The Tigers are resting easy this week after cruising to another easy non-conference win against beleaguered UMass. Heading into a bye week, Mizzou fans cannot ask for much more from this team in terms of where they have positioned themselves for when the season really ramps up. Which is now.
For seasoned Mizzou fans, starting seasons 5-0 cannot be taken for granted, regardless of the schedule’s difficulty. This is especially true when everything sets up so perfectly for the Black and Gold to achieve
their highest goals for 2025. Picture the best possible scenario for how this season could play out… confetti, trophies, etc. That, and just about everything else you can imagine, is on the table for the Tigers.
The reason this team’s ceiling is the roof right now? An utter dominance along both lines of scrimmage in the run game. Do you want to see a dead body(ies)? Through five games, Mizzou has rushed for an outrageous 1,460 yards while giving up a paltry 312 on defense. To put up that amount of yardage on the ground on offense by itself is silly, especially since the Tigers have already played two P4 teams, including one SEC team (with a good rush defense nonetheless) thus far.
What is even sillier is the notion that the defense could give up that few yards in five entire American college football games. Now sure, limiting one of their opponents to -9 yards will skew the stats, but that opponent was the best team they’ve played all season! If Ahmad Hardy, Jamal Roberts and both sides of the trenches keep up this level of play, there isn’t a team left on the schedule who Mizzou cannot move the ball on and contain on defense. That is a recipe for elite success at any level of football.
What is raising the ceiling for this team even further is the fact that their quarterback does indeed appear to be a dude. Beau Pribula came into Columbia with a position battle on his hands. Despite that battle not being formally won until his opponent sadly went down with a knee injury after his first snap of the season, Pribula looks to be the guy who should have always had the reins to the offense since the day he committed.
What’s more than his 1,203 yards passing, nine touchdowns and only four turnovers through nearly half the season, Pribula’s legs add yet another threat in the ground game, which already has no shortage of threats. His multidimensional style of play has created a nightmare for opposing defensive coordinators who are already losing sleep over trying (and failing) to contain the Tigers’ rushing attack. He has stepped in and immediately earned respect in the locker room and on-the-field cohesion with his receivers. He has been everything Tiger fans could have hoped for and more through five games.
When peeking ahead at the remaining schedule, not everything is sunshine and rainbows. Starting next week with Alabama, the one SEC team Mizzou has yet to beat since 2012, the Tigers are about to go on run of opponents that feature at least five ranked teams as of now, four of which are on the road.
As dominant as the Tigers have been on both sides of the lines of scrimmage, they’ve been equally poor at defending explosive passing plays. With talented quarterbacks and receivers like Ty Simpson and Ryan Williams, John Mateer, Marcel Reed and Taylen Green incoming, a porous secondary could prove disastrous to the high hopes Mizzou have allowed to grow through the first month of the season.
That said, the last two amazing seasons the Tigers have had started with less-than-impressive 5-0 starts as well. In fact, it’s reasonable to say that Mizzou has looked better overall in their 2025 start than in their starts in both 2013 and 2023.
Remember, the 2013 squad struggled to put away a Toledo team in Columbia until the fourth quarter, ultimately only winning by two touchdowns. They similarly struggled against an awful Indiana team, albeit on the road, until later in the second half as well. As far as 2023 is concerned, need I remind Tiger fans of the terrifying 23-19 slopfest against Middle Tennessee State or hanging on by a touchdown in St. Louis against Memphis?
Despite the slow starts on the scoreboard, both of those teams rallied, fixed their issues as the season progressed, and finished with two of the best seasons in Mizzou history. While the 2025 Tigers haven’t struggled with their cupcakes like the ‘23 team did vs. MTSU, they have had to come from behind in the fourth quarters of games against kansas and South Carolina despite dominating both stat sheets.
Both of those teams are much better than any of the early teams the ‘13 and ‘23 teams had to face, so it can already safely be said that this year’s squad is off to a much better start. As good as that start has been, the real test starts next week. Pass that test and the sky (and a trip to Miami) will be the limit.
Will they get there? Let’s just sit back and watch.
