Mizzou Football: Conference-only schedule would remove four likely wins

Mizzou football currently has four non-conference games on their schedule. If the SEC goes to conference-only games, there go four likely Missouri wins.

The Big Ten was the first to act when it came to fall sports, opting to have their schools only play games within their conference this fall. While the SEC hasn’t done it yet, the decision is likely coming soon and if it does happen, that will remove four likely victories for Mizzou football.

As of now, MU is scheduled to play Central Arkansas, Eastern Michigan, BYU, and Louisiana (not LSU) with Central Arkansas serving as their season opener on September 5th.

Eastern Michigan was set to come to Columbia three weeks later and the Tigers were supposed to head to Pruvo, Utah on October 10th for a date with BYU. Louisiana was going to be their second to last game of the season and would close things out at Faurot Field.

More from Missouri Tigers

• NBA Draft Prospects to Watch From Kansas, Missouri, and Kansas State
• Missouri Tigers: Key Takeaways From Mizzou’s Black and Gold Spring Game
• Why Missouri Tiger’s Tyler Badie Is Worth a Draft Selection
• Mizzou Wrestling Looks To Take On Iowa State
• Mizzou Wrestling Knocks Off Tenth Ranked Oklahoma State

While the decision to go to a conference-only schedule would be a wise one for the SEC, it’d obviously make things more difficult for Missouri when it came to trying to win games. The rest of their schedule isn’t necessarily intimidating, but they will see tough opponents such as Georgia, Florida, Mississippi State, and Tennessee throughout the course of the season.

It’s possible that the criteria to make a bowl game (if bowl games are even a thing in 2020) will be adjusted (maybe four or five wins is all it takes), but this is still a tough run for Missouri. They’d have had four of their six wins already and have been in prime position to make it to a bowl game.

Let’s assume the conference games are all that are played in 2020. Here’s what Mizzou’s opponents would look like in the order in which the games are currently scheduled:

• Vanderbilt
• at South Carolina
• at Tennessee
• Georgia
• Kentucky
• at Mississippi State
• at Florida
• Arkansas (Arrowhead Stadium)

This is still a doable schedule for the Tigers, but their road slate is tough. South Carolina has had MU’s number since the Tigers joined the SEC and this game being on the road could be tricky, especially so early on in the season.

With the home games, Mizzou has Georgia and Kentucky at home, but Georgia is always a top ten squad and Kentucky plays MU tough every year. Also it’s doubtful that the Missouri/Arkansas game actually takes place at Arrowhead Stadium, so that’s another one that will likely be played in Columbia.

Mizzou football can still win four to six games in this bunch, but not having the easier slate of non-conference opponents to beat up on will make it tougher to get enough wins to make it to a bowl game in 2020.