Here is where Missouri football is ranked in preseason Top 25 poll
Mizzou has broken a nine-year absence.
Missouri football is the No. 11-ranked team in the Associated Press’ preseason Top 25 poll, which was released Monday morning. The rankings are the first time the voters have included the Tigers since Eli Drinkwitz took over the program, and the first time since Gary Pinkel was in charge in Columbia.
That AP poll puts Mizzou as the fifth-ranked SEC team with No. 1 Georgia topping the list and Texas, Alabama and Ole Miss among the top 10 teams. The Tigers received 927 voting points, which trailed No. 10-ranked Florida State by 64 points.
It’s the first time Missouri has been a top-25 preseason team since 2015, when the Tigers were the No. 24 team in the country in Pinkel’s final season at the helm.
More: Missouri football coach Eli Drinkwitz updates key fall camp battles after closed scrimmage
It’s also Mizzou’s highest preseason ranking since 2008, when MU came in at No. 6 in the preseason poll.
In 2023, Drinkwitz led Missouri to its best season in nearly a decade, as the Tigers went 11-2 and capped the year by beating Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl. Mizzou finished the season as a consensus top-10 team.
The Tigers return the likes of starting quarterback Brady Cook, star wide receiver Luther Burden III and Cotton Bowl defensive MVP Johnny Walker Jr. to their team in 2024 when a run at the expanded, 12-team College Football Playoff appear to be within reach.
Mizzou begins its season Thursday, Aug. 29 against Murray State on Faurot Field in Columbia, part of a four-game homestand.
They’ll start this campaign as one of the top-ranked teams in the country. Not just according to the national media, but per the nation’s coaches, too.
More: Why linebacker Corey Flagg stuck with Missouri football commitment through DC change
Missouri football’s AP ranking matches coaches poll
Stop the presses: The coaches and national media are in agreement.
In the US LMB Coach Poll, released Aug. 5, Missouri was the No. 11 team, according to the participating 55 college football coaches. Drinkwitz is among the voters.
Mizzou received 808 voting points in that poll, which also ranked fifth among SEC teams.
More: Here's why cornerback Toriano Pride Jr. chose to ‘come home' to play for Missouri football
Georgia is the preseason No. 1 team in the coaches poll, receiving 46 first-place votes from the group of 55 college football coaches voting this season. The other SEC teams ahead of Missouri are Texas (No. 4); Alabama (No. 5); and Mississippi (No. 6).
In total, a conference-best nine SEC schools are among the top 25 according to the coaches, with LSU (No. 12), Tennessee (No. 15), Oklahoma (No. 16) and Texas A&M (No. 20) rounding out the rest.
Missouri will face three preseason top-25 teams in this year’s rankings: Texas A&M on Oct. 5 on the road; Alabama on Oct. 26 in Tuscaloosa; and Oklahoma on Nov. 9 at home.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Here is where Missouri football is ranked in preseason Top 25 poll
