By Chris Marler
Season in a sentence
Back-to-back ten win seasons feels like a sign of things to come, not a fluke in Columbia.
Three Highs
- The Auburn Game
The Auburn game was legendary for Brady Cook. After exiting the game with an injury, Cook actually left the whole stadium to go to the hospital. He returned late in the fourth quarter and led two scoring drives to secure the win. It was only the second time in the last 20 years Auburn lost while holding a lead of 14 or more in the second half.
- Owning Arkansas
Outside of Marty and the mob during season 3 of Ozarks, nobody has owned the state of Arkansas like Missouri. The Tigers have won eight of their last nine against Arkansas.
- The Oklahoma emotional roller coaster
This was the absolute drunkest game of the SEC season. There were 28 points scored in the final three minutes and 18 seconds, including two fumble returns for touchdowns. It was a massive win for Missouri and a massive loss to anyone who bet the under. Sheesh.
Three Lows
- The Texas A&M loss
Missouri went to College Station as a top ten team and got absolutely destroyed by Texas A&M. Connor Weigman played like an All-American and it was 34-0 halfway through the third quarter.
- The South Carolina loss
The loss to South Carolina felt especially painful. Before the game Eli Drinkwitz brought up the fact that it was a de facto elimination game for the college football playoff. We all laughed at him but he was right.
- Offensive regression
If there was one thing people were most confident in this past preseason with Missouri, it was that their offense was going to be one of the best in the SEC, possibly the country. However, that’s not what we saw. The loss of Cody Schrader, aka OG Cam Skattebo, and the injuries to Brady Cook did not help.
The Offense
Missouri boasted one of the most potent offenses in the SEC in 2023, fueled by a strong late-season rushing attack and one of the best receiving corps in the nation. They returned seemingly every offensive weapon except Cody Schrader in 2024, but the offense took a sizable step back.
Maybe sizable is an unfair word to use, but it sure felt that way when you add the expectations people had coming into the 2024 season. The injuries to Brady Cook certainly factored into that regression. However, the offense looked clunky from the beginning. Cook’s biggest weakness as a passer was his downfield accuracy and it felt like early on they were hellbent on having that be a big part of the playcalling regardless.
Cook finished the season with just 11 passing touchdowns. His production was nearly cut in half from the previous season when he finished with 21. Luther Burden was in the same boat. After finishing with over 1200 yards in 2023 he finished 2024 with 25 less catches and over 500 yards less receiving. A bright spot in the passing game was definitely Theo Wease who was fantastic all year for the Tigers and one of the more underrated players in the league.
Offensive Grade: C+
The Defense
Statistically speaking, Missouri’s defense was great this year. They finished in the top six in three of the four major defensive categories and had a top 20 passing defense nationally. Missouri allowed over 30 points and 400 yards just three times all season long. The problem was that those three games happened to be against the only teams they played with a real pulse.
Defensive Grade: B-
Overall Grade
Eli Drinkwitz is the butt of a lot of jokes from SEC fans. Missouri is, too. The jokes about Missouri not belonging in the SEC have been stale for years. Not only have they been stale, but they’ve been flat out wrong. While fans make jokes about the state’s geography and how Drinkwitz looks like that one guy from Wolf of Wallstreet, all Missouri has done is consistently build.
Missouri finished this season with back-to-back ten win seasons. They’re 21-5 over the last two seasons and have quietly inserted themselves firmly into the arms race of SEC recruiting and transfer portal recruiting. Missouri is one of only two teams in the conference to have signed more players than they’ve lost this offseason. They now have back-to-back Top 20 recruiting classes and a top ten incoming transfer portal class.
As far as this season goes, it’s weird to say that 9-3 felt like a disappointment, but to an extent it kind of was. That’s primarily because of what they returned production wise, but it’s also because of how manageable the schedule was, ranking as the third easiest in the entire league. The good news is that they play the same teams next year and don’t leave home for the first six weeks.
Overall Season Grade: B-, but buy stock now
