Mizzou is located in Columbia, Missouri, and is almost equidistant from St. Louis and Kansas City. The rivalry with Kansas dates back to pre-civil war days, making it the oldest college rivalry west of the Mississippi.
Mizzou owes the homecoming tradition to former football coach Chester Brewer who in 1911 invited alumni to "come home" for the annual rivalry game against the University of Kansas.
Around campus the buildings are decorated with Mizzou's black and gold colors. Here is a giant tiger tail coming out of the student bookstore.
Homecoming decorations don't just stay on campus. Students are welcomed to paint the storefront windows downtown.
Here's more proof this is a proud college town.
The night before the homecoming game, Mizzou's Greek Town unveils their "house decs," an elaborate handmade background used for pep rally skits.
Impressively, the house decs are largely made out of construction paper that's tightly rolled and glued to the board. After Homecoming, some of these designs are burned in a celebratory bonfire.
Hours before the homecoming game, Mizzou hosts a parade throughout campus and downtown Columbia. Here is "Marching Mizzou" performing in the streets.
Now it's time for the annual homecoming game! As you can see Mizzou fans are serious about wearing school colors to the game.
In order to sit in the first row of "Tiger's Lair," the student cheering section, you have to get painted up, sing, chant, and stand throughout the game. And that is never a problem for Mizzou fans.
Mizzou's mascot, "Truman the Tiger" is named after Missouri-born President Harry S. Truman. Before every game Truman stands with students to welcome kick-off.
During each game Mizzou students shout "M-I-Z" across the field to the alumni section. The alumni responds "Z-O-U" until the students stop chanting. This is what it sounds like.
Mizzou wins! 24-14! Players join the students in Tigers Lair to sing the school fight song.
Other campus traditions revolve around this row of six columns on "Francis Quadrangle." In 1892, Academic Hall was lost in a fire and all that remained were these columns.
At the beginning of the year incoming freshmen line up on the north side of the columns and run through them towards campus. This is called "Tiger Walk" and signifies their entry into the university.
Once on the other side of the columns students are served "Tiger Stripe" ice cream produced by Mizzou’s agricultural school.
"Tiger Prowl" is a bittersweet tradition where graduating seniors run the opposite way through the columns towards the city. This is symbolic of their their exit from college and entry into the "real world." This time, professors serve beer instead of ice cream.
Board members wanted to knock down the columns and give the school a fresh start after the fire. Missouri's then Governor David Francis, decided the columns should stay on the Columbia campus. This is a bust of Francis on Francis Quadrangle.
Francis' buffed bronze nose comes from the student tradition of rubbing his nose for good luck before an exam. I rubbed his nose before the football team's game against Vanderbilt. Obviously it worked.
Mizzou gave the nation homecoming ...
