Missouri football opened the preseason with a national ranking, landing at No. 25 in the AP Top 25 Poll and slotting in as the 25th-best team in the FBS.
It’s the 12th time in program history the Tigers have shown up in the preseason top 25, and the second time Eli Drinkwitz has done it since taking over in 2020. This is also the first time Missouri has checked in exactly at No. 25 in the preseason AP poll.
The SEC once again dominates the list, and Missouri is part of a nine-team conference contingent. Eight other SEC programs joined the Tigers in the preseason poll, matching the same group that appeared in the coaches poll.
At the top of the rankings are Ohio State, Oregon, Georgia, Notre Dame and Texas. The full top 25 also includes Indiana, Miami, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Oklahoma, LSU, Texas Tech, Alabama, BYU, USC, Michigan, Washington, Penn State, SMU, Tennessee, Utah, Iowa, Houston, Louisville and Missouri.
For Missouri, the ranking matters most because of what waits on the schedule. The Tigers are set to face five teams that begin the year in the preseason top 10: No.
8 Texas A&M, No. 5 Texas, No.
9 Ole Miss, No. 3 Georgia and No.
10 Oklahoma. All five of those games land in Missouri’s final seven contests, and three will come in Columbia, with home dates against Texas A&M, Texas and Oklahoma.
The road trip to Ole Miss and the matchup at Georgia round out that brutal stretch.
Missouri has dropped its previous meeting with four of those five opponents. The lone exception is Ole Miss, which the Tigers beat in 2019.
That sets up a much steeper climb than last season’s schedule, when Missouri faced four teams ranked in the preseason top 25, and one of those opponents had fallen out of the rankings by the time the game arrived.
The Tigers also haven’t knocked off a ranked SEC opponent since their 36-7 win over No. 13 Tennessee in 2023. In 2026, they’ll get several chances to change that.
Among Missouri’s opponents, Florida looks like the closest thing to a toss-up on paper. The Gators landed just outside the top 25, two spots behind Missouri, and will meet the Tigers at Memorial Stadium in Week 5. Missouri enters that game after four straight matchups against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Kansas, Troy and Mississippi State.
Florida’s early schedule is tougher than Missouri’s, with games against Florida Atlantic, Campbell, Auburn and No. 9 Ole Miss before heading to Columbia. That homecoming matchup gives Missouri an early measuring stick as the SEC grind starts to tighten.
In Other News...
Mizzou Just Added Backfield Depth Fans Could Be Talking About Soon
Missouri has quietly added a pair of FCS transfer tailbacks who could give the backfield a different look down the road. Xai'Shaun Edwards arrives from Houston Christian after a breakout 2025 season with more than 1,000 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns, while Malae Fonoti comes over from Montana after serving as a complementary piece there. For a program that always seems to be searching for more reliable depth in the run game, these are the kinds of additions that can matter more than they first appear.
Both backs give the Tigers options, and both enter with a chance to carve out bigger roles if they adjust quickly to the SEC level. Edwards brings the more eye-catching production, Fonoti the steady supporting profile, and together they add competition to a room that can use it. Missouri does not have to force either player into the spotlight right away, but the upside is obvious enough that fans may start tracking how this backfield sorts itself out. [Read more 🡒]
Mizzous Passing Game Faces An Unusual Adjustment This Season
Missouris offense is spending part of fall camp on something most teams never have to worry about: getting used to a left-handed quarterback. Austin Simmons, the transfer from Ole Miss who is expected to guide the Tigers this season, changes the feel of everything from the way the ball comes out of his hand to the timing of handoffs and the angles linemen have to protect. For a unit that already has plenty to sort out in a new season, it is an unusual layer of adjustment.
Receivers and backs are feeling it most closely, with teammates such as Donovan Olugbode and Caleb Goodie working through the differences in Simmons spin and release on the practice field. Those little details matter in a passing game, where timing and repetition can decide whether a play is routine or messy, and Missouri is still in the process of making those habits feel natural. The bigger question is how quickly all of that settles before the Tigers have to put it into action for real. [Read more 🡒]
Mizzou Faces Defining 2026 Tests As Drinkwitz Enters A New Spotlight
Missouri is heading into 2026 with a roster that looks far different from a year ago, as Eli Drinkwitz and his staff try to blend returning depth with 30 transfers brought in to cover key spots. The schedule alone will keep the Tigers busy, and it starts with the SECs new nine-game format, which raises the weekly grind and gives Missouri a slate packed with the kind of matchups that can shape a season early and keep it tense all the way through.
Kansas, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Georgia and Oklahoma all sit on the calendar, giving Missouri no shortage of measuring-stick games and making every stretch feel meaningful. For Drinkwitz, the spotlight only gets brighter when the opponent list reads like that, and the bigger question is how quickly the Tigers can settle their roster and turn those storylines into results once the games begin. [Read more 🡒]