Missouri seniors prove adept at bowling
This year’s senior class has seen a transformation in bowl expectations at MU.
Published Dec. 30, 2009
Kurtis Gregory knows it wasn’t always this easy.
Over the course of this decade, bowl expectations at Missouri have changed from a bowl trip being a luxury to a presumed outcome.
“When I first got here, we were just hoping to get to one,” said Gregory, a senior right guard. “Now we expect to go to one. “
When Missouri takes the field against Navy in the Texas Bowl on Thursday at Reliant Stadium, it will be the fifth straight bowl appearance for the Tigers, a school record.
For Gregory and his fellow seniors, this will be their fourth-consecutive bowl game, making them only the third senior class in Missouri history to play in a bowl all four years.
Combined with a Missouri record 38 wins over the past four years (which could be pushed to 39 with a win over Navy), the string of bowl trips will be the legacy of this year’s senior class.
“The past five years we made it to a bowl; that’s amazing,” senior linebacker Sean Weatherspoon said. “That shows we’re making great strides. We’re trying to keep that going. Each year we want to be better and get a better bowl game and keep working up the ladder.”
Looking at Missouri football’s past, that recent run of success might make it that much sweeter.
After playing in the 1983 Holiday Bowl against BYU, Missouri suffered through a 14-year dry spell from postseason play. The Tigers made another appearance in the Holiday Bowl in 1997, losing to Colorado State. Since then, the Tigers have made seven bowls and won four of their last six.
As Missouri’s seniors play their last game in Tiger black and gold, the responsibility of continuing the postseason run shifts to the younger players on the roster.
“(The younger players) just know that the bar has been raised by winning,” Gregory said. “They’ve got to keep going. Seven wins (in a season) isn’t going to be looked at as acceptable, or six wins.”
The opportunity to continue postseason success is not something sophomore wide receiver Wes Kemp takes lightly.
“We’re trying to make that a tradition here, keep on going to a bowl year after year,” Kemp said. “We’re not trying recess and go back to the past ways that we used to be.”
Weatherspoon said younger players need to realize the privilege of going to a bowl.
“I think when I look around the country and see teams that don’t get to go to a bowl it kind of sends the message,” Weatherspoon said.
Regardless of whether this run continues for the Tigers, it has certainly left a mark in the Missouri record book. But for now, Gregory isn’t necessarily soaking in the success.
“It’s kinda cool,” Gregory said. “I don’t really think about it too much right now, but I’m sure down the road a little ways when I get done with it I’ll look back and realize that.”
After all, the work isn’t done. There’s still one thing left the senior Tigers want to accomplish: beat Navy.