The Missouri football coach asked, and the fans answered.

Mizzou athletics announced Wednesday morning that the Tigers’ Thursday evening, season-opening game against Murray State on Faurot Field has sold out. The news comes eight days after Eli Drinkwitz urged Mizzou fans to sell out the opener before acknowledging any perceived Missouri-football mania ahead of the new campaign.

“Our challenge is, we need to sell out this first game,” Drinkwitz said Aug. 20. “We're a top-11 program in the country coming off a Cotton Bowl win, and in my opinion if we don't sell out the first game then that shows me that we're not where we want to be as a fanbase yet.”

Challenge met.

Wednesday morning’s announcement means Missouri has now sold out six straight games dating back to last season. The five-game sellout run to end the 2023 campaign was the Tigers’ longest streak since 1980, per a team news release.

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On Aug. 21, the team announced that the allotment for student tickets had all been purchased. A week earlier, reserved season tickets for the general public sold out. Shortly after going on sale, the Tigers’ October and November home matchups against Auburn for homecoming and Oklahoma, respectively, sold out.

Now, the first of MU’s four-game home stretch to open the season is primed to be a capacity crowd, which would be the first time Mizzou has eclipsed a 60,000 attendance for a home opener since 2015, per a news release.

Mizzou went 11-2 last season, defeating Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl. That, along with returning much of its offensive production from a year ago, has made Missouri the No. 11-ranked team in both the preseason US LMB Coaches Poll and the AP Top 25.

The Tigers are among the teams in the preseason national conversation for a berth to the first 12-team College Football Playoff.

And that potential run will start with a sold out crowd against FCS Murray State.

Ask, and you shall receive.

“THANK YOU,” Drinkwitz posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, shortly after the announcement was made.

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This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Mizzou football announces Murray State opener is sold out