Missouri football bowl projections: Where prognosticators have Tigers in postseason
Bowl projections? Already?
Sure.
Missouri football has a 5-1 record with a 1-1 mark in SEC play heading into a home matchup with Auburn on Saturday in Columbia. Mizzou has a win over Vanderbilt that is looking better and better with each subsequent Commodores victory, a one-score win over Boston College and a blowout loss at Texas A&M.
That run has the national media and bowl prognosticators — like most — skeptical about the potential for MU to mount a late-season run toward the 12-team College Football Playoff. Time will tell, perhaps as soon as Saturday, whether that’s still a possible goal.
Here is where Missouri has landed in bowl projections from major national media outlets:
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Action Network: Music City Bowl vs. Michigan
A game against the reigning national champion?
Brett McMurphy of Action Network has Missouri, a year after beating Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl, heading to face the other half of The Game with a matchup against Michigan in the Music City Bowl on Dec. 30 in Nashville, Tennessee.
The matchup would take place at Nissan Stadium, home of the Tennessee Titans.
The Wolverines currently are 4-2 with losses to Texas and Washington. Mizzou hasn’t played Michigan since 1975, and the two teams have never faced off in a bowl.
ESPN: Music City Bowl vs. Michigan or Liberty Bowl vs. West Virginia
Mark Schlabach of ESPN agrees with McMurphy, sending Mizzou to face Michigan in the Music City Bowl for a battle of the Block Ms.
Kyle Bonagura is also projecting the Tigers go bowling in Tennessee but with a trip three hours west to Memphis for a game in the Liberty Bowl on Dec. 27 against West Virginia.
The Mountaineers are 3-3 on the season but 2-1 in Big 12 play, with wins over Kansas and Oklahoma State and a loss to undefeated Iowa State. Mizzou and West Virginia played a home-and-home series in 2016 and 2019, with the Mountaineers winning the game in Morgantown, 26-11, and the Tigers taking the return leg in Columbia, 38-7.
Missouri beat West Virginia in the 1998 Insight Bowl in Tucson, Arizona.
CBS: Citrus Bowl vs. Michigan
Popular choice … Jerry Palm of CBS Sports has Mizzou and Michigan play each other in a bowl, too, but has the Citrus Bowl as the destination.
That game would take place Dec. 31 in Orlando, Florida. The Tigers last played in the Citrus Bowl in 2015, defeating Minnesota 33-17.
The Citrus Bowl has the first selection this season after the College Football Playoff teams are announced.
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USA Today: Las Vegas Bowl vs. USC
Viva, Las Vegas?
Erick Smith of USA Today says yes, sending Mizzou to Sin City for a game against Southern California in the Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 27.
USC beat LSU to open the season but has since fallen to 3-3, dropping games against Michigan, Minnesota and Penn State. The Tigers last played the Trojans in 1977. Missouri has never played a bowl game in Las Vegas.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Missouri football bowl game: Where Mizzou is predicted to land
