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| The King & I with Superfan Chris Coats |
We parked the car on the street around 4PM. We proceeded to walk over to Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium where the Tigers play football. We had plenty of time before the 6PM kickoff as the Tigers were hosting the Syracuse Orange.
We lucked out as a few people gave us free tickets to the game. We went inside and walked around since we had a lot of time to kill before the game started.
We were joined by Chris Coats aka Superfan. Chris not only roots for the Kansas City Royals but he's likes the Missouri Tigers because he lives in Missouri. He got out of work at 4PM and he drove an hour and a half to Columbia so he can join us for the Mizzou game. He had a ticket in section D row 58 that he bought for $20 from someone he knew.
The King and I decided to hang out by his seat. We found some room on an empty bench right behind him so we were able to watch the game together. It worked out beautifully.
As for the game we saw, the Missouri Tigers got off to a fast start. They lead 14-3 after the first quarter. They extended their lead to 17-3 almost midway through the second quarter. The Orange of Syracuse scored a touchdown with 3:05 left in the half to cut the Tigers' lead to 17-10 as running back Prince-Tyson Gulley ran in from a yard out.
After a scoreless third quarter, the Orange evened the score at 17 as wide receiver Alec Lemon caught a 13 yard touchdown pass 46 seconds into the fourth quarter. The Tigers came roaring back as they regained the lead, 24-17 as running back Kendial Lawrence ran in from three yards out with 7:07 left in the game. The Orange answered right back with 5:33 left as running back Jerome Smith ran in from eight yards out to tie the game again at 24. The Tigers went back ahead as their kicker Andrew Baggett booted a 46 yard field goal with 1:52 left to give the Tigers a 27-24 lead. After getting the ball back at their own 19 yard line, Syracuse went down the field and they stunned the crowd as they got the game winning touchdown with 20 seconds to go as wide receiver Alec Lemon caught a 17 yard pass for the winning score. They converted a first down on 4th and 10 along the way too. Quite amazingly, Lemon was wide open as he literally walked into the end zone untouched as the Orange tamed the Tigers, 31-27. As a result, the Orange are bowl bound.
It should be noted that Alec Lemon finished the game with 12 catches for 244 yards. What a performance.
After the game, Chris joined us for some post game festivities. We wound up going to Shakespeare's Pizza which is located in downtown Columbia. My former co-worker, Glenn Berk highly recommended it. It turned out to be as good as advertised.
We all shared a pepperoni pie that was made to order. It tasted really good. In addition, we had a great time catching up on our recent road trips.
I want to personally thank Chris for joining us. We thoroughly enjoyed his company.
Stay tuned for another special post as the trip continued on Sunday in St. Louis.
Thank you for reading and following.
Yours truly,
Gary Herman
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