Screenshot and store for future ridicule, if you must.
Yes, I’m sticking my neck on the line and attempting to predict the future ahead of Missouri football’s 2024 season, which kicks off with a game against Murray State at 7 p.m. Thursday on Faurot Field in Columbia.
So, here are four bold predictions for the upcoming season, ranging from playoff aspirations to individual accomplishments:
Missouri football goes 11-1, hosts a playoff game
Yes, this means that come Sunday, Dec. 8 — when the College Football Playoff committee logs its final 12-team field — that Mizzou will be between the No. 5 and 8-seeded team in the nation.
How do the Tigers get there?
Win the games they’re expected to win — with favorable spreads coming in nine, maybe 10 games — and then knock off Oklahoma at home and either Texas A&M or Alabama on the road. An 11-1 record does the trick.
That’s not a task too tall for a team, on paper, this talented.
South Carolina will end someone’s CFP dreams. Auburn could be a messy, pre-noon homecoming matchup. Are Arkansas and Mississippi State as bad as the common consensus seems to predict? We’ll see.
But I don’t think any are getting the better of this Missouri team. We’re chalking the loss up in Alabama, and predicting MU to take care of business versus the Sooners and at the Aggies.
Would that be enough for a trip to Atlanta and the SEC Championship, too? It’d certainly be close.
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Luther Burden III breaks pair of program records
Burden, in his third and likely final season with Mizzou, has a tall order to reach these two program records.
First, the career receiving yards record, which is held by Danario Alexander at 2,778 yards. Burden needs 1,191 receiving yards to knock Alexander off his perch. That’s 21 yards fewer than the St. Louis native managed last season (1,212), but still a gaudy total.
Next, we’re looking at career 100-yard games. To beat Justin Gage’s record of 11 career 100-yard games, Burden needs to match his six from last season to break the record. It was a lot last year, and it’s still a lot.
But our pick is in: He gets them both.
While we’re at it … pencil Burden in as Missouri’s first winner of the Biletnikoff Award, given to the top receiver in the country.
Brady Cook joins 3,500 club
Only three Missouri quarterbacks have thrown for 3,500 yards in a single-season. Chase Daniel did it three times in a row from 2006-08 (eclipsing 4,000 twice); Drew Lock did it once in 2017; and Blaine Gabbert is the other in 2009.
After this season, make it four.
Cook passed for 3,317 yards last season, the eighth-best single-season in Mizzou history. There’s little reason to doubt he can’t find 183 more.
Explosive plays, he said, have been a central focus of his offseason, and he’ll have the weapons to open up that side of his game with seven versatile wide receivers seemingly in the mix for playing time.
More: What a step forward looks like for Missouri football QB Brady Cook amid newfound notoriety
Add on that running back Nate Noel looks like a useful option to add to the passing game, while tight end Brett Norfleet figures to fit in even more often than his rookie year … and Cook’s chances for a big year look promising.
Defense falters as should-win September game gets nervy
Mizzou lost five defensive players to the NFL. The Tigers lost five more defensive starters and role players to eligibility. That’s been a big talking point, but perhaps not big enough due to all the attention-grabbing talent on offense.
More: Projecting Mizzou football’s first defensive depth chart of 2024
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The situation at cornerback is far from ideal, with both starters now in the league. Three of Missouri’s four-man rotation at defensive tackle are essentially newcomers. The Tigers are replacing a first-round defensive end, a third-round linebacker and a fifth-round safety.
Add all that up, and there’s elite talent out of the picture at all three levels. There’s plenty of athleticism and top-end talent coming in, but that kind of crack more often than not takes time to paper over.
Our guess is that one of the seemingly soft opening four games is closer than fans might want or expect — think MTSU in Week 2 last season — and a less-than-stellar defensive showing is the reason. Boston College, this year, is the team that comes to mind as a potential thorn.
The good news is that the opening four games don’t necessarily demand perfection from the defense, and an idle week before Texas A&M in early October adds more bedding-in time.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: From Burden to the CFP, 4 bold predictions for Missouri football in 2024
