It’s Big Eight week in the SEC.

Missouri football, for the first time in 13 years, faces Oklahoma this upcoming Saturday on Faurot Field for a matchup between the reunited conference foes.

Mizzou (6-2, 2-2 SEC) was ranked as the No. 24 team in the College Football Playoff committee’s first top 25 of the season Tuesday. The Tigers have their work cut out to keep or improve on that position, with starting quarterback Brady Cook’s availability up in the air.

More: Brady Cook availability update: Missouri football quarterback’s status on SEC report

More: Did Missouri football appear in first CFP rankings of season? Here’s where MU landed

Oklahoma (5-4, 1-4) has had a difficult first year in the conference, recently firing offensive coordinator Seth Littrell and turning back to once-benched quarterback Jackson Arnold. The Sooners are still a win short of securing bowl eligibility.

Saturday’s game at Memorial Stadium is expected to be sold out and has been for quite some time.

Here’s what Oklahoma coach Brett Venables and some of the Sooners’ players told reporters in Norman ahead of Saturday’s matchup with Missouri:

On Missouri football transfers Theo Wease, Cayden Green

There’s been some movement between Mizzou and Oklahoma in recent seasons. Wide receiver Theo Wease Jr. and Cayden Green both have transferred to Missouri in the past couple of seasons. Ex-MU wideout J.J. Hester went to play in Norman after spending 2020-21 in Columbia.

Wease moved on after four seasons, 1,044 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns with Oklahoma to join Missouri before the 2023 campaign, and has since caught 86 passes for 1,164 yards and seven scores.

“Our offensive staff at the time didn’t feel like he was — and Theo probably felt the same — he wasn’t a major part of what we were doing,” Venables said. “And he’s looking for an opportunity, and he was nothing but great. He was a really good leader, did everything that we asked of him, and what a great example of what opportunity and development looks like. He’s kept his head down and just worked. Had a fantastic year last year; is having a great year this year.”

Green was a starting offensive lineman as a true freshman for OU last season before making the move back to his home state, where he is now Mizzou’s starting left guard.

That sparked a bit of online controversy, as some fans in Norman took issue with Green’s move.

More: Missouri fans flood business owned by father of transfer Cayden Green with five-star reviews

But within the OU staff? Not so much.

“I think Cayden went in there and was a starter — he was a starter for us. We’re not surprised if he has success. Cayden’s a fantastic player, freshman all-American,” Venables said. “And that’s the world that we live in now. Players are free to come and go as they please and look for what’s best for them, and there ain’t no time for bitterness and things like that. You’ve got to move on and adjust and pivot and get better.”

On recruiting battles

Given the regional proximity of the schools, there have been some battles for top-ranked recruits in recent years.

Missouri freshman and five-star defensive end Williams Nwaneri come to mind, as his recruitment was closely followed by folks in Norman. Luther Burden III was committed to OU at one point, too. Oklahoma won a transfer portal battle for TCU defensive tackle Damonic Williams and recently landed five-star Mizzou target Michael Fasusi.

Venables was asked by a reporter if the rivalry with Missouri is “getting a little spicy.”

“They’re a program that’s going to recruit well in their own backyard. It’s not spicy for me,” Venables said. “Recruiting is incredibly competitive. Winning is incredibly hard, and we’re programs that certainly there’s a familiarity. … Spicy maybe for the media or the fans, but staff-wise it (isn’t).”

On Missouri defense

While defensive coordinator at Clemson, Venables coached Mizzou safety Joseph Charleston and “spent time in the living room” of Toriano Pride Jr. while recruiting the cornerback out of East St. Louis to Death Valley.

Oklahoma has struggled at times on offense this season and has turned to Joe Jon Finley to call the plays. The Sooners briefly benched Arnold at QB and played Michael Hawkins Jr., but they have returned to their Week 1 starter in recent games.

Arnold may benefit from the possible return of wide receivers Deion Burks and Jalil Farooq this weekend, although that is still in doubt as they rehab from injuries and were listed as questionable on OU’s Wednesday availability report.

Oklahoma currently is the No. 112-ranked team in the country for total offense, and Arnold expects a challenge from Mizzou’s defense.

“I feel like when watching them on film, they play great as a group,” Arnold told reporters in Norman. “Dudes know where they’re going. They don’t bust hardly ever. Super competitive guys, fly around the ball and a big physical group.”

On Missouri QB Brady Cook

Cook has a supporter in Oklahoma’s head coach.

“I’m a big fan of his leadership and his toughness. The players, their program, they feed off of him. He’s got great juice and just — he’s fearless,” Venables said. “I don’t know his entire background, but he’s a winner. I think he brings out the best in the players around him, but he plays with emotion on his sleeve, and you can see the guts and the toughness.”

Cook’s status for the matchup is still up in the air, as he was listed as “questionable” on the Tigers’ Wednesday availability report.

Venables has been keeping up with Cook’s story, going into detail to praise his comeback at Auburn that saw him go to the hospital early in the game with a high-ankle sprain before returning to lead a fourth-quarter comeback, which the OU coach likened to wearing a “Superman cape.” 

And Venables, at least midweek, is expecting Cook to fight through and play Saturday.

“He’ll find a way to show up,” he said. “I know he’s just got a couple of games left, and, you know, you don’t count that guy out. He’s a great player.”

STODDARD COUNTY, Mo. (KFVS) – The Missouri State Highway Patrol is currently at the scene of a deadly crash in Stoddard County.

According to Sgt. Clark Parrott, troopers are responding to a multi-vehicle crash on Highway 25, north of Bloomfield.

He said one person died and the roadway is currently blocked.

This is a developing story and we are working to gather more details.

Copyright 2024 KFVS. All rights reserved.

After several tumultuous years of bitter defeats, proponents of legal sports betting in Missouri finally emerged victorious on Election Night.

On Tuesday night, voters in the Show Me State approved Amendment 2, a ballot initiative that aimed to legalize sports betting across the state. The initiative, which received the backing of the state’s professional sports franchises, passed by a narrow margin of 0.3%.

With approximately 2.9 million votes cast, the measure passed by less than 7,500 votes, according to unofficial results from the Missouri Secretary of State’s Office.

Missouri becomes the 39th state nationwide to legalize sports betting, joining neighboring Kansas which launched sports wagering in September 2022.

Wagers On A Chiefs Three-Peat

While estimates for annual state tax revenue vary somewhat, legal sports betting could bring the state as much as $28.9 million in yearly revenue, according to a fiscal note that accompanied the proposal.

“Missouri has some of the best sports fans in the world and they showed up big for their favorite teams on Election Day,” said St. Louis Cardinals president Bill DeWitt in a statement.

In Missouri, new amendments can become law 30 days following a general election. The amendment directs the Missouri Gaming Commission to make sports betting available by the start of next month. Based on the timeline, however, the 30-day clock expires on Dec. 5. Since the historic PASPA decision in 2018, a number of states have struggled to fast-track sports betting following legalization.

If Missouri goes live on that date, bettors will have ample to time to wager on a Week 14 tilt between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Los Angeles Chargers. The 8-0 Chiefs are slated to host their AFC West rivals in primetime on Sunday Night Football.

At the start of the regular season, BetMGM set odds of 13-1 for any team to go 17-0 in the regular season. At the midway point of the NFL season, the Chiefs are the only team in the league with an unblemished mark.

BetMGM could be one of nearly two dozen entities to be awarded a digital sports betting license.

Each of the state’s 13 casinos qualify for a license, as well as Missouri’s seven pro sports teams.

Altogether, the state can award up to 22 licenses on the digital side. The state projects initial license fee revenue of $11.75 million, according to the fiscal note.

Market Players

FanDuel and DraftKings, the putative leaders of the U.S. sports betting market, are both expected to submit bids for a license. The two industry heavyweights each contributed $20.1 million to Winning for Missouri Education, a political action committee that supported the passage of Amendment 2. A study produced for Winning for Missouri Education estimates that $21.8 billion will be wagered on Missouri’s legal market over the state’s first five years.

The amendment allows the state to collect a 10% tax on sports wagering revenue. The revenues will be appropriated for education purposes, including public schools and higher education, according to the constitutional amendment.

“Thanks to the efforts of bipartisan leaders and local professional sports teams, we’re very pleased to see that voters in Missouri agreed with the merits of what legalized, regulated, and taxed sports betting can deliver for education in the state. We look forward to our product being available to sports fans in the Show Me State in 2025,” a FanDuel spokesman wrote in a statement.

Griffin Finan, senior vice president and deputy general counsel at DraftKings, echoed the sentiments.

“We are thrilled that sports betting will create a vital new, permanent funding source for Missouri’s education system and ensure a brighter future for its students,” he wrote.

The proposal also enables operators to deduct a portion of sports betting taxes against revenues. The deduction is a boon for sportsbooks, as it allows operators to spend a larger portion of revenues on promotions. In high tax jurisdictions such as New York, operators find it more difficult to reinvest into their product.

In terms of bettor wagering habits, JMP Securities analyst Jordan Bender believes spend per adult will be in line with the U.S. average. As a result, Bender predicts that Missouri online gaming revenue will generate about $580 million annually at maturity.

Funding Issues

The tax rate has received some criticism from Missouri State Sen. Denny Hoskins, a Republican. A portion of tax revenue will be earmarked to a Compulsive Gambling Prevention Fund, which includes research on problem gambling, additional treatment and recovery programs, and services related to compulsive gambling.

But the tax fees are comparatively low and not sufficient enough to combat a rise in problem gambling, Hoskins contends.

Missouri Lt. Governor Mike Kehoe became the governor elect on Tuesday with a decisive victory over Democratic nominee Crystal Quade. In the run-up to the election, both candidates favored the adoption of sports betting to provide the state with additional revenue.

The amendment enables the state’s pro sports team to open retail sportsbooks in the vicinity of their venues. There are also implications in the Chiefs’ bid for a new stadium. Kansas law allows the state to apportion sports betting revenue as an incentive for teams to relocate. However, Chiefs President Mark Donovan downplayed the tie-in, stating in August that he didn’t view the initiative as a tipping point one way or the other.

BetMGM also offered odds of 35-1 this summer for a team to go undefeated and win the Super Bowl. The Chiefs are in pursuit of their third straight Super Bowl, a feat that has never occurred in NFL history.