COLUMBIA, Mo. – University of Missouri football embarks on its first road trip of the 2024 season Saturday when the No. 9 Tigers meet the 25th-ranked Texas A&M Aggies in a Southeastern Conference contest at Kyle Field.
Kickoff is set for 11 a.m. CT, and the game will be broadcast live on the ABC and Tiger Radio Network.
Owners of the nation’s longest win streak, the Tigers (4-0) will be shooting for their ninth-consecutive victory this weekend.
Mizzou and Texas A&M have faced off on 16 previous occasions, with the Aggies holding a 9-7 advantage in the series. The Aggies claimed a 35-14 victory in Columbia during the teams’ most recent matchup, but the Tigers have claimed seven of the last 10 contests in the series (dating back to 2002). A&M holds a 5-4 edge against MU in Bryan-College Station, although the Tigers have won three of the last four meetings at Kyle Field (since 2010).
Missouri is off to a 4-0 start for the second-straight season and will be seeking its fourth 2-0 SEC start since joining the conference in 2012.
Saturday’s ABC broadcast will feature Joe Tessitore, Jordan Rodgers, and Stormy Buonantony on the call. The game can also be heard on the Tiger Radio Network from LEARFIELD through the Varsity Network mobile app and Sirius XM channel 82.
HOW TO FOLLOW
[9] Missouri (4-0, 1-0 SEC) at [25] Texas A&M (4-1, 2-0 SEC)
Saturday, October 5, 2024 • 11 a.m. CT
Bryan-College Station, Texas • Kyle Field (102,733)
TELEVISION • ABC
RADIO • Tiger Radio Network from LEARFIELD KSPQ 93.9 FM
GAME NOTES • Missouri Notes • Texas A&M Notes
LIVE STATS • 12thMan.com
TWITTER • @MizzouFootball
INTERVIEWS • Coach Drinkwitz Weekly Press Conference
GAME NOTES
The Tigers’ current eight-game win streak, dating back to Nov. 11, 2023, is tied with Army West Point for the longest in the nation (NCAA FBS).
MU’s current win streak marks the Tigers’ best stretch since 1960 and represents the second-longest in program history.
Mizzou’s defense ranks third in the nation in total defense (219.0 ypg) and fifth in passing defense (127.3).
The Tigers have not yielded a 100-yard individual rushing performance since Oct. 14, 2023 at Kentucky.
MU’s offense has converted 19-of-20 trips to the red zone into points this season, as well as 75-of-78 trips overall since the start of the 2023 season.
QB Brady Cook has recorded four consecutive 200-yard passing performances to start the 2024 season; Additionally he moved into the No. 4 spot on the Tigers’ all-time passing yardage list against Vanderbilt (7,424).
WR Luther Burden III recorded six receptions against Vanderbilt, extending his streak of games with at least one catch to 26 in a row, dating back to Oct. 1, 2022; Burden III also tallied a pair of touchdown receptions in the contest, giving him at least one TD in five-straight games (since Dec. 29, 2023 vs. Ohio State).
RB Nate Noel ranks fourth among all active NCAA FBS backs with 3,515 career rushing yards following his career-best 199-yard effort vs. Vanderbilt.
Head Coach Eliah Drinkwitz has guided the Tigers to a 17-3 record in their last 20 contests (since Nov. 19, 2022), matching the program’s second-highest winning percentage (.850) over a 20-game period.
MU is riding a string of 17 consecutive weeks ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll, marking its longest since streak in a decade.
HISTORIC STARTS
Missouri is off to a 4-0 start for the second-straight season.
This season marks the 20th time in program history MU has won its first four games.
The Tigers will be looking for their 14th 5-0 start Saturday.
Mizzou has gone on to post a winning season in each of the previous 19 years in which it won its first four contests.
NEXT UP, NOEL
Despite the loss of 2023 NCAA FBS rushing leader Cody Schrader due to graduation, the Tigers’ ground game has picked up right where it left off last fall, averaging 206.5 yards per game through the first four contests of the season.
MU ranks 26th nationally in rushing yards per game, led by graduate transfer RB Nate Noel‘s 110.3 ypg average.
Noel has paced the Tigers’ rushing attack in all four games this season, including back-to-back 100-yard outings vs. Boston College and Vanderbilt in MU’s last two games.
Noel earned SEC Co-Offensive Player of the Week recognition on Sept. 23, following his career-best 199-yard effort in the Tigers’ 30-27 double-overtime win against Vandy.
In that contest, Noel tallied the most rushing yards by an SEC running back this season, including a 64-yard run that represented the longest rush by a Tiger in three years.
The 199-yard performance marked Noel’s 16th 100-yard game in 48 career contests; the Miami native also topped the 3,500-yard plateau for his career during MU’s last outing vs. Vanderbilt.
Noel enters Saturday’s game fourth among all active FBS rushers in terms of career yards (3,515) and ninth in all-purpose yards (3,821); Additionally, he ranks second in the SEC in rushing, and fifth in yards per rush (6.39) and rushing yards (441).
COOKIN’ UP A WINNER
QB Brady Cook has opened the 2024 season with four-straight 200-yard passing performances, running his MU career total to 23 games of 200 yards or more.
He trails only Chase Daniel (38) and Drew Lock (34) on the Tigers’ career leaderboard for 200-yard games.
With his 226-yard day vs. Vanderbilt (Sept. 21), Cook extended his home streak of 200-yard passing efforts to 10 in a row on Faurot Field (dating back to Sept. 16, 2023 vs. Kansas State).
Cook (8,507) became just the fifth Mizzou QB to top the 8,000-yard mark for total offense on Sept. 7 vs. Buffalo, logging a season-high 290 total yards; he trails James Franklin (8,691) by 184 yards for the No. 4 spot on the Tigers’ career chart for total offense.
The St. Louis native topped the 1,000-yard rushing milestone in the 2024 season opener, becoming just the sixth MU quarterback to do so; he also became just the second QB in program history to pass for 7,000 yards and rush for 1,000 (joining Brad Smith).
With his performance vs. Boston College, Cook moved past Franklin on MU’s all-time list of career games with at least one passing and one rushing TD (13 games), trailing just Corby Jones and Brad Smith, who each tallied 14 such games.
He also ranks fourth on MU’s all-time passing yardage list (7,424) and trails Smith (8,799) by 1,375 yards for the No. 3 position on the chart.
Cook (42 TDs) also moved into sole possession of fifth place on the Tigers’ career touchdown passes chart with a pair of scoring strikes to Luther Burden III vs. Vanderbilt, marking the 17th and 18th times the duo has connected on a TD pass.
IN THE ZONE
Mizzou has been nearly unstoppable in the red zone, converting 19-of-20 trips inside of the opposition’s 20-yard line into points this season.
The Tigers have found the end zone on 13 of those possessions overall (65%).
The Tigers red zone offense was one of the nation’s best in 2023, putting points on the board in 56-of-58 (96.6%) trips inside the 20-yard line to rank third among all FBS offenses.
MU converted 36 red zone TDs, while Harrison Mevis booted 20 red zone FGs to rank second among all FBS kickers.
PUTTING THE ‘D’ IN DOMINATE
Mizzou’s dominant start to the season included a string of eight-straight scoreless quarters by its defense, marking the first back-to-back season-opening shutouts by the Tigers since blanking William Jewell (39-0) and Central Missouri (7-0) to kick off Don Faurot’s debut season as head coach in 1935.
MU’s ‘Death Row Defense’ extended a shutdown streak started by the 2023 Tigers that ultimately stretched to 175 minutes and 41 seconds of scoreless clock time.
The Tigers did not yield a touchdown in three straight contests vs. Ohio State, Murray State and Buffalo in a streak spanning more than 193 minutes (dating back to Nov. 24, 2023 at Arkansas).
Against Murray State (Aug. 29), Mizzou allowed just 27 yards passing (7-of-15), marking the fewest yards by an opponent since 2011 vs. Western Illinois (20 yards).
MU’s defense ranks among the nation’s best in first downs allowed (2nd), total defense (3rd), passing yards allowed (5th), scoring defense (8th) and rushing defense (19th).
GET YOUR ARKANSAS TICKETS NOW!
A limited number of reserved single-game tickets remain available for the Nov. 30 Arkansas game. Reserved season tickets have sold out as well as single-game reserved tickets for games against Auburn and Oklahoma.
Purchase single-game tickets now by calling 1-800-CAT-PAWS or buying online.
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