1. No one is really going out on a limb predicting Missouri’s season.

7-5. 8-4. That’s about all we’re seeing in terms of predicting Missouri’s regular season record. The latest two to enter the fray are Athlon (7-5) and Mark Schlabach of ESPN (7-5). While the records are identical, Athlon has Missouri going 3-5 in the SEC and 4-0 in non-conference play; Schlabach has Missouri at 4-4 in the conference, 3-1 in non-conference.

Schlabach — who predicts every Power 5 conference in that piece — also has Drew Lock as the SEC offensive player of the year. With some pretty big expectations for quarterbacks around the league, that would be a pretty big honor for Lock.

2. Quarterback news (and not news) dropping around the SEC.

A trio of Missouri’s opponents were in the news on Monday with quarterback news.

• Kentucky named Terry Wilson its starting quarterback for Week 1. Wilson started his career at Oregon, transferred to junior college and signed with Kentucky in the most recent class.
• Nick Saban still won’t announce a starting quarterback and doesn’t seem to be in any hurry to do so. Good news for Missouri — it will know who the Crimson Tide’s starter is by the time the two teams play. Bad news for Missouri — it has to play Alabama.
• Nick Saban Jr. — er, Kirby Smart also won’t announce a starting quarterback although in this case, it seems more certain that we know who the starter will be (Jake Fromm).

Yesterday at Rock M

BUSY DAY YESTERDAY so buckle up...

• Are there shades of 2013 in 2018? Yeah, but it’s how the unknown develops that will determine how special (or not special) this season could be.
• Previewing the defensive backs: There are, uh, a lot of questions.
• We have a football podcast again! It’s called The Zoukeepers. Here’s the first episode. We’ll get better, I promise.
• A brief interview with Dave Matter, talented Missouri beat reporter and two-time author. We talked about his upcoming book, 100 Things for Missouri Fans to Know and Do Before They Die.

More Links:

• Both of MU’s cross country teams start the season ranked ninth in the conference.
• Remember to tune in on Thursday night for Barry Odom’s first Tiger Talk session.
• Four days, folks.