Happy Week 1 of the college football season, and the picks are rolling in with Missouri opening Year 7 of the Eli Drinkwitz era tonight against Arkansas Pine-Bluff. The Tigers are sticking with their Thursday-night kickoff habit, while Saturday brings Baylor-Auburn in Atlanta and Lane Kiffin’s LSU debut against Clemson.
The only ranked matchup of the weekend comes Sunday in Nashville, where No. 24 Louisville meets No.
9 Ole Miss.
Before getting to the slate, the Week 0 standings check in like this: Stava went 2-2 SU and 2-2 ATS, Gustafson finished 1-3 SU and 1-3 ATS, and Matejka, Lewis and Hurst all landed at 2-2 SU and 2-2 ATS.
Missouri’s opener is the kind of spread that turns a simple game into a debate: No. 25 Mizzou is laying 54.5 against Arkansas Pine-Bluff.
Sammy Stava doesn’t see the Tigers covering, but he still expects a comfortable win, calling for a 45-3 final. Matthew Gustafson is on the same side of the blowout question, projecting a game that looks more like last year’s UMass matchup than the Central Arkansas one and landing at 48-7.
Josh Matejka also faded the huge number, pointing to Mizzou’s new quarterback, new receivers and missing top running back and offensive lineman before settling on 42-6. Jaden Lewis was the most optimistic of the group, believing the new offense gets going right away in a 58-13 Missouri win.
Nathan Hurst did not submit a pick.
The Baylor-Auburn game in Atlanta has Auburn listed as a 7.5-point favorite, and the panel leaned toward the Tigers there too. Stava liked the Alex Golesh hire and the addition of USF transfer Byrum Brown, saying Auburn should have the home-field edge in Atlanta and predicting a 31-20 win.
Gustafson also took Auburn, noting that in a matchup of a mediocre to subpar Big 12 team and a mediocre to subpar SEC team, he’ll usually side with the SEC, especially with the crowd expected to be friendly to Auburn. He had it 34-24.
Matejka asked whether Auburn is back, then answered his own question by picking the more talented team and the one getting the new-coach bump, 34-17. Lewis saw Golesh trying to revive Auburn with Byrum Brown while DJ Lagway works to help Baylor bounce back from a down year in 2025, but he still chose Auburn to pull away 30-20.
Hurst again did not pick.
Clemson at No. 11 LSU is the marquee game on Saturday, with LSU favored by 10.5.
Stava said he can’t see LSU losing Lane Kiffin’s debut, especially in a night home game, and predicted a 35-23 Tigers win. Gustafson went in even harder, calling LSU ultra-talented and Clemson the crumbling ruins of Dabo Swinney’s former dynasty, then taking LSU 34-21.
Matejka backed Lane Kiffin as a coach who can still put together a strong team and said the home debut will be a big one, with LSU winning 37-21. Lewis was more cautious on the score but still landed on LSU, 16-10, saying Baton Rouge is a tough place to play.
Hurst did not pick.
The late-night matchup has UCLA at Cal with the Bruins laying 1.5, and this one split the group. Stava backed Cal, pointing to sophomore quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele’s freshman All-American season and the addition of Ohio transfer receiver Chase Hendricks, who Mizzou targeted in the offseason.
He took Cal 24-20. Gustafson also chose the Golden Bears, praising their recent fun style and saying they should improve under Tosh Lupoi, while Bob Chesney was a strong hire for UCLA.
His pick: Cal 27-24. Matejka said Hendricks is going to make him sad all season and expects the receiver to catch a touchdown in a 27-21 Cal win.
Lewis went the other direction, calling Sagapolutele one of the game’s young stars and noting Nico Iameleava’s second year after leaving Tennessee, but he still picked UCLA 28-21. Hurst did not pick.
Sunday’s ranked showdown in Nashville features No. 24 Louisville against No.
9 Ole Miss, with the Rebels favored by 6.5. Stava doesn’t think Louisville’s defense can handle the Rebel offense led by Chambliss and Lacy, and he has Ole Miss winning 31-20.
Gustafson brought up Lincoln Kienholz, saying he’s now Louisville’s starting quarterback after transferring since the 2023 Cotton Bowl, but he expects Trinidad Chambliss to outgun him in his debut and picked Ole Miss 35-21. Matejka backed the Rebels too, saying Chambliss has plenty to prove in his final - well, who’s to say on that front - season and won’t let a Top 25 home matchup derail things.
He called it 33-20. Hurst did not pick.
In Other News...
Drinkwitz Sends Mizzou An Early Warning Before Kansas
Missouris 54-14 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff looked comfortable on the scoreboard, but Eli Drinkwitz still came away with a mixed read on his teams performance. The coach said he was disappointed to miss out on meeting Sheryl Crow, then shifted quickly to the football itself, pointing to a second half that did not match the standard Missouri needs as it heads into a much bigger week.
Drinkwitz said the Tigers need to tighten up the details before Kansas arrives, and he did not soften the list of concerns. Penalties, a lack of pressure on the quarterback and a missed chance at a takeaway all stood out, along with the kind of intensity lapse that can linger if it is ignored. For Missouri, the opener was a reminder that a lopsided win still can leave plenty to fix. [Read more 🡒]
Mizzous New Era Just Raised The Pressure On Eli Drinkwitz
Missouri football has spent much of its modern history trying to outrun old problems, from coaching turnover to facilities that lagged behind the programs ambitions. That backdrop is what makes the current moment feel different. The Tigers now have a $250 million north end zone stadium project on the way, and they backed up the momentum with a dominant win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff, a reminder that the program is trying to project both stability and ambition at the same time.
Eli Drinkwitz is right in the middle of it all. His tenure has already included a contract extension, which says plenty about how Missouri views the direction of the program, but it also comes with the natural downside of raised expectations. When a school starts investing like this, the conversation changes fast, and Drinkwitz now has to manage not just wins and losses, but the pressure that comes with a program finally acting like it expects more. [Read more 🡒]
Mizzou's New Offense Just Created A Bigger Question For SEC Play
Missouris season opener at Faurot Field went about as cleanly as it could have in a 54-14 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff, with the new-look offense looking comfortable from the start. Transfer quarterback Austin Simmons was efficient and sharp before the break, completing 17 of 19 passes for 252 yards and four touchdowns in the first half before sitting out the second half, while a defense that controlled the line of scrimmage kept Arkansas-Pine Bluff to limited yardage early and gave the Tigers plenty of short fields.
The production was spread around, too, with Donovan Olugbode and Jamal Roberts among the players who got in on the scoring. For Missouri, the opener offered an encouraging first look at how the offense might function, but it also left the more relevant question hanging over the rest of September: what happens when this version of the Tigers has to prove it against SEC defenses that wont yield nearly as easily? [Read more 🡒]