2024 Season Preview – Missouri Tigers
2023 Record – 11-2; 6-2 SEC
Bowl: VS. Ohio State in Cotton Bowl (W 14-3)
2024 Schedule
- 8/29 – VS Murray State
- 9/7 – VS Buffalo
- 9/14 – VS Boston College
- 9/21 – VS Vanderbilt
- 10/5 – at Texas A&M
- 10/12 – at UMass
- 10/19 – VS Auburn
- 10/26 – at Alabama
- 11/9 – VS Oklahoma
- 11/16 – at South Carolina
- 11/23 – at Mississippi State
- 11/30 – VS Arkansas
2023 Recap
The key to the Missouri 2023 non-conference schedule was survive and move on. After an easy win against South Dakota, the Tigers played three straight games with a win of seven points or less. This included a game against Kansas State where they kicked the game winning field goal as time expired.
The first loss of the season for the Tigers was against LSU. It was a game that went back and forth. LSU took a lead late in the game then ran a pick six back to win 49-39. After a couple of nice wins against Kentucky and South Carolina, Missouri took their second loss against Georgia. This was another close back and forth match up. Georgia pulled ahead in the end to win 30-21.
Missouri would have their break-out game the following week against 13th-ranked Tennessee. After falling behind 7-3 in the second quarter, Missouri’s defense stepped up and did not allow any other scores. Missouri ran away with it 36-7.
After a close call against Florida, the Tigers would win their regular season finale against Arkansas to finish the regular season. The Tigers strong season landed them in the Cotton Bowl against Ohio State. The defense stood up once again and they won the game 14-3. Missouri finished the season at 11-2, 6-2 in SEC play.
2024 Preview
Missouri was very efficient on offense in 2023 and they bring a good core back. This starts with quarterback Brady Cook. He threw for over 3,300 yards and was also the team’s second leading rusher. There is strong core of receivers coming back as well. This starts with Luther Burden III, who had over 1,200 yards receiving and nine touchdowns.
The question mark on offense will be at running back. Cody Shrader ran for over 1,600 yards but he is gone. In his place will be two transfers, Marcus Carroll from Georgia State and Nate Noel from Appalachian State. If they can bring balance to the position, the Tigers could be looking at another strong offensive year.
There is a new coordinator in place on the defense as Corey Batoon is now in. There are quite a few holes to fill as well. Three of the four top tacklers have moved on as well as Darius Robinson who led the team with 8.5 sacks.
The Tigers went hard into the portal for the defense this off-season. The way they mesh together will determine how well Missouri ends up doing this season. This includes Toriano Pride Jr. from Clemson and Chris McClellan from Florida.
2024 Projection
Missouri’s schedule starts off with a few easy wins. They start off with home games against Murray State out of the FCS and Buffalo from the MAC. The hardest non-conference game is against a Boston College team that will likely not be competitive in the ACC. On top of that, they start SEC play against Vanderbilt, which should let the Tigers start off at 4-0.
The first challenge for the Tigers will be a game at Texas A&M to start off October. Two weeks later they play an interesting home game against an Auburn team that is always unpredictable.
The two toughest games of the season will be back-to-back, though with a bye week in between. The first will be against Alabama and the second will be against former Big 12 foe Oklahoma. After those game, things let up a bit with games at South Carolina and Mississippi State. They then play at home against their rival Arkansas to end the season.
Missouri should have another strong season. As competitive as the SEC will be, especially with the removal of divisions, they will likely be left out of the SEC championship game. But they should still play in a major bowl game.
Prediction – 9-3