Through the years: Missouri

Auburn’s matchup with No. 19 Missouri on Saturday will mark the fifth meeting all-time between the two programs and the second time in Columbia, MO.

Dating back to 1973, Auburn leads the series 3-1-0, as these two squads of Tigers originally met in the Sun Bowl just over a half-century ago. They didn’t see each other again until the 2013 SEC Championship game in Atlanta, and since then have played two times – in 2017 and 2022 – both of which the orange and blue Tigers came out on top. 

Despite Missouri’s brief time in the Southeastern Conference, it stands as Auburn’s second-least popular SEC opponent, only behind Oklahoma, who the Tigers have faced three times in program history.

Ahead of this weekend’s clash, let’s take a look at the four games ever played between Auburn and Missouri.

December 29, 1973 (Missouri 34-17)

The first edition of the series came in El Paso, TX at the 1973 Sun Bowl, with Ralph “Shug” Jordan leading Auburn into the matchup with a 6-5 record – most recently falling to No. 20 Georgia and No. 1 Alabama in the weeks prior. On the other sideline, Al Onofrio’s Missouri Tigers were seeking to rebound from three straight losses to conclude the season, depleting an impressive 7-1 record to start the year. They quickly retreated to 7-4 – with two AP Top-20 losses in their last three weeks of the regular season – and consequently finished fourth in the Big Eight Conference.

After a scoreless first quarter, Missouri fumbled on their own 49-yard line and was recovered by Auburn, providing Jordan’s Tigers with an excellent opportunity to end the scoring drought. They took a 3-0 lead courtesy of a 35-yard field goal from Roger Pruitt, but an abundance of sloppy turnovers haunted Auburn in the second quarter. Auburn fumbled twice inside its own 35-yard line on back-to-back drives, and Missouri capitalized on both of them with two touchdowns. After regaining control of the ball, Auburn went three-and-out, and Missouri marched right down the field, extending the lead to 21-3 with an easy pass from quarterback Ray Smith to John Kelsey for six. 

Auburn brought in backup quarterback Phil Gargis, and it returned the punch with a quick 80-yard touchdown drive with a few seconds remaining in the first half. Missouri returned the succeeding kickoff to the endzone as time expired, putting the Tigers from Columbia up 28-10.

Although both teams were stagnant in the second half, Missouri ended up with 390 yards of total offense compared to Auburn’s 233 yards. Auburn also got overpowered on the ground, as Missouri produced 295 rushing yards – Auburn only had 113. Missouri running back Ray Bybee ran for 127 yards on 27 carries, playing a large contribution in the 34-17 win over Auburn.

December 7, 2013 (Auburn 59-42)

Nearly 40 years later, No. 3 Auburn (11-1) and No. 5 Missouri (11-1) faced off for the second time in the 2013 SEC Championship game at the Georgia Dome, as Auburn won the SEC West and Missouri emerged as the SEC East champion. This was only Missouri’s second season in the conference, and meanwhile, Auburn had a first-year head coach in Gus Malzahn. Malzahn assisted Auburn to the biggest turnaround in the nation, trying to bounce back from a disappointing 3-9 performance in 2012. Both teams were hoping to carry momentum from the previous weekend, with Auburn coming off of Chris Davis’ 109-yard kick six miracle to propel the Tigers over No. 1 Alabama and Missouri most recently winning a hard-fought battle over No. 19 Texas A&M. The winner of the matchup would likely go on to face Florida State in the BCS National Championship.

This game was nothing short of an offensive masterclass from both sides. Auburn recorded 677 yards of offense – an SEC Championship record – while Missouri posted an impressive 534 total yards. Tre Mason headlined Auburn’s 545-yard rushing effort, pounding the ground for 304 yards and four touchdowns on a whopping 46 carries. He was accompanied by quarterback Nick Marshall, who ran for 101 yards and a touchdown, in addition to 132 yards and one touchdown through the air.

Gary Pinkel’s offense obtained a 3-0 lead with a 42-yard field goal following a Marshall fumble, but Auburn responded with a 38-yard TD pass to Sammie Coates on the very next drive. The two teams continued to trade blows for the rest of the first half with multiple scores from both Tre Mason and Missouri quarterback James Franklin, giving Auburn a narrow 28-27 edge at the intermission.

Following a couple of stalled drives and an Auburn field goal, Missouri regained the lead with a 75-yard touchdown drive – capped off with a short pass to Marcus Murphy in the endzone – to put the Tigers up 34-31 in the closing stages of the third quarter. This was the last lead that Missouri would possess, as Auburn’s scary stable of running backs came alive in the fourth quarter. The final four touchdowns were all scored on the ground by three different guys – Corey Grant, Cameron Artis-Payne, and Mason. Despite allowing 42 points, the Auburn defense sealed the game via a massive stop on 4th & 1 at Missouri’s own 13-yard line, securing the program’s eighth SEC Championship.

Auburn went on to drop a heartbreaker to Florida State in the 2014 BCS National Championship, while Missouri topped Oklahoma State in the AT&T Cotton Bowl.

September 23, 2017 (Auburn 51-14)

This game acted as the first on-campus matchup of the series, and No. 15 Auburn (2-1, 0-0) won handily. Gus Malzhan was searching to build some momentum after a tough loss at Clemson in week two, and Missouri (1-2, 0-1) aimed to do the same after extremely poor performances against South Carolina and Purdue in the weeks prior. 

After Auburn showed uncharacteristic struggles on the offensive side of the ball versus Clemson and Mercer, the Tigers got back on track with 482 total yards and no turnovers – they had five turnovers in their win over Mercer the game before. However, Missouri was the opposite, as it proved to still lack a strong defense. Barry Odom’s defense was ranked 103rd in FBS and last in the SEC coming into the game, and it was the same story against Auburn.

Just like the last meeting between these two teams in 2013, an Auburn running back proved to be game-changing. Kerryon Johnson had missed the previous two games due to a hamstring issue, but he returned in dominant fashion with a career-high five touchdowns. Johnson punched into the endzone four times in a row early in the game, putting his team up 28-0 midway through the second quarter, and scored his fifth a few minutes into the third. All of his touchdowns were on runs that were seven yards or less, so although he generated five of them, he only racked up 48 yards on 18 touches. 

Auburn found itself up 51-7 in Columbia with 13:24 remaining in the game before Missouri quarterback Drew Lock found J’Mon Moore in the endzone to finally reach double digits. Missouri produced 340 yards of total offense in the game, including 216 yards passing, but four turnovers demonstrated to be costly mistakes that exhausted multiple drives. 

The contest ended 51-14 in favor of Auburn – a win that kicked off a memorable season for the Tigers and began paving the way to another SEC Championship game berth later in the year.

September 24, 2022 (Auburn 17-14)

The fourth chapter of this series saw a much sloppier performance, especially late in the game. Bryan Harsin was in his second season at the helm for Auburn while it was Eli Drinkwitz’s third campaign with Missouri, and both teams came into the matchup with a 2-1 record looking for their first SEC win of the season.

Auburn quickly jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter thanks to rushing touchdowns from quarterback Robby Ashford and running back Tank Bigsby. Heading into halftime, Missouri returned the favor with two touchdowns of its own from Brady Cook and Cody Schrader – also a duo of quarterback and running back – to even the score at 14.

They stayed knotted at 14-14 for the remainder of regulation, as every drive of the second half, except two, concluded in a punt. Fast forwarding to the end of the fourth quarter, Auburn faced a 4th & 1 at the Missouri 29-yard line with 1:31 remaining. Instead of kicking a potential game-winning field goal, Harsin decided to take a risk and go for it, ultimately resulting in a failed rush attempt by Bigsby that handed the football right back over to Missouri.

It took Missouri nine plays to move 62 yards down to the Auburn eight, setting up a chip-shot 26-yard field goal that could seal the win. Harrison Melvis pushed it to the right, despite perfect position directly in the middle of the field, and the game continued.

Overtime was nothing short of dramatic. Auburn received the ball first, and after three plays, an Anders Carlson missed 44-yard field goal was reinstated due to an offside penalty on Missouri. Carlson made his second attempt from 39 yards out and nailed it, putting Auburn up 17-14.

Now it was Missouri’s turn; after a short five-yard gain on first down, Nathaniel Peat fumbled the ball as he was trotting into the endzone and was recovered by Auburn’s Cayden Bridges for a touchback. It was reviewed and confirmed that Peat lost control of the ball just inches from breaking the plane in what would have been a game-ending touchdown. Auburn somehow found a way to hold on and escape victorious.