Missouri’s Week 7 trip to Ole Miss now has a kickoff time, but the TV assignment is still up in the air.
The Tigers and Rebels will meet Saturday, Oct. 17 at Vaught Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Miss., with kickoff set for 2:30 p.m. CT. The SEC said Monday the game will land on ABC, ESPN or SEC Network, depending on how this weekend shakes out.
That waiting game comes down to a handful of matchups with ripple effects across next week’s schedule. Missouri hosts Texas A&M on Saturday at 11 a.m.
CT on ABC, Arkansas plays host to Tennessee at 3:15 p.m. CT on SEC Network, and Alabama meets Georgia at 6:30 p.m.
CT on ABC. Those results will help determine the network slots for Tennessee-Alabama, Georgia-Auburn and Missouri-Ole Miss.
The SEC said it will reveal the TV plan Saturday night.
Even with the broadcast still undecided, the matchup already has plenty of weight.
It will be Austin Simmons’ return to Oxford, the place where he started his college career and spent three seasons before transferring to Missouri in January. Unless something unexpected changes, the quarterback showdown will come down to Simmons and Ole Miss starter Trinidad Chambliss, who stepped in after Simmons was hurt last year.
There’s also a rankings angle that gives this one extra shine. Missouri climbed to No. 14 in the AP Top 25 after rolling past Florida, 45-17, last Saturday in Columbia. Ole Miss sits at No. 9 after a bye week following its 52-28 loss to that same Florida team in Gainesville at the end of September.
For Missouri, the Oxford trip carries some history too. The Tigers haven’t played there since 2013, when they came away with a 24-10 win.
Overall, Mizzou is 7-1 all-time against Ole Miss and has won both meetings in Oxford. The Rebels’ only victory in the series came in 1974, a 10-0 game in Jackson, Miss.
Before that, Missouri has business at home. The Tigers are 4-1 overall and 1-1 in SEC play after the Florida win, and they’ll host Texas A&M on Saturday at Faurot Field in Columbia. Ole Miss, meanwhile, is 3-1 overall and 1-1 in conference play and faced Vanderbilt in Nashville on Saturday afternoon.
In Other News...
Missouris Offense Is Suddenly Passing An Early SEC Stress Test
Missouris offense has already been tested in a way that says plenty about where this team might be headed in SEC play. Even with injuries and a reshuffled cast around it, the Tigers have been moving the ball with real purpose, a notable development in a league where early defensive pressure tends to expose any weakness fast. The bigger picture around college football this fall has included all kinds of offensive identities, from old-school schemes winning at Northwestern to Texas leaning on defense, but Missouris improvement has stood out because it has come while the roster has been forced to adapt.
The challenge is still part performance, part personnel. Running back Ahmad Hardy has not played this season after a gunshot injury, which has pushed more responsibility onto transfer quarterback Austin Simmons and a group of new receivers. Even with that burden, Missouri has found ways to keep the attack on schedule and productive, a good sign for a team trying to prove its offense can hold up as SEC defenses get tougher and the season wears on. [Read more 🡒]
Florida Injury Update Could Matter More To Mizzou Fans Than Expected
Floridas receiving picture got a little clearer this week, and for Missouri fans, it is worth watching even though the Tigers are already past that matchup. Gators coach Jon Sumrall said Vernell Brown III, who hurt his knee in Week 4 and sat out the Week 5 game against Mizzou, has been cleared to practice and run after an MRI showed no long-term damage.
The part that still matters is what comes next. Browns status for Floridas Week 6 home game against South Carolina is still up in the air, and while he is moving around again, the final hurdle is whether he can do enough of the sharper work that comes with game action. Missouri got the version of Florida without him, but this update suggests the Gators may still be sorting out how soon he can return to a real role. [Read more 🡒]
Mizzou Defense Just Silenced A Major SEC Concern
Missouris 45-17 win over Florida was about more than another lopsided SEC result. It also came with a sharp answer to one of the leagues more persistent concerns, as the Tigers defense kept Floridas ground game from ever settling in and made the Gators play uphill for most of the afternoon. Missouri was cleaner at the point of attack, better on the perimeter and more reliable in space, the kind of performance that can change how a defense is viewed over the long haul.
Jadan Baughs early burst offered Florida a brief sense of possibility, but Missouri quickly took that away by closing off the outside-zone lanes and finishing tackles with much more authority than it had shown at times earlier this season. For a defense that had been waiting for a statement against the run, this was the kind of tape coaches can point to with real satisfaction, even if the bigger question now is whether it can stack another outing like it. [Read more 🡒]