Missouri football: Ranking the 5 toughest games on the 2021 schedule

The Missouri football team looks to extend its lengthy winning streak against Texas A&M

But many Missouri football fans do not know how that is going to happen.

The Tiger’s dominance over the Aggies in the 21st century is unquestioned. Last losing in 2012 and only losing twice this century, Missouri has Texas A&M’s number. While the two squads do not face off every year, despite sharing both the Big 12 and SEC, a streak of dominance like this is worth noting.

Chances of this continuing are slim to none.

The Aggies are coming off of a 9-1 season, with their only loss coming against Alabama. While the season was riddled with bye weeks and a no-contest against Ole Miss due to COVID-19, wins over Florida and North Carolina were highlights of the Aggie’s season.

Entering the 2021 season, this may be the most daunting matchup on the Tigers’ schedule. There are bright spots of this though.

On paper, home-field advantage is the only advantage the Tigers have.

Texas A&M is picked to fall behind Alabama in the SEC West, but still received votes in a preseason poll of media during SEC Media Days. The SEC West race figures to be tight, and each matchup will matter.

None may matter more when the Aggies face Alabama the week before traveling to Columbia. Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher has never beaten Alabama, and this year’s matchup has that big-game feel already. Earlier this summer, Fisher said that the Aggies are “going to beat [Alabama head coach Nick Saban’s] ass”.

If the game turns into a slugfest, that could benefit the Missouri football team, playing a traveling and tired Texas A&M team.

Assume Missouri handles business in the first half of the season, highlighted by Kentucky and Tennessee. The Texas A&M game comes at the start of the season’s second half. A win would establish Missouri as an SEC contender. Even a close loss could be a moral victory, in comparison to the Tigers’ 2020 38-19 loss against Alabama. But a moral victory should not be the goal for Missouri; a win in this situation would be a massive statement.

This is a metaphorical David vs. Goliath game. The money in College Station, Texas, is only second nationally to that in Austin, Texas with the Texas Longhorns. Since entering the SEC in 2012, Texas A&M has consistently out-recruited Missouri, with a nearly 70 point average difference per recruiting class. Missouri has 14 fewer wins than Texas A&M in that same span. The national and regional perceptions of both schools could not be more different.

If Missouri can pull off an upset in Columbia, that would send shockwaves through the SEC and the national title picture. Don’t bet the house on it, but this game will be a good watermark for where the Tigers are presently and heading in the future.