Bring your Tigers football, basketball and recruiting questions, and talk to Eli Hoff in a live chat at 11 a.m. Thursday.
A note to y'all from Eli: The site we use and embed for our chats went down around 12:45 p.m. today, cutting off one of my answers and keeping me from answering more questions. The full exchange is pasted below the chat. If you weren't able to get something answered today, my inbox is always open to your questions. -E
Transcript
Eli Ǵڴ:Hi y'all! Thanks for coming by the chat today. At this time next week, it'll be a Mizzou gameday, which is exciting — last true preseason chat for us. Bring your questions and takes for the next couple hours and let's talk!
ܲ:So, Eli, is this new Mizzou pregame show you wrote about this morning, available via streaming for those of us outside of the Ƶ market?
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Ǵڴ:For anyone who might've missed it, here's this morning's news that KMOV is launching a new sports channel with one of its flagship shows being a new Mizzou football pregame and postgame shows:
I know that show will be available on the air around the state of Missouri. The full list I was given for affiliate stations is: KSMO in Kansas City, KZOU in Columbia, KFVS-TOO in Cape Girardeau, KYCW in Springfield, WGEM in Hannibal and ONPN/News-Press NOW in St. Joseph. Outside of MO, streaming it through KMOV's app might be an option, or at least where I'd start with that.
Missouri Tarheel: Eli, is there any update on MU's North concourse construction project for the 2024 season?
Ǵڴ:The new videoboard is in and fully functional — there was a showing of Zootopia on it last week, even. My understand is that there is also a new sound system as part of that project, though I haven't stood above the hill with the speakers going or anything. That all happened on schedule, in that it's ready for this season.
The bigger overhaul is expected to be ready for the 2026 season. The construction manager for that project is holding a meeting next week for companies interested in bidding on specific parts of the process to get information. I'd assume the bid process will get rolling pretty quickly after that.
Missouri Tarheel: With Texas and OU joining this season, and bringing a lot of energy with those fan bases, are you hearing any talk about further SEC expansion? Personally, I really enjoy the fact that the SEC remains the only truly "regional conference" left, and I would love to see that remain intact should the SEC expand to 18 (matching the BiG).
Ǵڴ:I won't be shy about admitting that I don't have SEC-level sources who would tell me stuff about expansion/realignment. That said, it seems pretty unlikely right now. Greg Sankey was adamant at SEC media days that he's happy with 16. Would he say otherwise? Probably not, but he was stern in that messaging. Clemson and Florida State would seemingly be the logical adds, given their tensions with the ACC and locations. But the hurdles there seem to be immense, from either program leaving the ACC to another conference actually wanting to add them.
As things stand right now, I don't see a ton of incentive for the SEC to add more programs. Almost all of the big-name football teams are in either the Big Ten or SEC. I don't think any teams just outside (or within) SEC borders right now would add to the conference in the way that expanding for Texas and Oklahoma does. Who knows where college sports will turn next, but I don't see a whole lot of value at this moment.
DCG: Hey Eli. So, as a Mizzou alum, I am, of course, traumatized by the many occasions of witnessing Mizzou get Mizzoued. There are too many moments to choose from to single out any one that stabs to the heart more than others. So, clearly, I'm wary of all the hype the team has going into the season (though I agree with it) and fearful of an overconfidence loss. Since you cover the team, how do you think they'll handle the expectations and all the preseason praise, and do you see a game that could potentially bite them?
Ǵڴ:It seems to me that they're staying pretty grounded. Kristian Williams, the lone starting D-tackling from last year's rotation who's back again, said pretty directly the other day that they find things to add fuel to the fire even when they're getting some hype. And one reporter the other day asked about what motivation comes from being ranked outside the top 10, which is certainly a "bulletin board material" way to view this team slotting in at No. 11 in preseason polls.
As far as a trap game, I actually just answered this question during a radio show like 15 minutes ago: It's Boston College for me. They've got Bill O'Brien as the head coach now (as in the former Texans HC and a Belichick assistant). This is no knock on Eli Drinkwitz or Kirby Moore or Corey Batoon, but the better coach in that game might be on the visitors' sideline. Obviously it remains to be seen how that translates to Boston College, but O'Brien seems like he'll have something schemed up for Mizzou. I won't pretend to know the BC program at all, but I do know they have a dual-threat quarterback, and that's something that has caused problems for the Tigers in the past. All that, plus an 11:45 a.m. start, SEC play coming the week after that... I predicted on the Eye on the Tigers podcast a couple of weeks ago that Boston College would have a lead in the second half of that game, and I really do believe that.
Jim: Howdy Eli....seems to me that even with a 10-2 record Mizzou could be left out of the CFP because of the truly lame out of conference schedule. Wouldn't if be in our favor to set up an annual home and home out of conference rivalry game with kU along the same lines as GA-GaTech, USCe-Clemson, etc.. Lots of fan excitement and money to be made. You would still have room on the sched to fatten up on the Buffalos and Murray State's of the world. Thanks for the chat
Hoff: This is putting the cart before the horse, but "Will 10-2 be enough for Mizzou to get into the CFP?" has actually emerged as one of the more pressing questions of the last week or so for me. BenFred tried to talk me about of overthinking it on the Eye on the Tigers podcast last week, but then I went and made a spreadsheet (textbook overthinking this kind of thing) and I'm not sure.
I wrote a little bit about what I found earlier this week. At face value, there are encouraging signs. Two-loss SEC teams generally would have made it into 12-team playoff fields using every ranking from the CFP era. The only exception was 2019 Alabama. Otherwise, 10 other two-loss teams would've made the cut, and even five three-loss teams. (Note: There are more mixed results if you look at other conferences, but comparing the Pac-12 to the SEC is tough, and all of this will look different this season anyway.)
Missouri is often predicted to finish 10-2 this season. It might not be enough for a spot in the expanded CFP.
One of the things that seemingly kept that '19 'Bama team out of the top 12 was its strength of schedule. ESPN graded it as the 40th toughest in the nation. That stands out against the other two-loss SEC teams that made it — all of them had strength of schedule rankings that were 19th or higher. Most of the three-loss teams seemed to have schedules ranked 12th or higher. Before any games have been played this year, Mizzou's strength of schedule is 29th.
That leads me to think that 10-2 probably gives Mizzou more or less a coin flip in that it's dependent on other teams. That means hoping there aren't a ton of 10-2 teams that the CFP committee has to try to evaluate, and hoping that the teams on the schedule for Mizzou this year end up exceeding expectations and boosting how the resume looks. But again, this is getting awfully far down the road of hypotheticals.
There are a lot of reasons to schedule a nonconference game like KU will be starting next year, or even what K-State has been the past two years. They pack stadiums when at home and boost the resume if they're a win. Granted, a road loss in one of those situations is a lose-lose when it comes to revenue and resume — the two Rs that drive football scheduling. Of course, whether the SEC would go to nine conference games is also a factor... but that's a separate discussion.
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