. "We just go in there with scripted plays and go and try and move the football as best we can."

Later in the drive, Daniel connected with senior tight end Chase Coffmann for a touchdown to take a 40-21 lead. The final score was 42-21.

The Bulls were forced to call timeout multiple times because they could not call a play. On several other occasions, they committed false start or delay of game penalties.

"Our fans are unbelievable," Daniel said. "They had a very big impact, especially when Buffalo's offense was on the field. (Buffalo quarterback Drew) Willy was trying to check blitzes, and they couldn't get it called."