Missouri quarterback James Franklin passes against Vanderbilt in the first quarter of an NCAA college football game in Nashville.Missouri senior quarterback James Franklin missed four starts this season due to a separated shoulder, but he knows things could have been much worse.
“It was definitely frustrating having to watch on the sideline, because I wanted to be out there,” Franklin said. “At the same time, it was good to see us still winning.”
The Tigers are making their first appearance in the SEC championship game partly because of the way they played after Franklin was hurt with less than 11 minutes remaining in their 41-26 upset win at Georgia on Oct. 12. Redshirt freshman Maty Mauk was able to help finish off the Bulldogs and then led the Tigers to wins over Florida, Tennessee and Kentucky.
Mauk’s lone blemish was a 27-24 double-overtime loss to South Carolina on Oct. 26, a game the Tigers led 17-0 in the fourth quarter.
“For him to be able to come in and play at that level and keep our team going and our offense playing at a consistently high level — not a great level but a high level — was critical for us,” Missouri coach Gary Pinkel said. “We didn’t have our starting quarterback in the SEC for one third of the season, and for him to maintain that consistency was really, really important for us.”