Chances are Missouri Tigers fans know what happened the first time MU played Alabama, nearly 50 years ago in the 1968 Gator Bowl: Mizzou vaporized Bear Bryant’s Crimson Tide 35-10, rushing for 402 yards and sacking Scott Hunter 12 times to leave ‘Bama with minus-45 yards rushing and 32 yards of total offense.
Afterward, Bryant told reporters that Missouri “ran up and down the field just as though they were playing a barbers’ college” and “toyed with us like children.”
What he didn’t say — out loud, anyway — and has been obscured by popular folklore is that Missouri’s dominance was pivotal in the integration of Alabama football.