Pete Thamel reporting Pribula might be able to give it a go against Oklahoma makes things complicated.
Nathan has already posted about which QB should play. I don’t know the answer, or if there is a good answer. Because we don’t know how healthy Pribula actually is. And we also know that Oklahoma fields
the best defense Missouri will have faced this year.
Of the FBS teams the Tigers have played, Alabama is 7th in defense per SP+, Auburn is 17th, Texas A&M is 23rd, Vanderbilt is 44th. Meanwhile the Sooners are 5th. Alabama’s strength is against the pass, Oklahoma’s is against the run. Mobility is going to be the friend of any QB facing Oklahoma’s defensive line. How mobile Pribula will be three weeks after dislocating his ankle is anyone’s guess.
Zollers looks like the more talented thrower, but talent will only get you so far. Pribula’s lowest passing game, against Alabama (162) is only slightly less than Zollers’ two game total of 189. So even if he’s not super mobile, his ability to provide a more consistent throwing threat may be worth the risk.
Maybe all this is gamesmanship from Drinkwitz, giving the OU defense something to think about before the game. Before they ultimately trot out Matt Zollers.
Yesterday at Rock M and Rock M+
We have basketball to get to, but here’s all the Football things we talked about yesterday:
- Walk on players are the unsung heroes of any college football roster, and their stories rarely get told. So we’re lucky to know as much as we do about Logan Muckey, even if part of it is because of some unfortunate breaks:
Before the 2025 Mizzou football season began, Eli Drinkwitz said he received one of the worst phone calls a head coach can get — one of his players was diagnosed with cancer.
While training for the upcoming season, Muckey had an infection in his tonsil which led to a routine CT scan to discover the best course of treatment. In the building for team meetings, Muckey got a text from Athletic Trainer Zach Parker that his results came back and to head to his office. However, he wasn’t expecting to hear the words, “they’re about 90% sure you have cancer, papillary thyroid cancer.”
Muckey gets real game snaps, not just mop up duty stuff. Which is also cool to see.
- Sammy talked to Payton Guthrie of Through the Keyhole, a Sooner’s Podcast, about the game:
The biggest strength for Oklahoma all season has been the defensive line. The Sooner DL is so ridiculous that I need to list out the numbers.
1st in Stuff Rate – 30.2%
4th in Sack Rate – 9.9%
4th in Pressure Rate – 40.7%
1st in Tackles for Loss – 102 TFL
2nd in Sacks – 37
Weakness?
John Mateer’s eyes. Ben Arbuckle’s offense has lots of wide open players running downfield. John Mateer isn’t seeing them. The offense continually stalls once he starts dancing around and plays “hero ball.”
While Mateer can make every big play and routinely delivers in high leverage situations, he struggles down to down.
Payton’s got some smart analysis in the Q&A, I suggest you read the whole thing. Plus BOWL PROJECTIONS are in for the week and Mizzou is hanging in at the back of the top 25. 62% want the Gator Bowl!
- SWIM / DIVE previews from Karen, with the Tigers taking on the field at the Mizzou Invitational:
On the eve of the Thanksgiving recess, the men’s and women’s swimming & diving teams welcomes in a host of schools, including TCU, FIU (women), Wyoming, SIU, D-2 McKendree, and Missouri S&T (men) to the chlorinated air of Mizzou Aquatic Center for the team’s annual Mizzou Invite for a three-day prelim/final affair.
The focus for the Tigers, as head coach Andrew Grevers told the media at the winter sports media day on Wednesday afternoon, is trying to punch some tickets to NCAAs and set themselves up for a great rest of the season.
- It’s been an up and down season for Volleyball, but they hope to hit a high note at the SEC Tourney this weekend:
The Tigers enter the conference tournament as the No. 6 seed, earning a first-round bye. They will play on Saturday against the winner of No. 11 LSU and No. 14 Ole Miss. If Mizzou can avoid an upset, that means a rematch against No. 3 Texas in the quarterfinals the next day. Regardless of who they face, the Tigers will face a team for the second time this season, which can lead to wildly different outcomes.
Consistency has been fleeting, but hopefully the ladies can win their first match and then spring the upset on the Longhorns.
BASKETBALL THINGS!
- Let’s start with the women, who dropped an afternoon home contest to Troy. Things got ugly on the offensive side of the ball. Check out Dylan’s recap. It’s just going to be a tough year, I think.
- If substitution patterns are your thing, you should be reading Matt Harris’s breakdowns of the lineups on RM+:
There was a stretch where the Tigers reeled off eight consecutive transition chances in a row as part of a 20-2 run that supplied a commanding margin in MU’s 91-73 victory on Monday night. The game fell into an easy rhythm: solid defending for 20 seconds, a contested two-pointer, the Panthers bailing on the defense glass, and MU steaming into the front court to hunt early-clock offense.
We get wonky over there, but the extras are worth it if you’re a hoops fan.
- You can check the Mizzou MBB Preview and Live Thread here, and the Game Recap as the Tigers took care of business against South Dakota at home last night, from Rory:
At the break, the Tigers led by 11 points, but the matchup felt a lot tighter than it appeared. The group found continued success driving the lane, in fact a three point shot wasn’t made until nearly seven minutes in (it was the Tigers second attempt of the night). Alongside Mark Mitchell, Anthony Robinson II and Sebastian Mack played at an aggressive pace in and around the lane to supply Mizzou the lead.
I’ll have a Study Hall up at some point. I just have to finish writing it!
Forums Talk
The game thread from last night had a lot of good insight from the Matts. Plus Beau Pribula will be upgraded to questionable on the next injury report, per Pete Thamel.
Rock M Radio: Dive Cuts going live weekly
The BTBS preview should be up shortly, if not already. True also has another Tomorrow’s Tigers on the way with Keenan Harris!
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