David Ubben of ESPN.com was asked what his top five favorite game atmospheres in 2010 were and, as a Big 12 blogger, he was very nice to the Missouri Tigers including them twice on this list (both well-deserved).
Top billing was Texas A&M vs. Nebraska followed by Missouri vs. Oklahoma at Faurot Field. Oklahoma was, at the time, the No. 1 team in the country. Mizzou took the opening kick off back and it was on from there.
A record-breaking 18,000 fans showed up to ESPN's pregame show, "College GameDay," that morning, and a sellout crowd was raucous from start to finish later that night. Gahn McGaffie's touchdown return on the opening kick sent Faurot Field over the top, and Missouri stayed undefeated with a 36-27 win over the Sooners and celebrated with a field-storming of their own and a chance to take the goal posts back to Harpo's in downtown Columbia to be sliced up with hacksaws and distributed to fans.
That's the good. The bad is Missouri-Nebraska where the Huskers whipped the Tigers and their undefeated season.
Nebraska gets credit for one quarter, but that's all it took to KO Missouri in the de facto Big 12 North championship game. The crowd showed up early and was buzzing for the early afternoon kickoff, but the Huskers led 24-0 after one quarter and won 31-17 on the back of a 307-yard rushing day from Roy Helu Jr., who sent the traditional red balloons floating out of Memorial Stadium early with a 66-yard touchdown run on Nebraska's first offensive play.