Tigers go bowlin’ again; face Gamecocks in Independence Bowl
For the 2nd time in 3 seasons under Head Coach Gary Pinkel, the Missouri Tigers are playing in a post-season bowl game when they take on the South Carolina Gamecocks (7-4 overall, 5-3 in the SEC East) in the Independence Bowl, set for Friday, December 30th at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, La.
This will be Carolina’s first visit to the Independence Bowl, while Missouri will be making its second trip to Shreveport for this event. The Tigers fell 27-14 to Arkansas in the 2003 Independence Bowl. This is just the second meeting ever between these two state universities. Missouri won the only other meeting, taking the 1979 Hall of Fame Bowl game by a 24-14 score.
The 2005 Independence Bowl will mark Carolina’s 12th bowl 
appearance overall and the Gamecocks first bowl appearance since the 2001 season when they defeated Ohio State, 31-28, in the Outback Bowl. Carolina is 3-8 all-time in bowl games, but has won each of its last three bowl games, topping West Virginia, 24-21 in the 1995 Carquest Bowl, before posting back-to-back Outback Bowl wins over Ohio State in 2001 and 2002.
The post-season feat is no small accomplishment for Mizzou, as the bowl appearance will mark only the 4th for the Tiger program since 1983. Mizzou’s last bowl game also came at the Independence Bowl, but the Tigers hope to produce a better end result this time, as MU lost to Arkansas in the 2003 MainStay Independence Bowl by a 27-14 score.
Each school tied for 2nd place in their respective divisions. Mizzou was picked to finish 4th in the Big 12 North this season, according to the pre-season Associated Press poll. For universities that reside in towns of identical names (Columbia, Mo. and Columbia, S.C.), Mizzou and South Carolina have hardly any history together in the sport of football.
