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The 2023 Mizzou football season is upon us. In less than 84 hours, by the time this gets posted, I'll be at Faurot Field beginning coverage of my 21st consecutive season of Mizzou football. As it gets ready to get going, here is the final installment of Ten Thoughts before kickoff.
1) Here are the season openers I've covered, ranked:
2007: Missouri 40, Illinois 34--Pig Brown iced this one with a takeaway and the most fun season in school history was off and running. Also, hello, Jeremy Maclin
2019: Wyoming 37, Missouri 31--I wish I didn't remember this one. I've tried to forget
2017: Missouri 72, Missouri State 43--This one should not have been memorable. But giving up 43 to a mediocre FCS team sticks with you
2020: Alabama 38, Missouri 19--The first game in the weirdest season I've ever "covered"
2011: Missouri 17, Miami (OH) 6--As far as the game goes, it should not be this high. I remember it because it was a million degrees and also because I later found out Mike Alden, Brady Deaton and others were meeting on the roof of the press box to engineer a move to the SEC.
2009: Missouri 37, Illinois 9--This one was the starting debut of Blaine Gabbert. Jason Whitlock asked me who Gabbert reminded me of. I said Ben Roethlisberger. The next day, there was a column about the debut of "Big Blaine." I take credit.
2016: West Virginia 26, Missouri 11--It was the first season-opening loss I'd covered in 14 years. Morgantown was cool though.
2003: Missouri 22, Illinois 15--The year after Brad Smith broke out, he starts the Tigers' path back to a bowl game
2022: Missouri 52, Louisiana Tech 24--Remember that Friday morning last year when we all thought "Hey, maybe Missouri's offense is going to be pretty fun?"
2010: Missouri 23, Illinois 13--This one finally convinced the Illini they had to stop this series
2008: Missouri 52, Illinois 42--You'd think I'd remember more about a game with 94 points scored
2014: Missouri 38, South Dakota State 18--On the first play from scrimmage, SDSU busted a 75-yard run for a TD. Hardly a sign of a defense that would lead the way to a second straight SEC title game.
2021: Missouri 34, Central Michigan 24--The only reason I remember this one is because it only happened two years ago
2005: Missouri 44, Arkansas State 16--Chase Daniel made his debut in front of a half full Arrowhead Stadium, which proved you shouldn't play opponents like this away from home
2015: Missouri 34, SEMO 3--It was the most points Mizzou would score all year in the least fun season I've ever covered
2004: Missouri 52, Arkansas State 20--I remember virtually nothing about this game in a season that ended up being memorable in a bad way
2013: Missouri 58, Murray State 14--It's the most memorable Mizzou/Murray State game ever
2006: Missouri 47, Murray State 7--Most FCS games are going to be at the bottom
2012: Missouri 62, Southeastern Louisiana 10--I got nothing
2018: Missouri 51, Tennessee-Martin 14--Tennessee-Martin is the Skyhawks. That's what I remember
2) Overall, let's be honest, there's not much we should be able to learn from Thursday night. South Dakota is a good FCS team. But it's an FCS team. The Coyotes shouldn't put up too much resistance. I remember in the early 1990's when Marshall was the No. 1 team in 1AA (at the time). The Herd came to Columbia and got slaughtered by a bad Missouri team. The gap between levels is smaller than it was then. It is not impossible that USD would win this game. But it would be a very, very bad sign if that happened. The only things we can really learn Thursday night are mostly negative. We should be seeing guys deep down the depth chart by the fourth quarter. If we are not, it's reason to be worried. If Missouri somehow loses, it's probably the worst loss in school history and I'm absolutely not going to tell anyone not to panic.
3) That said, the quarterback situation is going to provide some intrigue. Eli Drinkwitz has said Brady Cook and Sam Horn will both play. From what I've heard, that's the plan for next week against Middle Tennessee as well. The Tigers are looking to have their full-time starter decided by September 16 against Kansas State. I would expect Cook to get the first series on Thursday. He deserves that. He's the returning starter and obviously hasn't been beaten out, so he deserves the first snap. But I think it's important that Horn gets to play in the first half. I'd probably go two series for Cook, two for Horn and keep alternating that way until the game is out of reach and then give Jake Garcia an opportunity. I don't know exactly how Missouri plans to rotate them.
4) Even if this shouldn't be the most exciting game, season openers always just hit different. It's been more than eight months since we've seen Missouri play a football game. We talk every day all year building up to 13 days. And this is one of the 13. The first one is always exciting because as much as you think you know what you'll see, you never really know what you'll see. Even baseball, where everyone plays 162 games and it's the longest slog of a season imaginable, opening day is appointment viewing and we put so much importance on the outcome of the first game. Most of us build our lives around these games to some extent. The return of football season puts a little giddy up in everyone's step. For at least one day, every fan can think this is his team's year. Optimism runs wild and it's fabulous. Until the day after game one when half of the fans in the country want to fire their head coach.
5) Outside of quarterback, I don't think there are many real positional competitions going on. Earlier this week, Jarod Hamilton projected the starters on offense and defense. Here are my major questions:
*How long until one of the freshmen is starting at tight end?
*Has Connor Tollison improved as much as they're saying and is the starting five solid on the OL or are we going to be another season-long shuffle moving guys all over the place looking for a serviceable group?
*Can Missouri find enough depth at defensive end to move Darius Robinson back inside for the majority of his snaps or is he a permanent starter at defensive end?
*There are a lot of bodies at wide receiver. They can't all play. Who is left out of the mix and has to wait another year for significant playing time?
*Who is Missouri's leading rusher? I expect Cody Schrader to be the starter. I'm not at all sure he leads the team in carries or yards.
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