Mizzou Football Opener 2024: 3 Things to Watch For

COLUMBIA, Mo. — And so it begins.

No. 11 Missouri opens the 2024 season on Thursday at 7 p.m. against Murray State, continuing the trend of recent years of starting the season with a game on a weeknight.

This season, however, the game has already sold out, a reflection of the Tigers’ standing both nationally and among their fans.

The game will be broadcast on the SEC Network with Matt Barrie, former Florida coach Dan Mullen and Harry Lyles Jr. as speakers.

Mizzou is favored by nearly seven touchdowns over the Racers, a Football Championship Subdivision program.

Here are three things to watch for in MU’s first game of the year:

In most games, the bar is set on winning. But in such a lopsided contest, most observers probably want to see more than just a Tigers victory.

Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz gave his expectations earlier this week:

“Obviously we want to see a downhill run attack. We want to see an explosive offense. We want to see an offense that creates pressure through pace. We want to see an offense that executes situational football. Defensively, we want to see a group that stops the run, is multi-faceted on third downs, wins situational football, and is really good at tackling and getting the ball away. Special teams, we want to do a great job of covering kicks, and then we want to be really good in the kicking phase.”

If the Tigers could accomplish most of those goals, they would complete a comfortable win over an FCS program with a new coach and dozens of new players.

“All of those things are (what) we ideally envision, and we’ll see where we are on Thursday night,” Drinkwitz said.

Given that MU is gunning for an eventual berth in the 12-team College Football Playoff, there’s an outside notion that “style points” could matter in the perception of this team’s strength. Personal preference will likely dictate whether a viewer will find five, seven, or nine touchdowns of padding between the Tigers and Racers enough to make for a winning road game. Some will undoubtedly be more concerned with the scoring than any other form of margin.

If Thursday night’s opening stretch goes as planned, Missouri shouldn’t have to rely on its starters in the later portions of the game. That could put the spotlight on some players who are still working to earn consistent playing time and opportunities.

The opener, for example, could give five-star freshman edge rusher Williams Nwaneri his first collegiate snaps, even though he’s near the bottom of the rotation at that position. New backup quarterback Drew Pyne could be asked to test his transition into coordinator Kirby Moore’s offense. An offensive lineman like Logan Reichert, who impressed in spring training but passed up a shot at the starting job to a more experienced transfer, could benefit from some live action. The plethora of young wide receivers — most notably Joshua Manning and Daniel Blood — could be targets.

And while there won’t be a different quarterback in each half for competitive reasons, as there was in last season’s season opener against an FCS opponent, there are still some competitions that could be affected by what happens on the field.

Toriano Pride Jr. appears to have the edge over Nicholas Deloach Jr. for the starting cornerback position, though they are on the same level on this week’s unofficial depth chart.

Chris McClellan was expected to take a more prominent spot in the defensive tackle rotation than Marquis Gracial, but that battle has apparently evened out heading into preseason training camp, with Gracial potentially emerging as the starter.

And the running back dynamic is still to be determined. Appalachian State transfer Nate Noel and Georgia State transfer Marcus Carroll will likely form a committee of sorts. Lately, though, Missouri has leaned toward playing Noel more often and giving Carroll the change-of-pace role.

“We have a plan for how we’re going to do it,” Drinkwitz said. “Nate Noel is going to go out there first, and then he and Marcus will rotate. I think those guys have good, complementary football skills, and they know how to play with each other. We understand that we probably don’t have someone who can carry it as much as Cody (Schrader) does, so we’re going to have to do a good job of making sure we get the starter in a rhythm, but also make sure they’re fresh.”

Early last season, Mizzou’s offense looked muddy in the early games, but as the year progressed, it exploded more often. Some of those early struggles could certainly have been a byproduct of adjusting to Moore’s system, but there could also have been a competitive element.

After all, what is the value of pulling off particularly cunning or creative plays so early in the season if you can use them to surprise stronger opponents later?

Drinkwitz refuted the claim that the Tigers would not enforce any rules on Thursday.

“We’re trying to win Week 1,” he said. “The most important game we have on the schedule is this one, period. There’s no guarding, there’s no hiding. We just want to win.”

But he did add some nuances, namely that the plans will not be as adventurous now as they might be later.

“To win, you’ve got to call what your guys can execute and what your guys have consistently repeated,” Drinkwitz said. “That doesn’t mean your playbook is going to be wide open. It means you’re going to call what you’ve repeated in the previous 25 practices that you’re comfortable with in big situations.”