The Morning Commute for Friday, May 23rd, 2025.
Welcome to the Morning Commute
When Bill C drops an SP+ update we all tune in and listen. Mizzou landed at 21st, which if the season ended tomorrow and they were 21st I’d consider that a solid season to be honest. To come off back to back 10 win seasons, turn over as much production on offense as they have and still finish in the top 25 would be a very good sign for the program under Eli Drinkwitz.
If you’ll recall, Bill’s rankings are based upon returning production, recent recruiting, and recent history. Missouri’s bag in all three is mixed, but mostly because their returning production took a hit on the offensive side of the football.
And the offensive side of the football is holding the ranking down, since the Tigers were projected to land 41st, which was the lowest of any team in the top 25 other than Auburn (48th). But the defense was a respectable 22nd.
Other SEC teams ranked:
2. Alabama
4. Georgia
5. Texas
9. LSU
11. Ole Miss
13. Tennessee
14. Florida
15. Texas A&M
16. Oklahoma
17. South Carolina
21. Missouri
25. Auburn
38. Arkansas
43. Kentucky
55. Vanderbilt
71. Mississippi State
Kansas is 50th, Louisiana is 74th, UMass is 135th.
Missouri plays South Carolina, Alabama, Auburn, Vanderbilt, Texas A&M, Mississippi State, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The average ranking for all those opponents is 45.3, which is pretty soft. And Missouri only plays one top 10 opponent (Alabama). Just beating everyone ranked below them in SP+ would net them 8 wins (9 with the Central Arkansas game).
I’d be ok with a 9 win regular season. But go win 10 just for fun.
Yesterday at Rock M and Rock M+
- Nathan hopped into his wish list for 2025, and one of his wishes is always one of my wishes, a quiet offseason:
This could be a permanent addition to every summer wish list for just about every college football program in the country, but it rings especially true for Mizzou this summer. When programs big and small are making the news cycle for weird (see Tennessee and Nico Iamaleava,) crazy (see North Carolina, Bill Belichick and his romantic entanglements) or outright criminal things (see Georgia just about any week of the year,) very little good can come from a college team making waves over the summer.
There’s also some interesting points on recruits, and getting the new names to integrate into the already established culture of the program.
- Mizzou Volleyball is going to play a nationally televised game in the fall:
The match will take place Tuesday, Sep. 9 and be broadcast to a national audience as part of the brand new ‘Showdown at the Net’ challenge between the SEC and ACC. No time has been announce yet for the match.
It’s a good step forward for the program in re-gaining the national relevance which had slipped in recent years. Good job to Dawn Sullivan for righting the track.
Rock M Radio: Dive Cuts should be out soon, in the meantime more BTBS!
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