HOUSTON • Missouri assistant coach Joe Jon Finley grew up in a football family in the state of Texas, but he can vividly remember the first time burnt orange and the team that wears it most famously made him sick.
“Absolutely,” he said. “I haven’t liked Texas since seventh grade when my brother played them at Nebraska in the Big 12 championship.”
Clint Finley was a safety for the Cornhuskers team that beat the Longhorns in the 1999 Big 12 title bout. Joe Jon’s revulsion for all things UT only intensified during his four-year playing career at Oklahoma, where the tight end’s Sooners were 2-2 against their longtime rival in the Red River Shootout.
Shortly after the Texas Bowl’s pairing was announced earlier this month — Mizzou and Texas kick off at 8 p.m. Wednesday at Houston’s NRG Stadium — Tigers coach Barry Odom couldn’t help notice half his staff played or coached at Oklahoma, where they learned to loathe the Longhorns. For weeks the staff office was humming with talk about toppling Texas.
“Every minute of the day,” Odom said. “It’s awesome. Everyone uses motivation different ways.”
When it comes to Wednesday’s Big 12 reunion game between the Tigers (7-5) and Longhorns (6-6), it’s impossible to overlook the 17 years they shared in the Big 12 Conference — and the eventual unraveling that saw four schools escape the league from June 2010 to November 2011. From its unsteady union in the 1990s to mounting revenue inequalities, fueled by the launch of ESPN’s Longhorn Network, the Big 12’s simmering tension turned into revolt, leaving the league with four fewer members. Nebraska and Colorado left first, soon followed by Texas A&M and Missouri.
The oldest Missouri players on Odom’s roster were juniors in high school when MU announced plans to depart the Big 12 for the Southeastern Conference. For those too young to remember, Odom planned to refresh the story before Wednesday’s game.
“We know the history of why we came to the SEC,” senior defensive end Marcell Frazier said Tuesday. “That’s pretty national. I know why (Missouri) left and all that good stuff that goes with that. Basically all four teams that left had a gripe with those guys (at Texas). It’ll be nice to see who progressed since the division.”
Mizzou and Texas last met in 2011, when Gary Pinkel’s Tigers scored their first win over the Longhorns, 17-5 in Columbia, since 1997. Since that season, the Tigers are 44-32, while Texas is 39-36.
Mid-tier bowl games like the Texas Bowl don’t always generate the same level of enthusiasm from their participants, but both teams arrived last Friday embracing the stakes. With a victory Wednesday, the Longhorns can clinch their first winning season since 2013.
“I mean, (the players) haven’t been in a bowl game in three years, so if that doesn’t excite you as a player, then you probably need to quit football and go do something else,” first-year Texas coach Tom Herman said. “Go join a club or something like that. … I think winning this game will be important for us in terms of momentum. It’s not life or death, but we sure as heck could use this to springboard us into the offseason for 2018.”
Some Texas players have already made that transition into the offseason. Offensive tackle Connor Williams and safety DeShon Elliott will skip Wednesday’s game and enter the NFL draft instead of returning to Texas next season. Junior linebacker Malik Jefferson, the Big 12’s co-defensive player of the year, has considered doing the same while nursing a turf toe injury. Herman said Tuesday he doesn’t expect Jefferson to play against the Tigers.
“But I’m hoping for a miracle,” he said.
Last week, Herman suspended three players for the game for breaking team rules, including sophomore wideout Lil’Jordan Humphrey, UT’s second-leading receiver.
While Herman short on players, Odom is short on coaches. Earlier this month, offensive coordinator Josh Heupel left the staff for the head-coaching job at Central Florida and took offensive line coach Glen Elarbee with him. Offensive analyst Jon Cooper, another former Sooners player and coach, is the de-facto O-line coach until newly hired Brad Davis takes over full-time after the bowl game. Finley will call plays as Odom’s coordinator against Texas.
Otherwise, the Tigers appreciate their roster stability compared to Wednesday’s opponent.
“We know in the past we’ve had guys suspended and all the drama that goes with it,” Frazier said. “That’s probably a lot of distractions for them, but we’re feeling good. We’re really focused. Everybody’s bought in. It’s just the Texas Bowl, but we’re treating it like the national championship. We’re excited to be here.”
For the Tigers, a win would make them just the second team in major college football history to recover from a 1-5 start and finish with eight victories. The Tigers rode into Houston on a six-game winning streak but reached seven wins without beating another bowl team. Beating Texas, albeit a Longhorns team missing several key players, could help validate the Tigers’ progress in Odom’s second year.
“I think it looks good on paper, beating a UT brand, beating Florida, beating Tennessee all in the same year,” Frazier said. “Historically they’re not having amazing years, but … it might be a pride thing. Maybe I can tell my kids, ‘I beat Texas, Florida and Tennessee in the same year.’”