Who will be Missouri football’s toughest opponent on 2024 schedule? Ranking all 12

In exactly 100 days, Missouri football will return to the field.

An even ton separates the Tigers from their season-opener against Murray State on Thursday, Aug. 29, at Memorial Stadium in Columbia, Missouri and, with it, one of the most highly anticipated Mizzou campaigns in recent memory.

BetMGM has set the over-under on Missouri’s 2024 regular-season win total at 9.5. If the Tigers surpass that to reach double-digit wins, they’d be firmly in the running for a spot in the expanded, 12-team College Football Playoff.

Missouri, which figures to carry a top-10 preseason ranking after an 11-2 campaign that culminated in a Cotton Bowl win over Ohio State, appears to have a favorable slate. In the upcoming season, the Tigers will either play a nonconference opponent, a team they beat in 2023, a team with a new head coach or at home on Faurot Field.

Here are Mizzou’s 2024 opponents, ranked in ascending order of difficulty. The game’s location and the quality of the opponent were used to compile these rankings:

More: Did Missouri do enough in portal to make the College Football Playoff? Position breakdown

12: Murray State (Aug. 29)

The Racers went 2-9 last season. At home against an FCS opponent with a first-year head coach, this should be an easy Thursday night opener for Mizzou.

11: Buffalo (Sept. 7)

Buffalo won three games in the Mid-American Conference last season, which accounted for all of the Bulls’ victories during a 3-9 campaign. The Bulls enter the season under new head coach Pete Lembo. Mark this down as 2-0 for Mizzou.

10: At UMass (Oct. 12)

UMass was pummeled every time it faced a power-conference team last season, as the Minutemen gave up more than a point a minute between a 59-14 loss to Auburn and a 63-0 beatdown by Penn State in 2023. Road game or not, this should be a cakewalk for MU.

9: Vanderbilt (Sept….


Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/missouri-footballs-toughest-opponent-2024-213600137.html

Author : Columbia Daily Tribune

Publish date : 2024-05-21 21:36:00

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