COLUMBIA, Missouri – The University of Missouri football team begins its 134th season under the lights at Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium on Thursday when the Tigers host Murray State.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. CT and the game will be broadcast live on the SEC Network.
11th place in this year’s Related Press Preseason poll of fifth-year head coach Eliah DrinkwitzThe Tigers will compete on home soil for the fifth consecutive year and the seventh time in the last eight years.
Mizzou has won its two previous meetings with Murray State. The Tigers won the first meeting of the series on September 2, 2006 at Memorial Stadium by a score of 47-7. QB Chase Daniel threw 320 yards and five touchdowns in his first start as a Tiger, including two long scoring passes to WR Will Franklin. At the last meeting of the two programs, RBs Henry Josey (113) and Russell Hansbrough (104) each surpassed the 100-yard mark on August 31, 2013. The Tigers’ decisive 58-14 victory kicked off a program-best 2013 season with 12 wins, culminating in the SEC East Division title and victory in the Cotton Bowl.
Mizzou enters the season with its highest preseason ranking (11th) since 2008 and its fourth-highest position in a national preseason poll since the start of the Related Press‘ Ratings before the 1950 season.
Thursday’s SEC Network broadcast features guests Matt Barrie, Dan Mullen and Harry Lyles Jr. The game can also be heard on LEARFIELD’s Tiger Radio Network via the Varsity Network app and Sirius XM channel 81.
How to follow
Murray State (0-0) at (11) Missouri (0-0)
Thursday, August 29, 2024 • 7:00 p.m. CT
Columbia, Missouri • Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium (62,621)
TV • SECN
RADIO • LEARFIELD’s Tiger Radio Network
GAME NOTES • Notes on Missouri • Notes on Murray State
LIVE STATISTICS • MUTigers.com
PHONE • @MizzouFootball
GAME NOTES
Eliah Drinkwitz has the best home winning percentage (.741; 20-7) of any Mizzou football coach with at least four years at the helm.
The Tigers are coming off an 11-2 season that ended with a 14-3 victory over Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl, earning them a unanimous No. 8 pick in the 2023 national final poll.
Mizzou has an overall record of 87-42-5 in season openers and has won 23 of its last 27 openers.
The Tigers have a 97-32-4 record in home openers, including a 3-1 record under Drinkwitz, and an overall record of 67-28-3 at Faurot Field.
Mizzou returns eight offensive starters in 2024, including the top five receivers from last fall; that group accounted for 92 percent — or 3,138 yards — of the Tigers’ receiving yards in 2023.
The Tigers’ best receiver, Luther Burden IIIwas a first team AP Preseason All-America selection and named to nominees for the Biletnikoff, Maxwell, Walter Camp and Paul Hornung Awards.
The 2024 roster includes 32 players who have started at least four games at the FBS level in their college careers.
Mizzou has won 16 consecutive non-conference games at Memorial Stadium since October 21, 2017.
BLUEGRASS BATTLES
Missouri’s record against Kentucky schools is 9-8 heading into Thursday’s contest.
This season, the Tigers will face at least one opponent from the Bluegrass State for the 12th consecutive year.
MU has a 2-0 overall record against the Racers and a 5-9 record against Kentucky, winning its only meetings with those teams against Louisville and Transylvania.
There are no Kentucky athletes on Mizzou’s roster, but Murray State’s roster includes seven athletes from the Show-Me State: RB Kevin Emmanuel (St. Louis, Eureka HS); OL Ashton Flinn (Jackson, Jackson HS); DL Jerome Logan (St. Louis, CBC HS); OL Jonah Logan (St. Louis, Vashon HS); PK Kyle Parini (St. Louis, Parkway West HS); DB KaVan Reed (St. Louis, East St. Louis HS); DB Trace Ruckman (Wildwood, Eureka HS).
SURVEY STATUS
For the first time since 2015, the Tigers start the season among the top 25 teams in the country and are ranked 11th in the Related Press And USA Today Coach Preseason polls.
Missouri’s preseason position in the rankings is the best since the 2008 season, when the Tigers were ranked 6th in the AP Pre-season survey.
MU’s 8th place finish last fall marked the highest postseason finish since being ranked 5th in both AP And trainer Surveys in 2013.
IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME
Mizzou drew 421,184 fans through the turnstiles of Memorial Stadium last fall, matching the Tigers’ fifth-best single-season attendance record and the highest single-season attendance for MU since 2014, when the team drew 456,996 fans.
The number of visitors increased by 10.4 percent compared to 2022 (381,677) and by 29.4 percent compared to 2021 (325,614).
The Tigers will enter the 2024 season with five consecutive sell-out games after averaging 60,169 fans per game in their final five home games last year.
Mizzou’s five-game sell-out streak is the program’s longest since 1980.
Paving the way
Missouri’s offensive turnaround in 2023 would not have been possible without the outstanding collective effort of its experienced line.
This year’s O-Line unit returns with three starters —Cam’Ron Johnson, Armand Membou And Connor Tollison – each of whom started at least 12 games last fall.
The Tigers’ OL unit is probably one of the most experienced in the country and had a total of 104 career appearances at the start of the season.
Last year, the Tigers averaged 434.3 yards per game, ranking 28th in the nation.
American through and through Cody Schrader led the nation in rushing yards per game (125.2 ypg) and totaled a program-record 1,627 yards on the ground.
Mizzou’s red zone offense also worked flawlessly, scoring points on 56 of 58 attempts inside the 20-yard line, ranking the team third among all FBS offenses nationwide.
DEATH STRIP DEFENSE
Mizzou’s defense was a driving force behind the Tigers’ 11-2 season last fall, as the “Death Row Defense” has been one of the SEC’s biggest turnaround stories over the past two seasons.
The Tigers allowed just 336.1 yards per game, ranking Mizzou’s defense among the nation’s top 35 in total defense for the second consecutive season.
The Tigers allowed just 20.8 points per game, ranking 20th among all FBS teams in defense and 10th nationally in turnover differential (0.77).
The next man
Despite losing five NFL draftees on defense, Mizzou can expect to rely on an experienced roster to maintain its defensive momentum in 2024.
Key to that effort will be the work of a defensive backfield that will welcome back three regular starters from last year – S Daniel CarnellS Joseph Charleston and CB Dreyden Norwood – and a supporting cast that helped the group earn a total of 87 star appearances in their careers.
Charleston finished the 2023 season as the Tigers’ second-leading tackler with 61 total stops and 38 solo tackles, the highest on his team.
Carnell recorded 51 total tackles last fall and enters his fourth year as a Tiger with four interceptions; his seven interceptions in 2023 were the second-best on the club, only Kris Abrams-Draine’s 13 PBUs.
Carnell has converted an intercepted pass into a touchdown in each of the last two seasons.
