Daniel celebrates win, birthday with family

LUBBOCK, Texas — “Bubba!” Lynsey Daniel, quarterback Chase Daniel’s sister yelled out during Missouri’s stretching before the game. “Happy birthday, Bubba!” she shouted, determined to make sure he heard her.

The players around the quarterback started laughing and giving him trouble.

“You always hear her when she wants you to,” he explained after the Tigers’ 38-21 thumping of Texas Tech.

His immediate family flew in from Dallas at about 10 a.m., and he said he had about 30-35 friends at the game. Originally from Southlake, Texas, Daniel was glad to have the added support on the road.

Clad in black and white No. 10 Missouri jerseys, the Daniel family cheered as they saw him come onto the field.

“If we can win this one,” said Bill Daniel, Chase’s father, “it really justifies us. It’ll silence all those critics who won’t stop with the ‘they haven’t beat anyone yet.’”

Daniel’s father expected a close game, but for Missouri to come out on top. He said it with caution, knowing how the road has never been kind to Missouri in the past.

In the game, Daniel put up decent numbers. He was 15-for-22 passing for 173 yards and a touchdown with one interception. He also ran 13 times for 60 yards.

It was the plays he made that set the tone for the game, though.

On the game’s opening drive, Daniel dashed forward, lowered his head and plowed over a Texas Tech defender, eliciting “Oohs” and comments about understanding what was meant by Daniel running well in high school.

To end the third quarter, he hit receiver Will Franklin for a 36-yard gain.

“The way we were moving it,” Franklin said grinning from ear to ear, “they weren’t going to stop us.”

Missouri’s complete effort against Texas Tech even earned the Tigers’ golden-yellow pants some credit in addition to the offense, defense and special teams.

“There’s a certain mystique about them,” Daniel said.

Receiver Brad Ekwerekwu saw them as a way to get a little extra attention while on nationaltelevision.

“We wanted to make a statement, add a little enthusiasm, a little more enthusiasm,” he said. “The seniors made the suggestion, and coach Pinkel makes the final decision. We just really pushed for them.”

The final decision might have been made a little easier by what happened during the New Mexico game three weeks ago.

“They were nice cause they gave the players a change of pace,” Adam Borts, an equipment manager said. “But really, we had to throw away the white pants because of grass stains.”

Whatever the pants color, the Daniel-led Tigers are enjoying a stainless start to the season at 6-0.

After the Colorado game, Daniel and his teammates enjoyed three giant cookie cakes brought in by the Daniel family.

To wash down any cake after this game, though, Daniel will have to enjoy some milk. Many times fans forget he isn’t old enough to drink (he just turned 20 on Saturday).

Celebration-wise, Daniel doesn’t have too much more planned. He spent time after the game hugging family and friends while flipping through pages of stats on the game.

His mom, Vickie, and sister tell him about how many calls and text messages they got because of how well he did with everyone watching.

“I got 71 text messages,” Lynsey Daniel said. “71!”

After he got final hugs from his family and a “Love you Bubba” from his sister, Daniel headed toward the black team bus to enjoy his KFC dinner.

His dad,Fam who had been smiling, patted his chest above his heart, talking about how emotionally draining it is to go through games where the family lives and dies by every play.

For Daniel though, it was just another game. Celebrating will end by today and he will start focusing on the upcoming game against Texas A&M. That didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy his birthday, though.

“This win,” he said, “is topping it off pretty nicely.”