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A lopsided rivalry between old Big 12 foes was back on, and there could have been significant College Football Playoff ramifications in play by the time it kicked off. Reality since has knocked some shine off this Tigers-Sooners reunion. Let’s not pretend otherwise.

Mizzou arrives unranked in the AP top 25 and barely clinging to a College Football Playoff ranking (No. 24) with two blowout losses beneath its belt and a big question mark suspended above its quarterback situation.

Starter Brady Cook has been declared out by the team and backup Drew Pyne has been noncompetitive when called upon in league play. There apparently is no good third option at the moment; if there was, we would know by now. Can Mizzou compete, let alone win, without Cook? So far the answer has been a convincing no.

Unranked, four-loss Oklahoma can’t sneer. It’s having a worse season than Mizzou, with fewer excuses for it. The Sooners can’t blame an injured starting quarterback for their stalled offense. They have flip-flopped-flipped starters at the position. Jackson Arnold and Michael Hawkins Jr., have struggled to get much going. Against Southeastern Conference defenses, the Sooners are averaging an SEC-low 13.6 points scored per game. OU’s defense is decent, but no defense is good enough to support an offense as lackluster as Oklahoma’s has been.

Let’s face it, folks. Saturday night could get ugly. Maybe the team that finds a way to score on defense or special teams winds up winning. Playoff implications? There are no legitimate ones. But this game still means plenty. Because of the past. Because of the future.

Most Mizzou fans and followers remember all too well the painful pecking order of the Tigers’ previous league. Texas and Oklahoma were the Big 12’s darlings, and everybody else was supposed to feel blessed to share a spot at their table.

Mizzou wisely sought a brighter and more equitable future in the SEC. Texas and Oklahoma making the same move years later was just more confirmation the Tigers made the right call long before it was popular. Beating Oklahoma within the SEC, though, would be proof that the previous conference pecking order doesn’t necessarily have to transfer over. These are not Bob Stoops’ Sooners. Not Lincoln Riley’s, either. Brent Venables has proven vulnerable.

Saturday carries a heavier weight than just another game. It presents an opportunity to make a statement — or to have one made against you. Mizzou winning says new conference, new era to this series. Oklahoma winning says this all feels pretty familiar, such as the Sooners’ eight wins in their last 10 tries against Mizzou in a series that leans heavily (24-67 with five ties) in OU’s favor. Getting blown out at Texas A&M and Alabama would not sting like Mizzou losing to this damaged-goods Oklahoma team at home.

There’s another reason this one moves a sizable needle. One only needs to see the Mizzou coaching staff taking to social media to celebrate its at-capacity recruiting section for the game to understand why. The Tigers and Sooners now sharing the SEC has only turned up the heat on what has become one of the more ruthless recruiting battles in the sport. It’s been going on for years, but it’s rarely been this competitive and this intense.

Luther Burden, like Jeremy Maclin, committed to Oklahoma before sticking with his home-state Tigers.

The Sooners got Ronnie Perkins. Cayden Green, too, though he’s now a Tiger via the transfer portal. Williams Nwaneri left OU fans questioning his commitment to Mizzou before signing on the dotted scholarship line as a Tiger. Some of the next players to pick between the two teams will be watching from that recruiting section at Memorial Stadium on Saturday.

I don’t expect either coaching staff to have its respective players fully informed of the long backstory between these two brands. But if either one hasn’t attempted to make it very clear why this game matters a little bit more than most others, mistakes were made.

Mizzou’s season outlook looks shaky with Cook hobbled. Oklahoma is searching for some sort of silver lining, and this could be its best one left available.

The winner of this game will have its best-feeling win of the year so far, and perhaps its most rewarding one for recruiting purposes.

It’s big, even though it should have been bigger.(tncms-asset)e61a1cb2-9d10-11ef-ba05-4f5eb46eb2f0[3](/tncms-asset)(tncms-asset)bc5170f0-9af0-11ef-a27b-2faae130cbe5[4](/tncms-asset)

Ben Frederickson @Ben_Fred on X (formerly Twitter) bfrederickson@post-dispatch.com