The Tigers are getting somewhat of a schedule shakeup in 2024.

For the first time since joining the Southeastern Conference, Mizzou football doesn’t need to face Georgia, Kentucky or Florida. There are trips to Bryant-Denny Stadium, Kyle Field and Starkvegas. An old Big 12 and Big Eight rival is coming back to Columbia.

The SEC announced Missouri’s full 2024 slate as well as the league-wide schedule during a live reveal Wednesday night on ESPN.

Here are three takeaways from the Tigers’ schedule next season:

OU back on the slate

Call it the Luther Burden III Bowl, or perhaps the Williams Nwaneri Trophy.

Or, if Missouri can bag a big offensive tackle in the portal, the Cayden Green Cup.

There’s no love lost between the fanbases of Missouri and Oklahoma since they last shared a conference, and the teams will get the chance to settle any lingering squabbles on the field on Nov. 5, when the Sooners visit Columbia for the first time since the Tigers’ famous win over the No. 1-ranked team in the BCS in 2010. OU and Texas are joining the SEC from the Big 12 in the summer.

Mizzou lured Nwaneri, the No. 3-ranked prospect in the Class of 2024, out of Oklahoma’s hands and into a Mizzou pledge in August. Burden, MU’s star wide receiver, was once committed to the Sooners before changing course and coming to Columbia.

Now, Green, an offensive tackle who — like Nwaneri — graduated from Lee’s Summit North in Kansas City, unexpectedly entered the transfer portal after a stellar freshman season in Norman. Missouri is expected to be among the teams in pursuit. He visited Columbia while he was in high school.

Between the off-field drama and long-awaited return, the matchup will likely shape up to be the most highly anticipated regular-season game on Faurot Field in 2024.

Its placement on the schedule also keeps the Battle Line Rivalry in its traditional slot after Thanksgiving, although the traditional Black Friday gameday is still up for debate as the SEC’s contract with CBS ended this season. ESPN, the new home of the league, announced the game as a Saturday, Nov. 30 matchup, although that is subject to change.

That means Missouri’s potential path to an expanded 12-team playoff will run through a pair of regional rivals in the final month of the regular season.

Tigers get light start

When the Tigers reach Week 5 and their first of the two idle weeks in the 2024 season, they won’t have left the comfort of home.

Moreover, they won’t have faced a team more talented on paper.

By the time Missouri opens its SEC campaign against Vanderbilt in Week 4 (Sept. 21), MU will have faced Murray State, Buffalo and Boston College.

Those four teams have combined for 13 wins in 2023, with only the Eagles being bowl-eligible.

Missouri’s 2023 campaign tossed any previous levels of expectation out the window. Fast forward one year, as the Tigers currently hold the College Football Playoff committee’s No. 9 ranking, and a similar season would make MU a playoff team.

There’s little room for error, even as the path to the national championship increases from four teams to 12, throughout the regular season. But only a major upset would harm the Tigers’ chances by September’s end.

New-look October

Then the action heats up.

Mizzou travels to College Station, Texas, to face the newly Mike Elko-led Aggies on Oct. 5. After what should be a buy-game the following week against UMass in Amherst, Massachusetts, the Tigers get an Alabama double.

On Oct. 19, Missouri hosts Hugh Freeze’s Auburn in Columbia. Seven days later, the Tigers head south to Bryant-Denny Stadium for a matchup against the Crimson Tide.

Missouri has only visited Tuscaloosa once throughout its history — back in 2018.

Similarly, Auburn’s 2017 trip to Columbia was its only ever game on Faurot Field.

The 2024 matchup between Missouri and Texas A&M will be the first between the two teams at Kyle Field in 10 years.

It’s an exciting — but unfamiliar — run of games for Missouri in its bid for an encore to the surprising 2023 campaign, which saw the Tigers reach 10 wins for the first time since 2014 and earn a Cotton Bowl berth.

But there'll be no time to be starstruck. Any route to Atlanta for the SEC Championship game or to the College Football Playoff will likely require a winning record through that difficult stretch of conference play.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Rivals new and old: 3 takeaways from Mizzou's complete 2024 schedule