2014
Missouri Tigers
College Football
Betting Preview
Schedule and Odds
It’s going to be extremely difficult for Missouri to repeat last season’s success. Even though the Tigers are losing their starting quarterback, that probably won’t be the biggest issue they have with only nine total returning starters. Needless to say, no one is expecting Missouri to repeat their 11-win season from a year ago.
Sportsbook.ag lists Missouri at odds of 55 to 1 which places them at 22nd in the nation using the odds as a ranking.
The good news is that Maty Mauk got plenty of experience for the injured James Franklin last season, starting in Four SEC Games. Mauk’s 11-2 TD-INT ratio with only 133 pass attempts shows what he can do. The question is, if he can do it for a prolonged season. He’ll have elite WR Dorial Green-Beckham (883 yards, 12 TDs) back, but the Tigers will still lean on their run Game as much as possible. Henry Josey is gone, but Russell Hansbrough and Marcus Murphy got plenty of touches last year and both averaged at least six yards per carry. They lose a couple starters on the offensive line, which might make running the ball more difficult.
Defensively they lose a bunch of starters, but the Tigers lived by their depth last season meaning experience isn’t hard to find despite returning only Four starters. Markus Golden and Shane Ray can be solid on the edges and they have some tackles that can stop the run. The problem again will likely fall at cornerback where they were often torched in 2013. Braylon Webb and Ian Simon are great at the safety spot and can limit big-play potential, but newcomers at CB and linebacker will need to play strong.
The Schedule doesn’t help matters either for the Tigers as they get South Carolina, Florida, Texas A&M and Tennessee all on the road. That could easily be Four losses if the team isn’t playing at the top of their Game. On the other end of that, their home Schedule is nice, but will have tests against UCF and Georgia. Because of that road Schedule, reaching 10 wins will be difficult, but they should still get around that eight-win range.
The Tigers didn’t get a ton of respect in the books last season and if they can get off to a nice 4-0 start — which they should — an upset at South Carolina isn’t out of the cards. Of course if they lose that Game, Georgia and Florida await, and that could turn into three straight losses and an uncomfortable Maty Mauk.
2014 Missouri Football Schedule
Aug. 30 vs. South Dakota State
Sep. 6 at Toledo
Sep. 13 vs. UCF
Sep. 20 vs. Indiana
Sep. 27 at South Carolina
Oct. 11 vs. Georgia
Oct. 18 at Florida
Oct. 25 vs. Vanderbilt
Nov. 1 vs. Kentucky
Nov. 15 at Texas A&M
Nov. 22 at Tennessee
Nov. 29 vs. Arkansas