Brandon H and others in the local media met with players on the offense to talk about the ACU game and the prep for Auburn this weekend. A team, as Nate reminded us in his preview, our Tigers (of the black & gold variety) haven’t knocked off since well before the birth of this writer (it was 1973). ‘Bout time to turn that around, huh?

Let’s get to some some highlights, shall we?

From Brandon H’s press conference notebook, which he starts out by reminding us that the Tigers rank in the bottom half of the SEC in most offensive categories, including total points and pass yards per game. YIKES! But before we collectively freak out (you know you did), Auburn’s defense DID allow 41 points to Penn State last week.

On how Brady Cook & Javon Foster thought the team did against Abilene Christian:

“I thought we did a lot of things well [against Abilene Christian]. We did a lot of things well that we can build on. I think it was obviously an improvement from the prior week, but still a lot of things we can learn to do better.” — Cook

“13 penalties is still not acceptable, so we got to focus and key in on our technique… In the K-State game, we realized how important communication is. We’ve been focusing on that a lot to make sure we’re on the same page.” — Foster

Cody Schrader on how the team is preparing for Auburn’s defense, after noting that blitz pickups and studying defenses are his biggest focuses:

“Auburn’s going to be a really good defense. It’s going to be real fun to go up against ... I’ve been dreaming of playing against Auburn for a long time now, so I’m up for any challenge… I’m just looking forward to being in that environment for the first time and I’m starting to get used to it for the games to come.”

Freshman Mekhi Miller on awaiting his chance to play (side note: love his mindset):

“I’m always wanting to receive feedback good or bad, so it can help me learn and hopefully be on another level, and a leader one day… You can’t get too confident because you might slip up, so I choose to stay humble and continue to learn everyday.”

“I think I add some versatility, like everyone else in the room... I think we all have that ‘it’ factor in the receiving room.”

On to the Links!

Per MUTIgers.com

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Yesterday at Rock M…. A WHOLE LOTTA CONTENT

• In his Auburn Tigers preview, Nate (the Great) reminded us that Missouri hasn’t beaten those AL Tigers since 1973
• Parker re-evaluated the 2022 Tigers as they get into SEC play
• Lauren, in a really cool story, talked with some WNBA stars (who they meet in their work covering the Dallas Wings for another site), about Mizzou’s new transfer, former ND guard Katlyn Gilbert. MUST read.
• James told us about Keegan O’Toole’s entry into the NCWA Classic
• Brandon covered the day’s press conference, hearing from Brady, Mekhi Miler, and more
• Read BK’s Bets: SEC Week 4 Bets

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More Links:

Football

• St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Pressure mounts on Auburn’s Bryan Harsin as Mizzou visits Saturday (Dave Matter) | 5 things to watch in MU’s first trip to The Plains (Matter)

I spy a Luther Burden advertisement (on StL Today’s site)!

StLToday.com

• Columbia Missourian: ’The SEC is going to be louder’: Missouri players prepare for Saturday’s test at Jordan-Hare (Jack Soble, Kenny Van Doren & Kyle Pinnell) | SEC programs need players, culture, patience for breakthrough (via Pete Iacobelli of AP)
• Kansas City Star: A Mizzou, KU + K-State podcast about league openers, undefeated matchups and a sandwich (Blair Kerkhoff)
• PowerMizzou/Rivals: Mekhi Miller talks about the start of his freshman season— VIDEO (Gabe DeArmond) | Listen to Jarod & Gabe chat in PowerMizzou Live | Listen to Ep. 7 of the Mizzou, That’s Who podcast (Gabe, etc.)
• Saturday Down South: Eli Drinkwitz addresses where he would be if not a college coach (Andrew Peters)
• Serious question: Is it a requirement for our QB1’s parents to own a restaurant? Here’s Brady Cook on BBQ via Finebaum:

• Read the Auburn game preview at MUTigers.com. From the preview, some fun facts:

NO STRANGERS TO THE PLAINS, HARSIN• MU’s coaching staff has extensive ties to the Auburn program and second-year head coach Bryan Harsin.• Drinkwitz: worked under Harsin at Arkansas State and Boise State; at Auburn in 2010-11• Baker: worked under Harsin at Arkansas State• Link: at Auburn in 2010 and 2013-15• Hamdan: worked under Harsin at Arkansas State• Luper: at Auburn in 2009-12• Pogue: at Auburn in 2011-13 and 2020

Hoops

• The KC Star’s Gary Bedore wrote about the Dec 10 MU-kU matchup, which now has a time (4:15) AND a tv channel (ESPN)!!! I cannot, cannot, CAN.NOT. wait to see this in person! Jack Knowlton also covered this news for the Missourian.
• For Whiteboard Wednesday, Dennis Gates continues to teach us some stuff:

• We have some game times and TV designations for the SEC schedule! (perMUTigers.com)
• Commit Trent Pierce’s teammate, 4-star Marcus Allen, talked with PowerMizzou’s Gabe DeArmond after his OV this past weekend.
• AIDAN! Repping for Charlie Hustle! GREAT clothing brand, btw

• Business fits, featuring Sean East II, coach Kyle Smithpeters, and Isiaih Mosley

• Women’s Hoops spent the evening with the Boys and Girls Club (along with Soph, from the looks of things):

Crootin’ & Visits

• John Bol, a giant 4/5 star big man, will be on campus for an OV this weekend, per 247 Sports:

• Here’s who Mizzou has hosted already of the new Rivals150 for the 2024 class, per Mr Harris:

• And some of will visit, have visited, or have had a Mizzou staffer come through (also courtesy of Mr Harris):

• From Qing Pang’s visit this past weekend… He featured a photo with another visitor, Naasir Cunningham, no. 4 in the new Rivals rankings, if you scroll through

• 2023 Dennis (good name, he should pick Mizzou) Parker will be in town this weekend. He has the Tigers in his final 5.

Other Mizzou Sports/General

• The Tribune’s Chris Kwiecinski covered the announcement of the 2022 Missouri Sports Hall of Fame inductees on Wednesday. Besides various local/regional coaches, the following coaches/players with Mizzou ties were honored as well: Tiger Style’s Brian Smith, former football and basketball player Justin Gage, former longtime sports information director Chad Moller, and wheelchair basketball coach Ron Lykins. CONGRATS!!!!!
• Tiger VB took a loss to Tennessee on Wednesday, who enter SEC play with more questions than answers, per the Missourian’s Caleb Logue. Per the article:

The weak point for the Tigers came from their receiving and passing game. Though they entered the match third in the SEC in digs per set, they only collected 22 digs throughout the match. Missouri also suffered from a variety of unforced errors, committing 14 in total. These errors often hamstrung MU’s efforts to gain momentum, especially late in the second and third games.

• Best wishes to Stefanie Golan’s soccer team, as they head to Baton Rouge to take on a tough LSU team. The Tigers of Missouri come in with a lot of momentum, though, following the Auburn win! The two teams have not faced each other since 2020, when it went to 2OT and went to a 1-1 draw. Per the Missourian’s Chad Silvey:

LSU (6-1-2, 1-0) has also started its season strong. Its lone loss came on the road against No. 4 Rutgers on Sept. 11, a week before a 2-1 road win over Vanderbilt in its conference opener. Overall, LSU has outscored its opponents 24-10 and outshot its opponents 59-37.

• Those kicks

• Also on the heart-eyes front… that gymnastics team apparel! Swoon.

Mizzou in the Pros/Hodgepodge

• OH, HELL YES. Our little Dru is all grows up [Swingers reference] . Read more from Jack Knowlton at the Missourian. Also, I spy those Mizzou Nikes, Dru. #MIZForever

• Meant to share this last week, but MPJ’s return was a topic of discussion on The Denver Post’s Nuggets Ink podcast. Give it a listen!

• More from Charlie Hustle, who is doing their Mizzou campus visit and releasing their capsule collection on Friday:

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