October 6th – at Missouri           Missouri 52, Colorado 7

The Missouri Tigers posted their sixth consecutive win over the Buffs in fine fashion, routing the Buffs in Columbia. The loss to his alma mater had to be that much harder for head coach Bill McCartney, as the Tigers continued their domination of his new team.

Missouri scores against McCartney’s 1982-84 Buffs: 35-14, 59-20, and 52-7.

Missouri came into the game 1-3, but the record was deceiving. The Tigers’ three losses had come by a total of only nine points, including a 16-14 defeat by Notre Dame. The Tigers would have defeated the Irish (the same Irish who had routed the Buffs 55-14) had kicker Brad Burditt been successful on a 39-yard field goal attempt with only seven seconds left in the game.

If there was any justice, Colorado’s first appearance on regional television since 1978 would have been blacked out. Even the Missouri faithful were not interested in the rout. After hosting over 70,000 for Notre Dame the weekend before, Faurot Field drew only 38,662, for the Colorado game, the smallest Missouri home crowd in 21 years.

Lee Rouson did have his second 100+ yard game of the season, rushing for 109 yards on 19 carries. Rouson’s effort was more productive than Colorado career passing leader Steve Vogel, who passed for only 105 yards on 9-for-21 passing. Vogel also threw two interceptions before being yanked for junior quarterback Craig Keenan. Keenan was only marginally more successful, passing for 85 yards, completing six-of-ten attempts.

Up 24-0 at halftime, the only questions for the Missouri crowd ponder for the second half were: 1) would Colorado score at all?, and 2) how many records could the Tigers run up? The answers: 1) yes, but only after the score had been run up to 45-0, and 2) several. Missouri posted the most yards rushing, 516, and the most total yards, 639, had ever achieved against the Buffs in a series which dated back to 1930.

Colorado was now 0-5. Dissension was starting to creep in. Lee Rouson was openly frustrated about the inability of offensive line to open holes. Boulder Daily Camera Sports Editor Dan Creedon, only half in jest, entitled his column after the game: “Can Buffs drop MU off schedule?”

Iowa State was next. The 2-3 Cyclones represented one of only three remaining realistic opportunities for wins. A member of the Colorado athletic department was quoted while walking off the field after the Missouri game: “Well, at least we can look forward to Iowa State next week.” followed by: “But, then, I guess Iowa State is looking forward to playing us.”

Game Notes:

– Missouri had 516 yards rushing against Colorado in the 1984 game. While not close to the 758 yards rushing Oklahoma had against Colorado in 1980, no team has come close to rushing for 500 yards against Colorado since (Nebraska came the closest, with 417 yards rushing against the Buffs in 1987).

– Missouri also had 639 yards of total offense against the Buffs. It took 25 years, but it took a Toledo team in 2009 to surpass that total (624 in a 54-38 rout).

– Freshman fullback Eric McCarty had the only Colorado score. His 40-yard run was the longest run by a Buff all season.

– The good news: Colorado had its high rushing output of the season against Missouri. The bad news: it was only 134 yards.

– As CU at the Gamer Paul notes in the comments … While the 1984 win for Missouri was the sixth in a row for the Tigers, it was also the last victory for Missouri with Bill McCartney as the Buffs’ head coach. Coach Mac ran off ten straight wins against his alma mater, with the string of Buff victories stretching to twelve before the Tigers would earn their next win in the series, in 1997.

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One Reply to “Missouri – Coach Mac falls to 0-3 against his alma mater”

  1. Here’s another note for you to add: this was the last time that Missouri beat us when Bill McCartney was the Buffs’ head coach.

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