College football returns to Faurot Field in 100 days.
Spring practices wrapped up in Columbia all the way back in March. The transfer portal is closed to new entries. A bulk of Missouri football’s prospective high school recruits in the Class of 2026 will arrive on campus over the course of June and July.
Missouri is in the middle of a stretch that is as close as the sport gets to the offseason.
Players won’t report for fall camp until late July or early August. At some point between now and then, players will take part in offseason workouts, or what the NCAA calls “summer access” periods, which allow eight hours of team practice per week divided between film and on-field work. In the immediate future, the team announced a group of 60 players, coaches and staff members are in Jamaica on a one-week service trip.
It’s been a busy offseason for head coach Eli Drinkwitz and company. With multiple key players leaving due to graduation, replenishing the roster via the portal has been priority No. 1.
All is — relatively — quiet in the college football world.
So, of course, it’s prime time across the media landscape for far-too-early predictions and rankings. What else is there to do in May, after all?
And doing our duty, we ought to dissect those rankings, right? What else is there to do, after all?
With 100 days until the Tigers take the field Thursday, Aug. 28 to open the 2025 season against Central Arkansas, here is how the national media views Missouri:
Where is Missouri football ranked?
Look up some recent way-too-early polls, and there’s a pretty common theme for Mizzou in the post-spring, post-portal top-25 rankings.
ESPN, May 8: Unranked.
Saturday Down South, May 14: Unranked.
247Sports, May 5: Unranked, receiving one vote between six pollsters.
CBSSports, May 5: Unranked, and not among the 11 — yes, 11 — unranked teams who “just missed the cut.”
USA Today, April 28: Unranked.
Those are the first five sets of rankings that showed up after a Google search for post-spring college football polls. To find a poll that ranks Mizzou, you have to dig.
Vegas has set the over-under at 7.5 wins for Missouri in 2025. That is clearly a significant drop from before the 2024 season, when the Tigers were widely considered a top-20 team and had a 9.5 preseason win total.
After 11- and 10-win seasons in 2023 and 2024, respectively, is that fair, or are the Tigers being widely overlooked?
Is hesitancy to rank Missouri valid?
It might seem a little unfair, putting together two straight double-digit-win seasons and not earning a preseason top-25 mark. But, the major concerns are at least fair.
First and foremost, the big one: How will Mizzou fare replacing Brady Cook?
In an article ranking each Power-conference team’s offseason, ESPN had Missouri at No. 9 in the SEC — firmly middle of the pack. In that story, Bill Connelly mentioned the back-to-back double-digit win seasons for MU and the fact there is an incoming transfer for every departure on the team.
All of that is good. But, there was a caveat …
“We’ll see if (Beau) Pribula can turn out to be as good a close-game muse as Brady Cook, however,” Connelly wrote. “Mizzou was 10-1 in one-score finishes in 2023-24.”
That’s the primary concern. Both Pribula and challenger Sam Horn are unproven under center. It’s not a given that Missouri seamlessly moves on from Cook.
You can extend that concern to the offense at large, too. Missouri is replacing its starting quarterback, top two running backs, all three starting wide receivers and three of its five starters along the offensive line. That, according to Connelly’s research, ranks 100th out of 136 FBS teams for returning offensive production.
It’s reasonable to like what Mizzou has added in the portal to bridge the gap between the 2024 and 2025 offenses. The likes of running back Ahmad Hardy and wide receiver Kevin Coleman Jr. are encouraging additions and should translate to instant-plug production.
Both On3 and 247Sports rank Mizzou’s 2025 transfer portal acquisitions as the No. 7 class in the country. Eleven of those newcomers play on the offensive side of the ball. There is a lot to like.
But, it’s also understandable if pollsters and prognosticators don’t like the sheer volume of turnover.
Even at positions where there is not an instant-plug transfer, there’s more often than not a newcomer. Left guard Cayden Green, center Connor Tollison and tight end Brett Norfleet are the only sure-fire returning starters, and two of those players, Tollison and Norfleet, are recovering from offseason surgeries.
The turnover may not materialize into a struggle for offensive coordinator Kirby Moore’s unit. But they’re worth recognizing, and likely what has kept Mizzou out of the national spotlight this offseason.
Making the case for a top-25 Mizzou
If you look up on a Tuesday evening in November and Missouri is a top-25 team in the College Football Playoff rankings, what did the national media get wrong?
First, the offensive transitional period, especially at quarterback, will have occurred without hitting a snag. Whether it’s Pribula or Horn running the show, Missouri needs a quality QB for sustained success.
Second, the defense is as good as billed.
What most rankings likely aren’t taking into account is how high the ceiling could be for defensive coordinator Corey Batoon’s side of the ball. Mizzou, per ESPN, has 76% of last season’s production returning, which is the No. 5 mark in the country. That’s an excellent starting point in most cases.
Tack on top-rated transfers in defensive end Damon Wilson II, linebacker Josiah Trotter, safety Jalon Catalon and more? The defense looks deep, and any MU charge into CFP contention likely starts there.
Third, the schedule isn’t a gauntlet.
Most projections expect South Carolina, Alabama and Texas A&M to be top-25 teams and CFP contenders. The Tigers get all three at home. Most prognosticators have one or both of Oklahoma and Auburn ranked, too, anticipating an offensive uptick from both. Mizzou beat both teams last season.
MU also avoids some of the anticipated top teams in the SEC, like Texas, LSU and Georgia.
There is no easy slate in the SEC, but Missouri has to take advantage if the getting is good.
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