Rear-view mirror: Missouri's road to Atlanta

Despite being last year’s SEC East Champs, the Missouri Tigers surprised everyone with another division title run in 2014.

Because of losses to Indiana and Georgia, this wasn’t supposed to happened in the eyes of college football pundits, but the Tigers defied the odds, finished the season on a six-game conference winning streak and earned another trip to Atlanta.

Before Saturday’s kickoff against Alabama, let’s take a look back at Missouri’s journey to the SEC Championship.

Week 1

Opponent-wise, the 2014 schedule started off easy for Missouri with a season-opening matchup against South Dakota State. The Jackrabbits got within three points as late as the third quarter, but a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Marcus Murphy midway through the third quarter followed by a Maty Mauk touchdown in the fourth, sealed the win for Missouri.

Week 2

Viewed as a potential trap game, Missouri traveled to Toledo in the second week of the season. Thanks to Mauk, however, this game wasn’t close for long. Mauk exploded for 325 passing yards and a career-high six total touchdowns in Missouri’s road victory. This game would be one of Missouri’s three games with 500 yards of offense or more.

Week 3

Missouri returned home to face last year’s Fiesta Bowl winner, Central Florida. Mauk followed up his impressive performance against Toledo with another outstanding game against UCF. The sophomore only threw for 144 yards, but he was efficient with four touchdown passes. The key for Missouri was turnovers as the Tigers forced four turnovers in the game as opposed to only losing the ball once.

Week 4

Week 4 — one of the few weeks this season that Missouri fans don’t want to think about. In a stunning upset, the Indiana Hoosiers traveled to Faurot Field and took down Missouri 31-27. Missouri’s defense allowed an unthinkable 503 yards of offense to one of the worst teams in the Big 10 and Indiana won the game in heart-wrenching fashion by scoring the game-winning touchdown with 22 seconds left. Indiana finished the 2014 season with a 4-8 record and a 1-7 mark in conference play.

Week 5

Bouncing back from a tough loss against Indiana would be difficult for Missouri, but the Tigers came through in their SEC opener. On the road against South Carolina, things started off slow for the Tigers’ offense, scoring just seven points through three and a half quarters. But Missouri fought through wide receiver injuries and stormed back in the fourth down 20-7 and scored the game’s final 14 points in the remaining minutes to defeat the Gamecocks.

Week 6

Missouri had its first bye week of the season.

Week 7

After the bye week, Missouri had jumped up to No. 23 in the polls and had an important matchup ahead of them. With how the SEC East had shaken out thus far in the season, the winner of Georgia-Missouri would take a decisive lead in the division. Unfortunately for the Tigers, the players seemingly forgot to show up for this game as Missouri got blown out at home by the Bulldogs, 34-0. Chances of Missouri winning the division looked bleak.

Week 8

The Tigers were rewarded for their blowout loss with a trip to the Swamp to take on the Florida Gators. Missouri, however, took advantage of a shaky quarterback situation for the Gators and recorded four non-offensive touchdowns en route to a 42-13 victory. Marcus Murphy was the MVP of this game with three touchdowns, including two special teams return touchdowns.

Week 9

Missouri welcomed Vanderbilt into town the following week and got the win, but it wasn’t very pretty. The Commodores were winless in the SEC, but they gave Missouri all it could handle in a 24-14 win for the Tigers. A couple of touchdown passes in the second half from Maty Mauk gave Missouri some breathing room.

Week 10

Missouri’s offense continued to struggle against Kentucky, but the Tigers made enough plays against the pesky Wildcats to come away with a 20-10 victory. Mauk was the team’s difference maker, racking up 239 total yards and two touchdowns. Defensively, Missouri shut down Kentucky, holding the Cats to just 258 yards and 2-for-16 on third down conversions.

Week 11

The Tigers had their final bye week of the season.

Week 12

It was at this point in the season that Missouri knew it had to win three straight SEC games in order to win the SEC East. Lose one game and Georgia wins the division. The first matchup of this three game stretch for Missouri was on the road in rainy conditions against Texas A&M. Missouri’s defense shut down an upstart offense led by true freshman quarterback Kyle Allen and Missouri’s offense stepped up, scoring 34 points which was the most since Week 3 against UCF. Russell Hansbrough turned in his best performance of the season with 199 rushing yards and two touchdowns.

Week 13

Things didn’t get easier for Missouri as they traveled to Knoxville, Tenn., to take on Tennessee in a rowdy, night-time Neyland Stadium environment. The hostile crowd didn’t matter to Missouri, who scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to put the Vols away. Tennessee made things interesting with two onside kick attempts in the remaining minutes, but Missouri benefited from a controversial penalty that helped the Tigers retain possession. Senior defensive end Markus Golden recorded two sacks and picked up a crucial fumble recovery. It was Missouri’s 10th straight road win.

Week 14

The final game against Arkansas was truly all-or-nothing for the Tigers. A win clinches their spot in the SEC Championship. It was another slow start for Missouri as the Razorbacks jumped out to a 14-3 by halftime. But missed opportunities by Arkansas kept Missouri in the game and Mauk made the Hogs pay. The Missouri quarterback led two huge fourth-quarter drives to take the lead with a few minutes remaining in the game. Markus Golden came through again on defense, forcing and recovering a fumble by Alex Collins as Arkansas was driving down the field. The fans rushed the field when the clock expired and the Tigers were division champions for the second-straight season.