Through Aug. 22, Sports Illustrated will count down its preseason college football Top 25 with overviews of each team. Here are the full rankings so far.
If you were to rattle off who are some of the most consistent programs of the past few years across college football, you are probably liable to skip over Missouri, despite the Tigers winning 10 games or more in back-to-back seasons and doing more than keeping their head above water in one of the toughest leagues in the country.
Flying under the radar, however, seems to suit the Tigers just fine as they enter the year riding a wave of momentum around the program both on and off the field.
“We have a ‘something to prove’ mindset. Whether you’re talking about our coaching staff, our players, we all have a little bit of a chip on our shoulder,” said head coach Eli Drinkwitz. “In the key moments, it’s more about the belief in each other. That’s really what drives us. It’s our belief in our brotherhood, in our Elite Edge Program, our belief in our ‘always compete’ mentality, the development of trust and respect we have with each other. It’s having fun while we’re doing this that really drives us in our success.”
A bigger question hovering over Drinkwitz for 2025 is if all that success, good as things might have been recently, is the product of being good or being a bit lucky.
The Tigers were a remarkable 10–1 in one-score games the past two seasons and have lately benefited from one of the most favorable conference schedules in the entire SEC. Missouri had a veteran-laden roster the last two years but that’s given way to a group that is one of the more enigmatic under their head coach. Plus, while the Tigers don’t have to leave Columbia until mid-October this season, they have been quite suspect on the road in league play to the point where it’s cost them from really contending for more than an upper-half finish in the standings.
All of that sets up what should be a fascinating season ahead at Mizzou, with the consistency of the past few years leading the Tigers to getting some benefit of the doubt despite replacing all but four starters on offense and needing to sort out some big question marks during the first month of the season (especially at quarterback). The defense returns seven starters to a quality two-deep and have brought in some very experienced names, such as safety Jalen Catalon, to help supplement them. The schedule is tougher but still a good draw to the point where a 5–0 start with Alabama coming to town is probably an expectation.
“Really proud of the football team we will field this fall,” said Drinkwitz. “38 new scholarship players. 21 came from the transfer portal, 17 from high school. We built a roster to compete this season.”
Missouri has shown it can do that as of late. To what extent the Tigers can ultimately do so is a bit more up for debate despite what recent history has shown.
Fast Facts
2024 record: 10–3, 5–3 SEC
Offense: 28.9 ppg (55th in FBS), 5.49 yards per play (87th)
Defense: 20.4 ppg (20th in FBS), 5.43 yards per play (58th)
On the Headset
Eli Drinkwitz, entering Year 6 in Columbia (seventh as a head coach), 50–25 overall record, 38–24 with the Tigers
When Drinkwitz was hired by the Tigers after just one 12–1 season at Appalachian State, many folks wondered just how much he would be able to elevate the program, especially in the SEC. It probably didn’t help that a global pandemic hit just a few months into his tenure but the state he resides in lives by one motto that tends to hold true regardless of the circumstances: show me.
Well, show them he has. Drinkwitz has not only pushed Mizzou onto a different level within the conference but nationally as well. The program will open the season ranked for the 20th consecutive week, having won two bowl games against marquee Big Ten opponents in back-to-back years—one of which was in the New Year’s Six. The Tigers have gone 21–5 in the last two years, the best stretch of Missouri football since the high-water mark of 23–5 under Gary Pinkel from 2013–14 that included two SEC East titles.
That’s quality work by Drinkwitz and his staff given the neighborhood they play in but also raises expectations internally and externally moving forward into 2025 and beyond. The Tigers have taken advantage of a favorable schedule recently and far too often have found their way into close games more than you would expect given that lofty record. Still, things are good in Columbia right now and the skepticism around the team’s head coach is the type that exists around those who have been winning a lot of games but lack some meaningful hardware to underscore it.
Key Returning Starter
OG Cayden Green, Jr.
Just three other players on offense are back in the starting lineup for 2025 from last year’s team but Green is a solid building block up front alongside center Connor Tollison. The left guard was Mizzou’s lone pre-season All-SEC selection to make either the first or second team and he’s played a central role in building an offense that is tough to defend given how balanced they can be. With so many new faces set to take the field in the opener against Central Arkansas, being able to pick up yards behind Green’s 6' 5", 324-pound body will surely make things a little easier for the whole group.
Key Transfer
QB Beau Pribula, from Penn State
The Tigers are replacing a three-year starter under center in the typically dependable Brady Cook (2,535 yards in 2024) and figuring out his successor might be the biggest unknown hovering over the team before kickoff arrives in late August.
The coaching staff isn’t tipping its hand at the quarterback battle going into fall camp—former four-star Sam Horn is very much in the mix—but it was notable that the Tigers went hard in the portal last December to land Pribula from Penn State, whose departure during the playoff caused plenty of chatter about the football calendar but far less about how he could fit in at Mizzou. The grad transfer brings something different to the table with his dual-threat abilities, but there still is a bit of a question mark about his ability to be the type of consistent passer that the Tigers need given how limited he was as a change of pace QB who sat behind Drew Allar the last two years.
“When you talk about the quarterback position, there are five traits you’re looking for. Beau had those traits. As a program, as an offense, you have to design to a quarterback’s strengths. I don’t think when you watch the tape, there’s not an inability for Beau to throw, he just didn’t quite have the opportunities,” Drinkwitz said. “I would say after this spring, I’m as confident as ever that Beau is a very talented passer. I don’t really have any reservations about that.”
For Missouri to win games at a clip similar to recent seasons, it’s going to need good quarterback play and whether Prubula is the true answer to that probably won’t be known until league play really picks up.
Key Departure
WR Luther Burden III, second-round NFL draft pick to the Chicago Bears
You can debate whether or not Burden lived up to his billing as a five-star out of high school but there was little question that he was one of the players at Mizzou that defensive coordinators had to account for at all times. His playmaking ability was well documented and despite the offense sometimes becoming a little one-dimensional in his direction, it will be tough to replace a guy who led the team in receptions the past two years and was capable of making something out of nothing with regularity.
Circle the Dates
- Sept. 6, vs. Kansas
- Oct. 11, vs. Alabama
- Oct. 18, at Auburn
- Nov. 8, vs. Texas A&M
Bottom Line
After losing so much production from last season, it’s easy to see why Mizzou might regress some on the field. But the floor is set pretty high given the schedule and, if the Tigers get better than expected on offense, they should once again be punching above their weight as a consistent Top 25 squad.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Sports Illustrated’s College Football Preseason Top 25: No. 20 Missouri .