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Missouri Caps Magical Season With Cotton Rout

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By JAIME ARON, The Associated Press

Published: January 2, 2008

DALLAS - Hey, BCS: Still think Missouri isn't good enough?

The guys from the Show-Me State made their case for having deserved a chance in one of the elite bowl games, routing Darren McFadden and Arkansas 38-7 Tuesday in the Cotton Bowl to cap a magical season with quite an exclamation point.

The biggest surprise is that the emphasis came from running back Tony Temple, not quarterback Chase Daniel, a Heisman Trophy finalist like McFadden.

Temple, a 5-foot-9 senior who is often overlooked in Missouri's pass-heavy offense, broke longstanding Cotton Bowl records with 281 yards and four touchdowns. Both records fell on his last run, a spinning, tackle-breaking, 40-yarder into the end zone.

Daniel and a lineman celebrated by carrying Temple back to the sideline, adding to the delight of a black-and-gold throng enjoying the program's first New Year's Day game since 1970.

Mizzou (12-2) was ranked No. 1 after beating Kansas in the regular-season finale, then lost badly to Oklahoma in the Big 12 title game - so badly that the Jayhawks wound up with an at-large berth into the Orange Bowl.

The No. 7 Tigers claimed to have gotten over the snub, hyping Dallas as a great destination for recruiting and because it's home to their second-largest alumni base. Still, their performance suggested a team with something to prove.

Arkansas, meanwhile, played like a team ready to move on to next season.

The No. 25 Razorbacks (8-5) made a horrible first impression on incoming coach Bobby Petrino, from the defense allowing the most yards rushing by a single player to the sloppiness of five turnovers - an interception that was returned for a touchdown and four fumbles, one by a defensive lineman and another by a punt returner who tried catching the ball with his back to the play inside his 10-yard line.

McFadden ran 21 times for 105 yards and a TD, pushing his single-season total to 1,830 yards and his career total to 4,590, but didn't play the final quarter. Both totals are school records and second to Herschel Walker in SEC history.

Daniel was 12 of 29 for 136 yards with an interception. It was his fewest yards of the season and his second straight game without a TD pass.

Then again, the way Temple was running, the Tigers didn't need to throw it. Temple broke the Cotton Bowl rushing record of 265 yards set by Rice's Dicky Maegle in 1954.

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