Welcome to the first year of the 12-team College Football Playoff.
In anticipation of the first four-round postseason in college football history, we’re counting down our predicted playoff field as the season approaches. The top five conference champions in the CFP selection committee’s rankings will make the playoff and the rest of the field will be filled out by seven at-large teams. Who will lift the national championship trophy on Jan. 20 in Atlanta?
Click here for the Yahoo Sports Viewer’s Guide to the New College Football Playoff. (Taylor Wilhelm/Yahoo Sports)
2023 record: 11-2, 6-2 SEC
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Last season in 100 words
The Tigers were one of the surprise teams of a season ago. A 61-yard field goal got the Tigers a win over Kansas State in September and Mizzou only lost to LSU and Georgia. For the second straight season, Missouri was Georgia’s toughest SEC East win.
After losing to Georgia, Missouri blew out Tennessee and then snuck past Florida thanks to a big fourth-down conversion. The Tigers then beat Ohio State 14-3 in the Cotton Bowl for the program’s first 11-win season since 2014 and the school’s first winning season since 2018.
Missouri quarterback Brady Cook (12) and wide receiver Luther Burden III (3) return after keying one of the most efficient offenses in the country last year. (Photo by Matthew Maxey/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Why Missouri can make the playoff
The Tigers return nine starters on an offense that was one of the most efficient in college football a season ago. Mizzou averaged 6.5 yards per play as QB Brady Cook had a breakout season. Cook threw for over 3,300 yards and had 21 TDs to just five interceptions.
WR Luther Burden III may be the best wide receiver in the country and will move all over the field for the Tigers again in 2024. Burden had 86 catches for 1,212 yards and nine touchdowns as a sophomore.
The rushing attack needs to replace All-SEC RB Cody Schrader after the former Division II player rushed for 1,627 yards and 14 TDs. That’s not an easy task and it’ll likely be done by committee. Missouri added former Appalachian State RB Nate Noel and former Georgia State RB Marcus Carroll through the transfer portal. Each player has a 1,000-yard season to his name and Carroll had 1,350 yards a season ago.
Cook’s role in the run game should also still be significant. He rushed for just 319 yards — sacks count against a college QB’s rushing total — but had eight rushing TDs. Missouri wasn’t afraid to call a designed QB run in key times in 2023.
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The bigger question for the Tigers is on defense after the departure of coordinator Blake Baker to LSU. Former South Alabama DC Corey Batoon takes over a unit that gave up less than 21 points per game and had 39 sacks in 2023.
Finding replacements for draft picks Darius Robinson (8.5 sacks) and CBs Ennis Rakestraw and Kris Abrams-Draine are paramount for the defense to match its performance of a season ago. Players like former Florida DL Chris McClellan, ex-Miami LB Corey Flagg and former Clemson CB Toriano Pride will be counted on to be immediate contributors.
Key player
Burden will get the most attention from opposing defenses, but Wease’s ability as an outside receiver is nearly as important to Missouri’s offense and also allows Burden to be so effective out of the slot.
After spending four seasons at Oklahoma, Wease had the best season of his career in 2023 with 49 catches for 682 yards and six touchdowns. After a brief flirtation with the NFL Draft, he decided to come back for a sixth season in 2024.
Without Schrader to grind out yards, Missouri may lean more on its passing game. And Wease will need to be a more consistent contributor. He had two or fewer catches in six of the Tigers’ 13 games last season.
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Biggest game
Missouri’s schedule is a big reason why the Tigers are playoff contenders. Mizzou may have the easiest schedule of any team in the SEC and needs to capitalize.
The Tigers visit Alabama on Oct. 26 after hosting Auburn at home. But we’re going with a trip to Texas A&M earlier in the month as the biggest game because it could define Missouri’s season. With the first four games of the season at home against Murray State, Buffalo, Boston College and Vanderbilt, Missouri should be 4-0 heading to College Station.
A win there would give the Tigers a phenomenal chance of being 7-0 before the trip to Tuscaloosa and allow Missouri to lose to both the Crimson Tide and one of Oklahoma, South Carolina, Mississippi State and Arkansas while still harboring serious playoff hopes with a second straight 10-2 season.
(The rest of the rankings will be revealed in the days leading up to the season.)
The Missouri Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday on whether the so-called “Missouri First” map is unconstitutional.
The map, passed by Republican lawmakers in September and signed by Gov. Mike Kehoe, stretches the boundaries of the 5th Congressional District, a Democratic stronghold, eastward into heavily Republican regions of the state. It also moves part of the current 5th District into the 4th and 6th districts, currently represented by Republican congressmen Mark Alford and Sam Graves. Incumbent Democrat Emanuel Cleaver is running for reelection in the 5th District.
Opponents of the Missouri First map’s main argument focused on the map being passed by lawmakers without any new data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The congressional boundaries tossed out by the Missouri First map were based on the 2020 U.S. Census.
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Attorney Chuck Hatfield represents those challenging the new map passed by Republican lawmakers last fall.
“The whole idea is tethered to the census data. You must do it at the census, and you only do it at the census,” Hatfield told the High Court. “The court’s precedents also support this.”
Solicitor General Louis Capozzi, representing the Missouri Sec. of State’s office, disagreed, saying the Missouri Constitution is silent on mid-decade redistricting.
“Mid-decade redistricting had happened in Missouri in the 1870s, and mid-decade redistricting was common around the country in the first half of the 20th century,” he argued. “Article III, Section 45 of the Missouri Constitution sets out only three requirements for the redistricting of seats in Missouri, ‘The district shall be composed of contiguous territory, as compact, and as nearly equal in population as may be.’ And as long as the General Assembly complies with those three rules, this court said that Missouri courts, ‘shall respect the political determinations of the General Assembly.’”
Meanwhile, roughly a hundred demonstrators held signs across the street from the Missouri Supreme Court building, condemning the Missouri First map and calling for the Missouri Supreme Court to strike it down.
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“Voters should choose our politicians,” said Missouri League of Women Voters Director Kay Park. “The League (of Women Voters) believes redistricting should keep communities of similar culture and race together to strengthen their vote and promote partisan fairness.”
The Missouri Supreme Court will rule on the congressional district map later.
Missouri senior forward Mark Mitchell was recognized Monday with a second-team selection to the All-Southeastern Conference teams.
Mitchell has led the Tigers all season long and tops the team in scoring (17.9 points per game), rebounding (5.2) and assists (3.6). He would be the just the second player in program to lead all the categories in one season, joining Albert White from the 1998-99 season.
Mitchell is also on pace to become the first player in program history to average at least 17 points, five rebounds and three assists since Anthony Peeler in 1992, the year he took home the Big 8 Conference Player of the Year award.
Mitchell was the only Missouri player to be recognized in SEC postseason awards.
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Five players were named to each of the three All-SEC teams.
Darius Acuff Jr. (Arkansas), Ja’Kobi Gillespie (Tennessee), Thomas Haugh (Florida), Labaron Philon Jr. (Alabama) and Tyler Tanner (Vanderbilt) made the first team.
Acuff was named the conference’s player of the year and freshman of the year.
Joining Mitchell on the second team were Nate Ament (Tennessee), Rueben Chinyelu (Florida), Otega Oweh (Kentucky) and Dailyn Swain (Texas), while Rashaun Agee (Texas A&M), Alex Condon (Florida), Keyshawn Hall (Auburn), Aden Holloway (Alabama) and Josh Hubbard (Mississippi State) were named to the third team.
The All-SEC defensive team consisted of Chinyelu, Somto Cyril (Georgia), Felix Okpara (Tennessee), Billy Richmond III (Arkansas) and Tanner. Chinyelu was selected as the defensive player of the year.
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Appearing on the all-freshman team were Acuff, Amari Allen (Alabama), Ament, Malachi Moreno (Kentucky) and Meleek Thomas (Arkansas).
Swain was selected as the newcomer of the year, while Urban Klavzar of Florida was named the sixth man of the year.
The 2026 Missouri high school basketball state championship brackets continue on Monday, March 9, with eight games in the sectional and quarterfinal round of the higher classifications.
High School On SI has brackets for every classification in the Missouri high school basketball playoffs. The championship games will begin on March 19.
Missouri High School Girls Basketball 2026 Playoff Brackets, Schedule (MSHSAA) – March 9, 2026
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Sectionals
Doniphan vs. Potosi – 03/09, 6:00 PM CT
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St. James vs. St. Francis Borgia – 03/09, 6:00 PM CT
Notre Dame de Sion vs. Oak Grove – 03/09, 6:00 PM CT
Smithville vs. Benton – 03/09, 6:00 PM CT
Cardinal Ritter College Prep vs. Clayton – 03/09, 6:00 PM CT
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Orchard Farm vs. Kirksville – 03/09, 6:00 PM CT
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Boonville vs. Strafford – 03/09, 6:00 PM CT
Reeds Spring vs. Nevada – 03/09, 6:00 PM CT
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Quarterfinals
Festus vs. Lift for Life Academy – 03/13, 6:00 PM CT
Grandview vs. Kearney – 03/13, 6:00 PM CT
MICDS vs. St. Dominic – 03/13, 6:00 PM CT
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Helias vs. Marshfield – 03/13, 6:00 PM CT
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Quarterfinals
Jackson vs. Marquette – 03/13, 6:00 PM CT
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Rock Bridge vs. Staley – 03/13, 6:00 PM CT
Incarnate Word Academy vs. Troy-Buchanan – 03/13, 6:00 PM CT
Kickapoo vs. Lee’s Summit West – 03/13, 6:00 PM CT
