Well, you can certainly tell it’s the offseason.

For the second day in a row, really all we’ve got to talk about is the release of some more schedule updates for the upcoming Mizzou Football season and the upcoming SEC meetings. Much to my dismay, it’s more games with my least favorite start time….

The Tigers’ second game of the year, vs. K State on September 10 in Manhattan, KS will be at ….[dramatic music]… 11am. The good news. It’ll air on ESPN2!

The Tigers’ home September 17 game - Family Weekend - against Abilene Christian, will kick off at — you guess it — 11am. This game will be shown on SECN+.

So, we now have the details for the first three games of the season, with the kickoff Thursday, September 1 at 7pm against LA Tech (ESPNU), along with the Black Friday game against Arkansas in CoMo at 2:30pm (on CBS). You can read more about the schedule at MUTigers.com.

Keeping on with scheduling stuff, next week is the first in-person SEC meetings since 2019, where a hot topic will be the football schedule! Dave Matter pointed out in his story that those in attendance will be markedly different than the last time they met, as 12 of the 14 SEC schools have hired someone new in one or more of their three most visible positions: AD, football coach, or men’s hoops. Furthermore, one school — Missouri — has hired someone new in all three! Now, about the football scheduling:

Before figuring out who plays whom, the league must decide whether to stay at eight conference games or move to nine. (The Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-12 play nine league games.) A move to nine conference games is good for fan interest, ticket sales and TV ratings but could dilute the SEC’s pool of contenders for the College Football Playoff, especially if Sankey can’t convince his fellow conference commissioners to expand the current four-team playoff field.

From there, the SEC needs a scheduling format, preferably one that creates more variety from year to year. Under the current East-West division model, teams go 12 years between hosting teams from the other division. Mizzou, about to start its 11th season in the SEC, makes its first ever trip to Auburn this fall.

Sounds like they’ll have a lot to talk about, huh? And they also have to think about what they’ll do when Oklahoma and Texas arrives. FUN!

On to the links. Have a restful Memorial Day weekend, everyone. It’ll be my first weekend since mid-Feb not completely consumed with softball.

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Yesterday at Rock M

• Sam wrote about transfer Mabor Majak’s commitment to Missouri.
• Dive Cuts is back, and Sam and Matt are talking roster & recruiting!
• Aaron’s Build Your Favorite Player series is back and features running backs.
• IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: There’s a new basketball roundtable about the JuCo additions, featuring both Matts and Parker.

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More Links:

Football

• The USA Today Network’s Blake Toppmeyer wrote, if SEC football is hell-bent on nixing divisions, I have two schedule ideas.
• This is super cool. From the looks of their social media, they really enjoyed their time and learned a lot.

• Good point, Aaron!

• DREW!!!!

• Read Matter’s chat at STL Today if you’re a subscriber.

Hoops

• Welcome, Mabor Majak news: Jack Knowlton, Columbia Missourian | Dave Matter, St. Louis Post-Dispatch | Mitchell Forde, PowerMizzou
• Mitchell Forde of PowerMizzou previews the Mizzou targets at the Louisville EYBL games this weekend.
• This is really, really great to see. Former Mizzou coach Cuonzo Martin would undoubtedly be happy to see this, even if he’s no longer coaching (right now, anyway). He always fought for more minority coaching hires.

Other Mizzou Sports

• The Missourian’s Tanner Ludwig wrote, Missouri baseball’s up-and-down season ends in disappointment.
• The Tribune’s Chris Kwiecinski wrote about how Battle alum and Mizzou Baseball fixture Tre Morris leaves MU having earned his coach’s trust.
• HUGE congrats to Sophia and Ava, who qualified for the NCAA Track & Field Championships with their performances in the javelin! Also, congrats to Ayele, who qualified in the long jump! You can read more about it at MUTigers.com.

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