Missouri football’s trip to South Carolina will be a ranked matchup in the College Football Playoff race.

On Tuesday, the CFP committee ranked Mizzou as the No. 23 team in the country and South Carolina at No. 21. The Tigers and the Gamecocks will play each other Saturday afternoon in Columbia, South Carolina.

Missouri (7-2, 3-2 SEC) enters the matchup on the back of a remarkable comeback win over Oklahoma last Saturday, as coach Eli Drinkwitz’s team scored two touchdowns in the final 63 seconds of the game to overturn OU’s lead.

More: Missouri football keeps proving it has grit. How far can that take the Tigers this season?

South Carolina (6-3, 4-3) has hit its stride in recent weeks and will face MU after 20-plus point wins over Oklahoma, Texas A&M, and, most recently, Vanderbilt in its past three games.

Here’s what USC head coach Shane Beamer and the Gamecocks players and assistant coaches said about Mizzou ahead of the game:

What Shane Beamer said about recent record vs Missouri football

Drinkwitz has had South Carolina’s number in recent years. Missouri has won all four of its matchups against the Gamecocks since Drinkwitz took over the program, and the Tigers are on a five-game series winning streak.

Beamer sees a pretty clear-cut reason for that.

“I would say they've kicked our butts physically, just to be completely frank,” Beamer said. “If you go back and look at sack totals, our ability to sack their quarterback and their ability to put pressure on our quarterback; you look at rushing yardage plus our ability to stop the run — we've been nowhere near good enough. And it's not just O-line, D-line, but we haven't been good enough on both sides of the ball to do the things that we need to do to win the football games.”

Mizzou defeated South Carolina 34-12 last season on Faurot Field, and the Gamecocks went on to finish the season 5-7.

“We’re really motivated,” Gamecocks cornerback O’Donnell Fortune said. “ I think this team, we can really do it, for sure. Not ‘think’ — I know we can. But it just comes to the keys of how we win games. So that's what it's gonna come to.”

On recruiting Drew Pyne

More: Drew Pyne said he would respond. The Missouri football QB delivered against Oklahoma

Before he was a Missouri quarterback — before he was an Arizona State Sun Devil or a Notre Dame commit, even — Drew Pyne was Lincoln Riley’s top QB target at Oklahoma, Beamer said.

“The very first recruiting trip that Lincoln Riley sent me on was to go see Drew Pyne in New Canaan, Connecticut,” Beamer said. “He was our top quarterback that we were recruiting at Oklahoma. Kyler Murray was our quarterback that upcoming season, and Drew was the only guy that we had offered a scholarship to that Lincoln was after, so he can play.”

Pyne started MU’s game against Oklahoma on Saturday, recovering from a slow start to his Mizzou career to throw three second-half touchdowns to help the Tigers down the Sooners.

Beamer was an assistant at Oklahoma from 2018-20, which is when Pyne was a four-star prospect in the Class of 2020.

There’s more connections between the coach and player, too. Pyne’s uncle, Jim Pyne, was an All-American for Beamer’s father, Frank Beamer, at Virginia Tech.

Shane Beamer was unsuccessful recruiting the nephew, as Drew Pyne ended up committing to Notre Dame.

“Has bounced around a little bit, but he's tough, competitive, athletic, and can make throws,” Beamer said, “and you see him get better with experience as well.”

On preparing for Cook vs. Pyne

Typical starting quarterback Brady Cook was listed as doubtful on Missouri’s Wednesday availability report, indicating he is unlikely to play — but not officially out — this upcoming Saturday.

Does that change the game plan?

Not according to Beamer, who has now faced Missouri three times as South Carolina’s head coach.

“Not really. They do what they do, and it's line up, run outside zone with the running backs, and it's drop back and find ways to get the ball to Burden and Wease,” Beamer said. “And no matter who the quarterback is back there, they're going to do that. … It really doesn't change anything for us. We’ve got to figure out a way to slow down this outside zone scheme that they run very well and figure out a way to keep (Burden) and (Wease) in check.”

On Burden, Wease at wide receiver

A reporter in South Carolina asked Fortune, who has three picks and a forced fumble for USC at corner this season, what makes Burden and Wease tough to cover.

Fortune disagreed with the premise.

“I wouldn’t say ‘tough to cover,’” Fortune said. … “We’ve just got to eliminate those plays. They’re gonna throw it to 3 (Burden). … So, I feel like we limit those. We'll be right where we want to be.”

Beamer was a bit more complimentary, calling Missouri’s group of pass-catchers “arguably the best-receiving corp in the SEC.”

“I mean Burden and Wease, they’re going to get their catches. It’d be great if I look at the stat sheet after the game Saturday night and they didn't have any catches. Is that realistic? Probably not,” Beamer said. “What we've got to do is do a really good job tackling. It's really impressive watching those two guys, what they do once they catch the ball; the yards after contact. ... So, we've got to limit what (Burden) does and what Theo does with the ball in their hands after they catch it, which is easier said than done.”

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: What Shane Beamer, South Carolina players said about Missouri football