high 396 total yards and threw five touchdowns passes as Missouri sprinted to a 28-point lead over Mississippi then held on for a 38-25 win.
The Tigers built a halftime lead of 28-7 with four touchdowns and 245 yards passing. Daniel then seemed to put the Rebels away with a 38-yard touchdown pass to Greg Bracey just 1: 12 into the third quarter that gave the Tigers a 35-7 lead.
Daniel's five touchdown passes came on five consecutive series spanning the second and third quarters.
But Ole Miss quarterback Seth Adams led the Rebels' rally, completing 23 of 41 passes for 305 yards and three touchdowns in his second start. His scoring passes of 68 yards to Mike Wallace and 3 yards to Greg Hardy in the third quarter cut Missouri's lead to 38-19.
Stryker Sulak ( 38)
Missouri 40, Illinois 34
Sept. 1, 2007 • St. Louis, Mo.
Chase Daniel threw three touchdown passes, Pig Brown intercepted a pass at the 1 with 51 seconds to play, and Missouri held off Illinois 40-34 in both teams' season opener at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, Mo.
The Tigers scored on a 100-yard fumble return and a 66-yard punt return and were up 37-13 late in the third quarter.
Illinois redshirt freshman quarterback Eddie McGee -- in the game after starter Juice Williams left after a blow to the head in the second quarter -- scored from 16 yards with 4:08 to play in the third quarter to cut the margin to 17.
After Missouri's Danario Alexander fumbled on a double-reverse, McGee hit Kyle Hudson on a 41-yard scoring pass on the next play. The Illini got within three early in the fourth quarter after Daniel fumbled deep in his own territory. Rashard Mendenhall scored from the 4 two plays later to make it 37-34.
Missouri went ahead 40-34 on Jeff Wolfert's 32-yard field goal with 8: 32 to play, then held on.
The Illini had one final shot, taking over
at their 30 with 2: 51 to play and driving to the Missouri 22. But Brown leaped high to intercept McGee’s pass, and Missouri ran out the clock to claim its third straight win over Illinois in St. Louis, matching previous wins in 2002 and 2003.
McGee was 17-for- 31 for 257 yards and a touchdown, but lost two fumbles and was intercepted twice. One of the fumbles came when McGee was inches from scoring on a quarterback draw in the second quarter. Brown scooped up the ball for Missouri and ran 100 yards the other way -- tying an NCAA record in the process for longest fumble return.
Daniel was 37-for- 54 for a career-high 359 yards and threw touchdown passes of 1 yard to Chase Coffman in the first quarter, 2 yards to Will Franklin in the second quarter and 25 yards to Jeremy Maclin in the third quarter.
Maclin also scored on a 66-yard punt return that put Missouri up 37-13 with 6: 11 to play in the third quarter, before the Illini began the comeback.
Ben Jarvis Green-Ellis cut it to 38-25 with a 2-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter. But failed conversions cost Ole Miss 5 points, and the Rebels couldn't overcome their first-half mistakes, including Green-Ellis' fumble at the Missouri 7.
Not only was Daniel efficient, he was quick. All of Missouri's scoring drives lasted less than 3:05, with three coming in under 2 minutes.
Missouri 38, Ole Miss 25
Sept. 8, 2007 • Oxford, Miss.
Chase Daniel accounted for a career-
Missouri 52, Western Michigan 24 Sept. 15, 2007 • Columbia, Mo.
Jeremy Maclin racked up 275 total yards and scored two touchdowns and Tony Temple added two TDs to lead Missouri to a 52-24 win over Western Michigan in Mizzou's 2007 home opener.
Chase Daniel threw for two touchdowns and ran for a third, completing 27 of 46 passes for 328 yards for Missouri.
As it did in season-opening victories against Illinois and Mississippi, Missouri built a big first-half lead, going up 31-3 on the Broncos before withstanding a second-half comeback that briefly cut the lead to 14.
But the Tigers' defense stopped Western Michigan when it counted, including a fourth-and-goal from the 6 midway through the fourth quarter.
Missouri wasted little time at the outset, with Maclin catching a 24-yard touch-
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