Missouri’s path from here only gets steeper, and the next stop is a good place to find out what this team is really made of.
No. 19 Mizzou heads to Starkville on Saturday night to face No.
24 Mississippi State, with kickoff set for 6:45 p.m. CT on SEC Network.
The Bulldogs are 3-0 and 1-0 in SEC play, and the Tigers will have to handle one of the first major tests in a brutal stretch that keeps stacking up ranked opponents.
That schedule looks every bit as unforgiving as it did back in the summer, when Missouri’s slate already had people talking about how tough the season would be. Then the preseason polls dropped, and the point became even harder to miss: five of the Tigers’ 2026 opponents were in the preseason Top-10. Three weeks into the year, Missouri is 3-0 and ranked No. 19 in the AP Top-25, but the real grind is still ahead.
And it is a grind. Missouri’s remaining schedule currently includes six Top-25 teams.
The next four weeks alone bring Mississippi State, No. 21 Florida, No.
23 Texas A&M and No. 4 Ole Miss.
After that comes a November gauntlet with current No. 1 Texas, current No.
2 Georgia, then home dates with Kentucky and Oklahoma, who are sitting in the AP’s Receiving Votes pile at Nos. 27 and 29.
According to ESPN’s Football Power Index, Missouri has the second-toughest remaining schedule in the country, behind only Oklahoma, and just a 6.4% chance to reach the College Football Playoff.
The numbers on Missouri’s recent track record against elite teams don’t exactly soften the picture. Under Eli Drinkwitz, the Tigers are 7-19 against Top-25 opponents. On the road against Top-25 teams, they are 2-11.
Those two road wins came against No. 24 Kentucky in 2023, a 38-21 victory, and No. 25 South Carolina in 2022, a 23-10 win.
If bowl games are included, Missouri’s away record against ranked teams becomes 3-12, with the 14-3 Cotton Bowl win over No. 7 Ohio State in 2023 added to the ledger, along with last year’s 13-7 loss to No. 19 Virginia in the Gator Bowl.
Inside the Mizzou Football Facility at Memorial Stadium, the message on the wall is simple: “Something To Prove.”
That line fits the moment. The Tigers have plenty to show in Starkville.
In Other News...
Mizzou Faces A Growing Problem After Another SEC Loss
Missouris womens soccer team is still searching for traction in SEC play after falling to Auburn in its third league matchup, a result that extended the Tigers losing streak to three. Auburn jumped ahead with two early goals, both coming with assists from Kelly Gordon, while Missouri leaned heavily on senior goalkeeper Kate Phillips, who turned in a career-high 10 saves to keep the margin from growing even further.
The setback dropped Missouri to 3-6-1 and added more urgency to a stretch that has already tested the Tigers ability to settle in against conference competition. South Carolina is next, and for Missouri, the challenge is no longer just about snapping the skid, but about finding a way to turn solid stretches in net into the kind of complete performance that can reset an SEC season. [Read more 🡒]
Mizzou Gets One More Border Showdown In KC Before A Bigger Question
Kansas and Mizzou will close out their revived six-game basketball series this winter, giving the Border War one more turn on a neutral floor in Kansas City before the matchup heads into its next chapter. The game has become a familiar marker on the schedule since the rivalry returned in 2021, and this one figures to carry the usual mix of history, proximity and bragging rights that have long defined it.
The final game of the series is set for Dec. 6 at T-Mobile Center, with public tickets going on sale Oct. 5 through AXS. Kansas has owned most of the recent meetings and still holds a commanding edge in the all-time basketball series, which is part of what gives this one extra weight for Missouri fans who have watched the rivalry reestablish itself game by game. [Read more 🡒]
Dennis Gates Just Gave Missouri Fans A Telling Offseason Look
Dennis Gates offered a useful snapshot of where Missouri is in the offseason while speaking at the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association clinic, and it said as much about his programs structure as it did about the upcoming work. Rather than treating practice like a blank page every day, Gates described a staff-driven approach built around a long-established installation plan, the kind of organization that gives a team direction before the real teaching even starts.
For Missouri right now, that means the early emphasis is on learning the details. Gates said the Tigers are in an install phase, working through the building blocks that tend to matter most once games start counting, from baseline out-of-bounds plays to halfcourt actions and press break work. It is the sort of offseason reveal that does not create headlines on its own, but it does show where Gates wants the attention to go: teaching, repetition and the kinds of fundamentals that can shape the season later. [Read more 🡒]