After a much-needed bye week, Auburn returns to the field Saturday against one of the most puzzling teams in the Southeastern Conference.

Missouri is up next for Hugh Freeze and his Tigers as both teams go into the matchup with things to prove. For Auburn, the motivation is obvious, a chance to turn around the season after a disappointing 2-4 start.

For Missouri, the black and gold Tigers are still looking to reassert themselves after a 41-10 loss to Texas A&M two weeks ago.

Saturday‘s battle should pit two teams with plenty of motivation and there’s reason to believe both teams have a chance to win.

Here’s a closer look at Missouri:

The team

Missouri started the season just outside the top 10 and climbed as high as No. 6 in the country during a 4-0 start.

The run didn’t come without concerns, though, as close calls against Boston College and Vanderbilt raised questions about the true quality of the team. Those questions were answered in the eyes of many against Texas A&M and not in the way Missouri was looking for.

The Tigers lost 41-10 in a game where they gave up over 500 yards of total offense and only averaged 4.16 yards per play themselves. Texas A&M ran for 236 yards against Missouri, highlighting defensive vulnerabilities in Missouri’s biggest test of the season so far.

Missouri rebounded with a unique road experience in Amherst against UMass, but it wasn‘t a game that was ever going to change anyone’s mind about the team. The Tigers have yet to beat any team of real quality this season, though their narrow overtime win over Vanderbilt is looking better as the season goes on.

The staff

Drinkwitz is in his fifth season as Missouri’s head coach and is close friend of Freeze.

“I have great respect for him and who he is and how he does things. It’s going to be a tall task for us there just to go and compete with a really, really good Missouri team,” Freeze said during his Monday press conference.

Freeze and Drinkwitz never worked on the same staff, but Drinkwitz does have ties to Auburn. He was a quality control coach at Auburn during the 2010 and 2011 seasons, making him part of the 2010 national championship-winning staff.

The other major connection between the Auburn and Missouri coaching staffs is first-year Missouri defensive coordinator Corey Batoon.

Batoon came to Missouri from South Alabama and worked with Freeze both at Liberty and Ole Miss. He was never a defensive coordinator for Freeze, but worked with him as a defensive assistant and safeties coach.

“He’s a heck of a guy and a heck of a defensive coordinator,” Freeze said. “That presents its own challenges.”

Players to watch

Coming into the season, Missouri was tipped as having one of the most exciting offenses in the SEC. Returning the highly touted trio of Brady Cook, Luther Burden III and Theo Wease Jr., the offense isn’t lacking in weapons.

However, the offense hasn’t put up the kind of numbers many expected at the halfway point of the season. Burden and Wease both have right around 400 receiving yards and Cook has just 1,351 passing yards and seven touchdowns.

Those aren‘t bad numbers, but for Cook and Burden, they’re not on pace to reach their totals from last season.

Missouri’s best offensive player this season has arguably been running back Nate Noel. The fifth-year Appalachian State transfer has 471 rushing yards on the year and is averaging six yards per carry.

Noel’s health could be in question, though. He didn’t play in Missouri’s game against UMass due to what the ESPN broadcast described as “back tightness.”

Defensively, Missouri is statistically one of the best teams in the SEC. The Tigers rank fourth in the conference in yards per game allowed and 12th in the country. The Texas A&M performance gives some reason to doubt Missouri’s capability against more advanced offenses, but the Tigers are still solid defensively.

The unit is led in the middle by linebacker Corey Flagg Jr., who leads the team in tackles with 29. A transfer from Miami, he also has one sack and one forced fumble on the season.

Another player to watch is defensive tackle Chris McClellan. A transfer from Florida, McClellan leads the team in sacks with 2.5 and has a pass rush grade of 88.2 on the season, according to Pro Football Focus.

Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at prauterkus@al.com

Following a non-conference battle with UMass, Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz has a problem to solve re-entering SEC play as they host Auburn on Saturday.

On Wednesday’s SEC Teleconference, Drinkwitz said his offense is going to have to figure out Auburn’s defense calling their scheme complex.

“We are going to have to play behind our pads. They are very complicated in their scheme,” Drinkwitz said. “They got multiple fronts, pressures and looks. I did not play them last year, but they are different than anyone else we have played. They bring a lot out you.”

Drinkwitz also keyed on the Auburn’s leading rusher Jarquez Hunter who is fifth in the SEC in rushing yards with 528 and is averaging 6.8 yards per carry.

Against Georgia, Hunter averaged seven yards per carry along with a 38-yard touchdown. Against Power 4 teams, he’s averaging 13.5 carries per game.

“In order to play well against Auburn, we are going to have to tackle Jarquez Hunter,” Drinkwitz said. “You talk about a guy with really good contact balance and has great vison with short area quickness. He can really get into a hole and burst through it. Very difficult to tackle because of his size. The taller and bigger linebackers get caught in the chest trying to bring him down. He’s a really good running back and is up there with the best we have faced.”

During Monday’s press conference Auburn coach Hugh Freeze emphasized getting the ball to Hunter more to create scoring opportunities for the offense.

“There’s no question, 27 needs to touch it more,” Freeze said.

The Tigers will have a chance to display its offensive prowess against Missouri at 11 AM in Columbia, MO. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.

Democrat Lucas Kunce reported raising $7.6 million over the last three months, more than doubling the amount raised by Republican U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley over the same period. 

Hawley, who is seeking his second term in the Senate, reported raising $3 million. An independent political action committee supporting his re-election, Show Me Strong, raised a little under $1 million. 

Jared Young, who successfully petitioned to form the Better Party for his Senate run, raised $14,860.

Every public poll of the race has shown Hawley in the lead, with most putting the Republican up by double digits. And Missouri hasn’t elected a Democrat to statewide office since 2018.

But Kunce has consistently outraised Hawley, and as the campaign enters its final weeks, he’s continued to go toe-to-toe with in television ad spending. Since the August primary, Kunce’s campaign has spent $6 million on TV ads hammering the Republican and trumpeting Kunce’s populist message. 

Hawley’s campaign has spent $3.9 million on ads during that time, with Show Me Strong chipping in roughly $1.9 million.

Josh Hawley draws rebuke over use of private jets for Missouri Senate campaign

Tuesday’s disclosure reports filed with the Federal Election Commission also reveal Hawley’s campaign more than doubled its spending on private jet travel, with nearly $140,000 worth of expenditures on chartered flights since the beginning of August. 

That compares to $132,000 during the first six months of the year. 

Hawley made criticism of former U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill’s use of private planes to travel the state a key attack line during his successful 2018 campaign, arguing it demonstrated the Democratic incumbent was out of touch with her constituents. 

The criticism was turned back on him when he was recorded earlier this month boarding a Gulfstream IV SP to hopscotch the state for campaign rallies with Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker. 

His latest disclosure form shows eight expenditures for chartered flights, including nearly $30,000 on Sept. 19. 

Kunce and Hawley are scheduled to debate Oct 31 on Missouri Nexstar stations, including KTVI/KPLR-St. Louis, WDAF-Kansas City, KRBK-Springfield and KSN-Joplin and their digital platforms.