Welcome to the Morning Commute
Today we are talking about Mizzou Football. (Editor’s note: I am SHOCKED.)
On Tuesday we found out who Mizzou will be playing in the SEC over the next two seasons, along with the Tigers’ annual opponents, which are meant to be permanent opponents, though they will be reevaluated every year.
The Tigers have a tough set of opponents the next couple of years,
as will all the teams in the powerhouse of the SEC conference.
I’d sway towards saying 2026 will be a tougher year, having to play at Ole Miss and at Georgia in the same season.
As the Tigers continue to grow into such a dominant football school in the toughest conference in the country, they’ll have their hands full facing all 15 teams in the SEC over the next four years.
Read more from Matthew.
We have more discussion on football and basketball, diving into prospects, visits and PFF grades in the Rock M+ forums. Most recently, I broke down the prospects who visited during the South Carolina game, and Matt Watkins dove into Dennis Gates personnel intake.
Yesterday at Rock M and Rock M+
Missouri dominated the weekly awards with the victory in their conference opener. Not one, not two, not three, but FOUR players were named to Player of the Week awards.
Whether its PFF one week, or SEC the next, Mizzou has been getting national attention for the show its put on at Memorial Stadium this season. It’ll be interesting to see if the Tigers can replicate it on the road.
On Ahmad Hardy: “It’s BYOB: be your own blocker. And that’s kind of what he is. He makes a lot of people miss.”
On keeping the team focused on UMass: “When you’re going around a curve, you can either let up or you can accelerate through. And when you accelerate through the curve, you create momentum for the straight ahead. We’ve got a straight ahead coming along, so we really need to accelerate through the curve right now.”
Drinkwitz said Conor Weselman dropkicking the ball against South Carolina came from the punter “dorking around,” which he defines as, “when they’re doing something that I have no idea what they’re doing, and it’s not very intense,” at practice that week. They figured out that Weselman could be consistently accurate dropkicking the ball, and they ran with the idea.
Matthew attended this week’s Tiger Talk and grabbed the latest and greatest news. Read it all, please. Signed, the Editor.
(Editor’s Side Note: Wondering if Harpo’s, the new location of TT, cares if the student reporters don’t buy food every week. Bud’s always seemed to side-eye those who were just there to listen and not to spend gobs of money.)
You have to admit, when the word started getting out that Sellers was going to start for the Gamecocks against Mizzou, that pit in your stomach opened up just a bit…
Thankfully, all of this turned out to be empty anxiety.
Sellers put on one heck of a performance on Faurot Field on Saturday but thankfully the Tigers pulled through. That man might win the Heisman though.
Besides the running back duo, Beau Pribula also displayed his speed. Drinkwitz noted that the quarterback was crucial in helping the team find key first downs with his feet on unscheduled plays. When Pribula was on the move, he tallied an average of 8 yards per rush. He ended the night with 72 yards rushing.
While it’s fun to see Beau Pribula run all over the field every week, I think I’m not the only one in saying, I hold my breath every time.
For the third consecutive season, the Missouri Tigers are off to a 4-0 start under head coach Eli Drinkwitz. After Saturday’s 29-20 win over South Carolina in their SEC opener, Mizzou has moved up three spots to No. 20 in the latest AP Top 25 poll.
Fun fact on this one I found while I was doing research earlier: While Mizzou is 4-0 for the third time in a row, the Tigers are also looking for its second 5-0 start in the past 10 years. The other one was 2023.
The Tigers’ hitting percentage through the first half of the regular season is .264, currently ninth in the conference. There have been two matches where Mizzou went under .200, and the season-high hitting percentage was against FGCU with a .392 finish. During the 2024 non-conference slate, the Tigers went over .400 efficiency three times.
The Tigers still have some dots to connect on offense, but like in 2024, sometimes once the wheels start turning you never know what can happen.
Back is senior forward Brendan Terry, the only double digit scorer returning at 11.2 ppg, he’s a bull of a 6’7 combo forward. B.J. Ward, a 6’0 combo guard, was on the floor a lot and chipped in 8.4 ppg to go with 37.6% shooting from outside
These will be the names to look out for in the matchup, but this shouldn’t be too close. The Tigers are 9-0 against the Redhawks all time.
Also: I’m not sure Beamer has any toes left after the amount of foot shooting his team committed on Saturday. Fifteen penalties called! 14 accepted! 102 yards lost because of it! I’m not saying they would have won if it weren’t for penalties but they did themselves no favors with the amount of demerits they racked up.
I’ll agree with Nate in saying this wouldn’t have changed the trajectory of the game, but it definitely would’ve made things a lot closer. Sellers and the Gamecocks were only a few big plays away from stealing the game.
The New Berlin, Wisconsin product visited Mizzou in late August and will look to bring an extra hitting presence to Anderson’s offense with the departure of power hitter Madison Walker, who transferred to Florida following the 2024 season.
Mizzou coach Larissa Anderson keeps bringing in talent for the future. Quite the statement from a coach whose job is potentially on the line.
Over at Rock M+ we have more Mizzou football discussion in forums ahead of kickoff against South Carolina.
Dive Cuts: Talking Mizzou & college hoops with CJ Moore of The Athletic
CJ and Sam discuss the intense rivalry between kansas and Missouri, focusing on recent performance, player development, and the impact of new recruits.
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