COLUMBIA, Mo. — And so it begins.
No. 11 Missouri opens its 2024 season at 7 p.m. Thursday against Murray State, continuing recent years’ trend of kicking off a campaign with a weeknight game.
This season, though, the game is already a sellout — a reflection of the Tigers’ stature both nationally and within their fan base.
The game will be televised on the SEC Network with Matt Barrie, former Florida coach Dan Mullen and Harry Lyles Jr. on the call.
Mizzou is favored by nearly seven touchdowns over the Racers, a Football Championship Subdivision program.
Here are three things to watch for in MU’s first game of the year:
What constitutes success for Mizzou?
For most games, the bar is set at winning. But in such a lopsided affair, most observers will probably want to see more than just a victory from the Tigers.
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Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz outlined his expectations earlier in the week:
“Obviously, we want to see a downhill run attack. We want to see an explosive offense. We want to see an offense that creates pressure through tempo. We want to see an offense that executes in situational football. Defensively, we want to see a group that stops the run, is multiple on third downs, wins situational football and really good at tackling and taking the ball away. Special teams, we want to do a great job covering kicks, and then we want to be really good in the kicking phase.â€
Executing on a majority of those goals would seemingly give the Tigers a comfortable victory over an FCS program with a new coach and several dozen new players.
“All those things are (how) ideally we picture it, and we’ll see where we’re at come Thursday night,†Drinkwitz said.
Given that MU is aiming for an eventual spot in the 12-team College Football Playoff, there’s some external notion that “style points†might matter in the perception of this team’s strength. Personal preference likely dictates whether a viewer will consider five, seven or nine touchdowns of padding between the Tigers and Racers will be enough for a successful outing. Some will undoubtedly be more occupied with scoring than any other kind of margin.
What role will depth play?
If the early stages of Thursday night go as planned, Missouri shouldn’t be leaning on its starters by the later portions of the game. That could put a spotlight on some players who are still working to earn consistent playing time and opportunities.
The opener, for example, could give five-star freshman edge rusher Williams Nwaneri his first collegiate snaps, even though he is on the lower end of that position’s rotation. New backup quarterback Drew Pyne could be asked to test his transition into coordinator Kirby Moore’s offense. An offensive lineman like Logan Reichert, who impressed in spring practice but ceded a chance at a starting job to a more experienced transfer, could benefit from some live action. The plethora of young wide receivers — namely Joshua Manning and Daniel Blood — might be in line for targets.
And while there won’t be a different quarterback in each half for competitive reasons like there was in last season’s opener against an FCS foe, there are still some competitions that could be influenced by what happens on the field.
Toriano Pride Jr. seemingly has an edge over Nicholas Deloach Jr. for a starting cornerback spot, though they’re listed on the same level on this week’s unofficial depth chart.
Chris McClellan was expected to have a more prominent spot in the defensive tackle rotation than Marquis Gracial, but that battle has evidently evened up down the stretch of preseason camp — and could see Gracial emerge as a starter.
And the running back dynamic has yet to be settled. Appalachian State transfer Nate Noel and Georgia State transfer Marcus Carroll are likely to be something of a committee. Lately, though, Missouri has trended toward featuring Noel more and giving Carroll the change-of-pace role.
“We have a plan on how we want to approach it,†Drinkwitz said. “Nate Noel will go out there first, and then him and Marcus will rotate through. I think those guys have good, complementary football skills, and they know how to play off each other. We understand we’re probably not going to have somebody that’s going to be able to carry it as many times in the game as Cody (Schrader), so we’ll have to do a good job of making sure we allow the starter to get into rhythm but also make sure they’re fresh.â€
How open is the playbook?
At the start of last season, Mizzou’s offense looked rather muddy in its early games before exploding downfield more often as the year went on. Some of those initial struggles could certainly have been a byproduct of adjusting to Moore’s system, but there could have been a competitive element, too.
After all, what’s the value in putting especially crafty or creative plays on tape this early in the season when they could instead surprise tougher competition later on?
Drinkwitz countered the notion that the Tigers would be pulling play-calling punches Thursday.
“We’re trying to win Week 1,†he said. “The most important game we have on our schedule is this one, period. There’s no guarding, there’s no hiding. We just want to win.â€
But he added some nuance to that, the kind that suggests schemes won’t be as adventurous now as they might be later.
“In order to win, you’ve got to call what your guys can execute and what your guys have had consistent reps at,†Drinkwitz said. “That doesn’t mean that your playbook is going to be wide open. It means that you’re going to call what you have repped in the 25 previous practices that you feel comfortable with in key situations.â€