1969 Missouri Tigers football team

The 1969 Missouri Tigers football team was an American football team that represented the University of Missouri in the Big Eight Conference (Big 8) during the 1969 NCAA University Division football season. The team compiled a 9–2 record (6–1 against Big 8 opponents), finished in a tie for the Big 8 championship, lost to Penn State in the 1970 Orange Bowl, was ranked No. 6 in the final AP Poll, and outscored opponents by a combined total of 365 to 191. Dan Devine was the head coach for the 12th of 13 seasons.^[1][2] The team played its home games at Memorial Stadium in Columbia, Missouri.

1969 Missouri Tigers football
Big Eight co-champion
Orange Bowl, L 3–10 vs. Penn State
Conference	Big Eight Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 6
AP	No. 6
Record	9–2 (6–1 Big 8)
Head coach	Dan Devine (12th season)
Captains	Sam Adams Jon Staggers
Home stadium	Memorial Stadium
Seasons ← 1968 1970 →

1969 Big Eight Conference football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 6 Missouri +	6	–	1	–	0			9	–	2	–	0
No. 11 Nebraska +	6	–	1	–	0			9	–	2	–	0
No. 16 Colorado	5	–	2	–	0			8	–	3	–	0
Oklahoma	4	–	3	–	0			6	–	4	–	0
Kansas State	3	–	4	–	0			5	–	5	–	0
Oklahoma State	3	–	4	–	0			5	–	5	–	0
Iowa State	1	–	6	–	0			3	–	7	–	0
Kansas	0	–	7	–	0			1	–	9	–	0
+ – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

The team's statistical leaders included Joe Moore with 1,312 rushing yards, Terry McMillan with 1,963 passing yards and 2,157 yards of total offense, Mel Gray with 705 receiving yards, and Henry Brown with 71 points scored.^[3]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 20	Air Force*	No. 11	Memorial Stadium Columbia, MO		W 19–17	55,000
September 27	vs. Illinois*	No. 11	Busch Memorial Stadium St. Louis, MO (rivalry)		W 37–6	48,740
October 4	at No. 13 Michigan*	No. 9	Michigan Stadium Ann Arbor, MI		W 40–17	64,476	[4][5]
October 11	No. 20 Nebraska	No. 7	Memorial Stadium Columbia, MO (rivalry)		W 17–7	60,500
October 18	Oklahoma State	No. 6	Memorial Stadium Columbia, MO		W 31–21	51,000
October 25	at Colorado	No. 5	Folsom Field Boulder, CO		L 24–31	41,886
November 1	No. 12 Kansas State	No. 14	Memorial Stadium Columbia, MO		W 41–38	40,000
November 8	No. 20 Oklahoma	No. 9	Memorial Stadium Columbia, MO (rivalry)	ABC (regional)	W 44–10	60,378
November 15	at Iowa State	No. 8	Clyde Williams Field Ames, IA (rivalry)		W 40–13	53,811
November 22	at Kansas	No. 7	Memorial Stadium Lawrence, KS (Border War)	ABC (regional)	W 69–21	48,474
January 1	vs. No. 2 Penn State*	No. 6	Miami Orange Bowl Miami, FL (Orange Bowl)	NBC	L 3–10	77,282	[6][7][8]
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Game summaries

Michigan

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
• Missouri	0	24	0	16	40
Michigan	3	0	14	0	17

• Date: October 4
• Location: Michigan Stadium, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Scoring summary

1		MICH	Killian 40-yard field goal	MICH 3-0
2		MU	Brown 26-yard field goal	Tied 3-3
2		MU	McBride 2-yard run (Brown kick)	MU 10-3
2		MU	McBride 1-yard run (Brown kick)	MU 17-3
2		MU		MU 24-3
3		MICH	Craw 1-yard run (Titas kick)	MU 24-10
3		MICH	Craw 1-yard run (Titas kick)	MU 24-17
4		MU	Brown 24-yard field goal	MU 27-17
4		MU	Kenemore 8-yard pass from Roper (kick failed)	MU 33-17
4	8:09	MU	Moore 62-yard run (Brown kick)	MU 40-17

Kansas

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
• Missouri	21	7	28	13	69
Kansas	0	7	7	7	21

• Date: November 22
• Location: Memorial Stadium, Lawrence, Kansas
• Game attendance: 50,500

Scoring summary

1		MU	Gray 19-yard run (Brown kick)	MU 7-0
1		MU	Gray 63-yard pass from McMillian (Brown kick)	MU 14-0
1		MU	Staggers 4-yard pass from McMillian (Brown kick)	MU 21-0
2		MU	Gray 26-yard pass from McMillian (Brown kick)	MU 28-0
2		KU	Basler 1-yard run (Bell kick)	MU 28-7
3		MU	Staggers 6-yard pass from McMillian (Brown kick)	MU 35-7
3		MU	Moore 53-yard run (Brown kick)	MU 42-7
3		MU	McMillian 6-yard run (Brown kick)	MU 49-7
3		KU	Brown 38-yard pass from Basler (Bell kick)	MU 49-14
3		MU	McMillian 1-yard run (Brown kick)	MU 56-14
4		KU	Jessie 79-yard pass from Basler (Bell kick)	MU 56-21
4		MU	Staggers 18-yard run (Brown kick)	MU 63-21
4		MU	Farmer 1-yard run (kick failed)	MU 69-21

Terry McMillian broke the Big Eight single-season touchdown pass record of 16 and the single-game school record of Paul Christman. The victory gave Missouri a share of the Big Eight title with Nebraska and a berth in the Orange Bowl.^[9]

Roster

1969 Missouri Tigers football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class QB 18 Terry McMillan Sr WR 21 Mel Gray Jr HB 22 Jon Staggers Sr FB 32 Ron McBride Sr OT 36 Jim Anderson Jr HB 45 Joe Moore Jr TE 48 Tyrone Walls Jr C 53 Bob Wilson Jr OT 71 Larron Jackson Jr	Defense Pos. # Name Class LB 30 Sam Britts So DB 41 Mike Fink So LB 55 Steve Lundholm Sr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class	Head coach Dan Devine Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster

Awards

• All-Big Eight: E Mel Gray, OT Larron Jackson, DT Mark Kuhlmann, S Dennis Poppe
• Missouri Sports Hall of Fame – inducted as a team on January 25, 2015.^[10]

^[11]