Missouri’s first injury report of the season is out, and the headline on the Tigers’ side is the same one plenty of people expected: Ahmad Hardy remains out. Darris Smith is the one to watch, though, with his status listed as questionable heading into Saturday night’s SEC opener at Mississippi State.
Mississippi State has a few notable names on its report as well. Senior defensive linemen Diesel Moye and Trevion Williams have been ruled out, along with senior wide receiver Ayden Williams. Senior linebacker Zakari Tillman, who has yet to play this season, is listed as probable for Saturday.
That sets the stage for a tough road test in Starkville, where Missouri will have to deal with quarterback Kamario Taylor. Through three weeks, there’s a real case that Taylor has been the SEC’s most productive quarterback, even if Chambliss has grabbed the bigger national spotlight.
Taylor’s value comes from both ends of the game: his passing and his rushing make Mississippi State’s offense hard to pin down. For a matchup that many Mizzou fans probably circled as a win before the season, Taylor gives the Bulldogs a dangerous edge.
The road numbers around Eli Drinkwitz tell their own story. He is 11-18 in true road games and 2-1 against Mississippi State.
Against ranked teams, he’s 7-19, though only two of those losses came on the road, with Odom serving as head coach in 2018. The numbers away from home aren’t flattering, but Drinkwitz has had success against Mississippi State.
Elsewhere around Mizzou, basketball is officially rolling. The men’s team opened practice and will play exhibition games on Oct. 23 and 29 at Kansas State and UNLV before beginning the regular season against Cleveland State on Nov. 3.
On the non-conference basketball front, Le Moyne comes to Columbia on Nov. 20 and enters the matchup ranked No. 323 in BartTorvik.com’s preseason rankings, which points to a game Missouri should control comfortably.
There was also a look at Mizzou tennis practice, where Goodman said, “You either give energy or you take it away,” and added, “Intensity and energy, you can use it a little bit interchangeably.”
In volleyball, Missouri ran into a buzzsaw in Lincoln on Wednesday. The Tigers were swept by top-ranked Nebraska, 3-0, with set scores of 10-25, 17-25, and 14-25. Even in defeat, Missouri found some positives to carry into SEC play, and the loss dropped the Tigers to 7-5 on the season.
In Other News...
Missouri Heads To Starkville With Two Big Availability Questions
Missouris first SEC availability report of the week brought the usual dose of uncertainty, but it also offered a clearer picture of where the Tigers stand heading into Saturdays trip to Starkville. The biggest name on the list was running back Ahmad Hardy, who was ruled out, while Mississippi States report included its own notable absences as the Bulldogs get ready to host at Davis Wade Stadium on SEC Network.
The Tigers also have a key defensive question hanging over the matchup in Darris Smith, who was listed questionable after leaving the Troy game with a lower-body injury. Missouris report also included several other players who were unavailable, and with the league now requiring these updates, the picture can still shift before kickoff. For a team heading into a road SEC game, the number of bodies available may end up shaping the plan as much as anything else. [Read more 🡒]
Mizzou Hoops Is Finally Back And November Starts Fast
The first official practices have arrived for both Mizzou basketball teams, and the calendar is about to turn quickly for a program with a lot going on across the board. The women are first up, with an exhibition against Lincoln University before the regular season begins against Howard, while the men have already started getting their work in and will head into exhibition play at Kansas State and UNLV before opening against Cleveland State.
It is the kind of early-November stretch that gives Missouri fans plenty to keep track of, even beyond the hardwood. Mizzou womens golf also put together a productive week, with two players gaining temporary eligibility and senior Addie Dobson picking up the first tournament win of her career, a nice reminder that there is plenty of momentum building in Columbia as the new season gets rolling. [Read more 🡒]
Mizzou Faces An SEC Test Built To Rattle Them Early
Missouris SEC opener in Starkville comes with the kind of early-season test that can set the tone for a league stretch run, and the Tigers are treating it like one. No. 24 Mississippi State brings a lively home environment, a quarterback in Kamario Taylor who has already shown he can hurt defenses through the air and on the ground, and a receiving group Missouri will have to track from the first snap. The Tigers have even been working to recreate the noise in practice, trying to make sure the first dose of conference football does not feel like a shock to the system.
For Missouri, the challenge is as much about composure as it is about coverage. Containing Taylor means keeping him from extending plays and preventing Mississippi State from turning routine downs into long afternoons for the defense. If the Tigers can settle in quickly and match the intensity around them, they give themselves a chance to make an early SEC statement, but this trip figures to ask plenty of questions before it offers any answers. [Read more 🡒]