Missouri Tigers’ 2024 SEC football schedule: let’s talk potential (and possible risks)
For the first time since joining the SEC, the Missouri Tigers football team won’t face Georgia, Florida, Tennessee or Kentucky during conference play in 2024.
Instead, the Tigers get an old Big 12 acquaintance and Alabama on their 2024 schedule.
The SEC announced all schools’ 2024 football schedules Wednesday evening. And the big reveal came with some extra flair: the conference’s addition of Texas and Oklahoma for the 2024 season.
The league’s 2024 schedule features a division-less SEC. No more SEC East and West.
Here are three more observations.
Mizzou-Oklahoma redux
Old Big 12 foes MU and OU will meet again in 2024. The Sooners will make the trip to Columbia for the first time since Oct. 23, 2010.
Missouri won that matchup 36-27.
The programs have played each other 96 times. The 97th will be as renewed conference rivals. (At some point, MU will face Texas again, too.)
Reviving this rivalry will undoubtedly provide some extra excitement for Missouri’s home crowd. MU had impressive turnout for games against Georgia, Kentucky and Vanderbilt — attendance figures for each of those contests topped 60,000.
Historically, OU has had the upper hand against the Tigers. Oklahoma leads the all-time series against Missouri 67–24–5.
League-wide, MU-OU won’t carry the most excitement of 2024’s “new” matchups — after all, bitter rivals Texas and Texas A&M will be playing in 2024 for the first time since 2011.
But this Tigers-Sooners showdown is sure to stir some nostalgia among Mizzou fans.
Home-schedule difficulty is TBD
While the Tigers’ non-conference 2024 lineup doesn’t instill much fear — it features an FCS program, a MAC team, an independent and an ACC opponent — the SEC granted Missouri some ambiguity with its 2024 home SEC slate.
MU plays host to Oklahoma, Arkansas, Auburn and Vanderbilt.
In 2022, Oklahoma finished with a 6-7 record, while Arkansas, Vanderbilt and Auburn finished 7-6, 5-7 and 5-7, respectively. Auburn is an even bigger wild-card, entering the 2023 campaign under new head coach Hugh Freeze.
And Vanderbilt isn’t a sure win anymore. Coach Clark Lea brought the Commodores within one win of a bowl appearance in 2022 after defeating Florida and Kentucky. Vandy almost beat MU at Faurot, too.
For the Tigers, the level of difficulty in facing these four teams in 2024 will become more clear this fall.
SEC road schedule eases after ‘Bama
Missouri figures to be the heavy favorite in just one of its 2024 road games — Oct. 12 at UMass.
The others? There’s also just one game in which Missouri looks to be a massive underdog. The Tigers will road-trip to Alabama, Mississippi State, Texas A&M and South Carolina. At the moment, three of those four look winnable.
Road games at Tuscaloosa and College Station will be played in hostile environments, but Texas A&M hasn’t inspired much confidence of late.
As is typically the case, Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide will most likely be contending for a College Football Playoff berth in 2024. Kyle Field makes beating the Aggies difficult for any visiting team, but the Aggies went 2-6 in the SEC last season.
Missouri is 0-2 against Mississippi State since joining the SEC, including a 51-32 blowout loss in Starkville during Eli Drinkwitz’s first season. Then again, those games were five years and multiple coaches ago.
Meanwhile, MU has beaten South Carolina four straight times since 2019. The Mayor’s Cup is firmly in the Tigers’ hands until the Gamecocks succeed in taking it back.
