KANSAS CITY — Elated and exhausted, Mizzou senior guard Kurtis Gregory plopped down Saturday evening at Arrowhead Stadium and summed up the sensation of MU's last-play, 41-39 victory over archrival Kansas.

"Just joy," he said. "Unbelievable joy."

"Mammoth" was coach Gary Pinkel's word for a victory that came with nearly as many maddening moments as it did thrills.

But the final play, Grant Ressel's 27-yard field goal, trumped them all to give MU one of its most memorable victories ever.

Not since 1972 had MU kicked a field goal in the final seconds to win a game it was trailing. That year, Greg Hill hit a 31-yarder with 6 seconds left to beat Oregon 24-22.

Moreover, the second-half rally from a 28-19 deficit was MU's greatest second-half comeback in a victory over the Jayhawks.

Last season, MU overtook KU after trailing 26-10 in the second half but lost 40-37. The previous best was from five down in MU's 20-19 win in 1952.

Beyond the historic implications, the game meant plenty in the here and now.

While MU (8-4) still has a bowl game to play, most likely the Insight Bowl on Dec. 31 in Tempe, Ariz., it's hard to fathom that it would provide better theater or more lasting meaning than the Kansas game.

In a transitional, at times even turbulent season, the game was an exclamation point for a Tigers team that wrestled with itself and ultimately won.

With a decorated class of 23 seniors and sophomore superstar Jeremy Maclin departed and two coordinator changes, some growing pains seemed likely before the season.

A 4-0 start in some ways was fool's gold, raising expectations before MU had faced the October gantlet of Nebraska, Oklahoma State and Texas in succession.

Mizzou lost all three, and badly to Texas, as quarterback Blaine Gabbert was in the throes of an ankle injury.

The Tigers momentarily recovered with a win over Colorado, only to inexplicably allow Baylor its only Big 12 victory and leave MU on the brink of clear regression after going 22-6 the previous two seasons.

But with Pinkel convincing the team that nothing less than the integrity and future of MU football was at stake, the Tigers bristled down the stretch to beat then-Big 12 North front-runner Kansas State, Iowa State and, finally, KU.

Could it have been better? For sure.

Mizzou led Nebraska 12-0 in the fourth quarter before Cornhuskers resolve and a Tigers cave-in resulted in a 27-12 loss. Baylor's 40-32 win was just its third on the road in Big 12 play since the conference came together in 1996.

Missouri went through five Big 12 games — including those two — with a total of 11 second-half points, repeatedly was scorched for whopping pass yardage and often had trouble generating a running game.

Case in point: In its four losses, MU rushed for a total of 243 yards; against Kansas, the Tigers had a season-high 250 rushing yards along with 303 through the air.

Not that MU didn't have problems Saturday, including 10 penalties for 107 yards and stupefying coverage breakdowns that enabled Kansas quarterback Todd Reesing to throw for a school-record 498 yards.

Ostensibly, the normally stoic Pinkel at one point spiked his hat down because of one of those penalty calls. But any number of plays might have driven him to it — just as several coaching decisions probably exasperated fans.

When the Tigers opened the second half with a touchdown drive to cut Kansas' lead to 21-19, they went for two and failed. If Ressel had missed the field goal at game's end, that would have been part of the autopsy of the loss.

Then there was Pinkel's startling judgment to punt on fourth and 4 with just over 3 minutes left, holding one timeout and trailing by three against an offense that had had its way with MU much of the game.

If Kansas simply had run three straight times, the Tigers wouldn't have had much more than a minute left to work with. One first down, and it probably was over.

Instead, KU threw. Twice. Both incomplete. Then Reesing was dumped for a safety, and MU had the ball back with 2:39 left — just 20 seconds after giving it up — and now trailing 39-38.

Cue Ressel-mania, the triumphant ending to a topsy-turvy game that in some ways mirrored the season.

"A lot of things happened out there, (and) my team found a way to win," said Pinkel, who started to say how proud he was but added, "Proud is not even the proper word."