Homecoming week brings the spotlight back to Columbia, with Missouri football set to host No. 8 Florida on Saturday afternoon, while several other Mizzou teams spend the week on the road or on pause.
The football game is the centerpiece. Missouri comes in at 3-1 overall and 0-1 in SEC play after a 31-24 loss at Mississippi State on Saturday. The Tigers and Gators will kick off at 2:30 p.m. at Memorial Stadium on ABC, and fans are encouraged to wear gold as Mizzou goes after its first conference win.
Volleyball is also off to a strong start in league play. Missouri opened SEC action with a four-set win over Vanderbilt on Sunday, moving to 8-5 overall and 1-0 in conference play.
Freshman Lydia Stahley had a career day, finishing with 18 kills. The Tigers are back on the road this week, visiting Ole Miss at 6 p.m.
Friday and LSU at noon Sunday. Both matches will air on SEC Network.
The soccer team is still chasing its first SEC victory after dropping a pair of conference matches last week. Missouri lost 2-0 to Auburn on Thursday and 3-0 at No.
17 South Carolina on Sunday, leaving the Tigers at 3-7-1 overall and 0-4 in league play. Next up is a Friday trip to Arkansas, with kickoff at 6:30 p.m. at Razorback Field in Fayetteville on SEC Network+.
On the golf side, the women are coming off a dominant showing at home. Missouri won the Johnie Imes Invitational by 32 strokes at The Club at Old Hawthorne, finishing 22-under as a team and putting four golfers in the top five.
Senior Addie Dobson claimed her first individual title with a 15-under-par 201, matching the tournament scoring record. The Tigers are off this week before heading to the OU Intercollegiate at Prairie Dunes Country Club on Oct.
5-6.
The men’s golf team was in Albuquerque, New Mexico, over the weekend and finished 14th at the William H. Tucker Invitational with a 9-over-par total.
Freshman Antoni Hawkins paced Missouri with a tie for 35th individually. The Tigers are off this week and return at the Bryson Invitational in Miami from Oct.
12-14.
Cross country also delivered a strong result at Gans Creek. Missouri’s No. 29 women won Friday’s Gans Creek Classic with 56 points, finishing 80 points ahead of Kentucky.
Monica Wanjiku led the way in fifth place, and Rahel Broemmel and Suzy Lecoutre also cracked the top 10. The men finished sixth, with Elijah Limo leading the group in 21st.
Both teams are idle this week before the Nuttycomb Invitational in Wisconsin on Oct. 9.
Tennis opens a busy weekend in Charlotte, North Carolina, for the 49er Invite from Friday through Sunday at Halton-Wagner Tennis Complex. Missouri started its fall season last weekend at the Husker Invitational, picking up 10 wins over three days. Millie Skelton and Evelyn Whiteside both went undefeated, including a 3-0 doubles mark together, and freshman Leticia Bazan picked up her first collegiate singles win on Sunday.
In Other News...
Daeden Hopkins Is Becoming Missouris One Sure Defensive Difference-Maker
Daeden Hopkins keeps turning himself into the kind of edge rusher Missouri can build a defense around. The sophomore defensive end just picked up his second SEC defensive lineman of the week honor after a breakout showing against Mississippi State, where he finished with 3.5 sacks. Through four games, Hopkins already leads the Tigers in sacks with six, a sign that his impact is growing fast and that opposing offenses have to account for him on every snap.
For Missouri, that kind of presence changes the shape of a game plan. The Tigers have been waiting for a true difference-maker up front, and Hopkins is starting to look like the most reliable one they have. Around the program, there was also a lighter bit of news as Missouri athletics announced an NIL partnership with Friskies involving Truman the Tiger and a charitable donation program for shelter cats, a reminder that the off-field branding piece is humming too even as Hopkins keeps supplying the on-field headlines. [Read more 🡒]
Mizzou Faces A Huge Bounce-Back Test Against Unbeaten Florida
After a frustrating 31-24 loss to Mississippi State, Missouri gets a chance to reset quickly with a top-10 opponent coming to Columbia. The Tigers, ranked No. 25, will have their hands full with No. 8 Florida, a team that has opened unbeaten under new coach Jon Sumrall and brings a much bigger spotlight into Memorial Stadium.
The stakes are obvious for Missouri, which needs a bounce-back performance to keep its momentum from slipping further after the setback. Florida arrives with the cleaner resume, and the matchup gives the Tigers an immediate measuring stick against one of the SECs early front-runners, with national attention following along on ABC and FUBO. [Read more 🡒]
Missouris Top 25 Standing Is About To Face Its Biggest Test
Missouris spot at No. 25 in the AP Top 25 has come with a little extra scrutiny, the kind that follows a team sitting on the edge of the poll and drawing skepticism from outside the program. The Tigers have managed to hang around the rankings, but the conversation around them has turned as much toward perception as performance, with some wondering whether their presence is helping the broader SEC picture more than their own rsum.
Now comes the kind of game that can settle plenty of arguments. Florida arrives as the next heavyweight on Missouris schedule, and the Tigers standing figures to be on the line in a way that goes beyond one weeks ranking. A strong showing would give Missouri a real case to stay put, while anything less could make the rest of the season a much tougher climb in the eyes of the voters. [Read more 🡒]