Missouri football at Oklahoma scouting report, score prediction for Tigers against Sooners
NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...
Can Mizzou play spoiler?
No. 21/23 Missouri football is traveling down to play in the Palace on the Prairie, where the Tigers will face No. 8/8 Oklahoma on Saturday, Nov. 22, in Norman, Oklahoma.
Mizzou (7-3, 3-3 SEC) righted the ship on its 2025 season this past Saturday, taking down Mississippi State 49-27 in its home finale behind a 300-yard rushing night from tailback Ahmad Hardy, who was since named a semifinalist for the Doak Walker Award.
The Tigers are out of the running to make the College Football Playoff field because of three losses in the previous four games.
But Eli Drinkwitz’s team can make sure one of their old rivals doesn’t make it there, either.
Oklahoma (8-2, 4-2) beat Alabama this past Saturday in Tuscaloosa, and the Sooners now need two more wins to become a likely at-large team in the CFP field.
Mizzou has not won in Norman, Oklahoma, since 1966. The Tigers haven’t played there since 2011, when both teams were in the Big 12.
Here is what you need to know about Oklahoma before Saturday’s game:
QB Matt Zollers’ next big test: Aggressive Oklahoma defense
Let’s take stock on the OU defense.
The Sooners have forced five fumbles and picked off three passes in their past two games.
Oklahoma ranks No. 2 in the nation, only behind undefeated Texas A&M, with 3.7 sacks per game.
OU has six different players with seven or more tackles for loss this season. Those players alone are getting behind the line of scrimmage for stops nearly 5.5 times per game between them.
One of the most aggressive, disruptive defenses in the country is waiting in Norman. Missouri has a true freshman quarterback, Matt Zollers, who is making just his third college start expected to take on that challenge.
Mizzou tried to find a way to get Zollers comfortable against Mississippi State, and for the most part, the Tigers succeeded.
But this upcoming Saturday might be more about how much Zollers can handle being uncomfortable. The Sooners will try to get after him.
“They do a great job of taking away what your strengths are and trying to get you to play left-handed,” Drinkwitz said. … “Coach Venables always talks about having a fourth-and-one mentality. It feels like their defense matches that intensity at all times.”
So, lean on Ahmad Hardy? Not so simple
Zollers called Ahmad Hardy a “security blanket” after the nation’s rushing leader went for 300 yards against Mississippi State.
We can’t imagine anyone in Columbia would turn their nose up at a repeat performance. But the Tigers are going up against one of the nation’s best run defenses Saturday. So good, Drinkwitz compared the Oklahoma run defense to video-game football.
“They rally to the ball. They cut gaps. They overlap the defense. They blitz,” Drinkwitz said. “They’ve got it all. Whatever you can play on Madden or (EA Sports) College Football to stop the run, they have it.”
The Sooners lead the SEC by allowing a paltry 82.2 yards on the ground per outing. Mizzou leads the SEC, helped by Hardy’s excellent season, with 241.7 rushing yards on offense per game.
It’s a heavyweight fight.
How has QB John Mateer performed?
Anyone who stayed up late to watch Wazzu last season knows that ‘The John Mateer QB Experience’ is almost always a rollercoaster. He’s one of the few quarterbacks who appear to be less prone to errors when he’s under pressure than when he’s not.
Per Pro Football Focus, Mateer has five passes (2.1%) charted as ‘big time throws’ to 11 passes (4.5%) charted as ‘turnover worthy plays’ from clean pockets. That flips to four (5.3%) ‘big time throws’ to two (1.8%) turnover-worthy plays when he’s under pressure.
Mateer has thrown seven interceptions this season, and all of those have come on throws to the middle of the field. Six of his eight touchdown passes this year have been on throws of 10 or more yards past the line of scrimmage.
He takes risks. He targets tight windows. Sometimes it goes wrong. Sometimes it goes really, really right.
The Sooners haven’t been a particularly efficient team running the football, but Mateer is the exception with 424 sack-adjusted rushing yards.
Keeping the OU offense quiet starts with stopping him from setting off fireworks.
Score prediction: Oklahoma 28, Missouri 17
Missouri is up against it this week. There’s no sugar-coating how tough this is going to be.
The route to a Mizzou win involves some tough and gritty stuff. The defense needs to be near-perfect. Zollers and company can’t get in the weeds and need to be careful with the football.
The reward for pulling off an upset: Knocking an old rival out of the CFP.
Maybe this one gets weird. The team certainly seems motivated enough.
“We see everything they say about Coach Drink and the Mizzou football team and just this program,” Missouri wide receiver Kevin Coleman Jr. said. “So, this is an important win to go get for ourselves, but also for the support we have, Mizzou fans and just everyone — even including the doubters that don’t believe we can win big games.”
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Score prediction, scouting report for Missouri football at Oklahoma
More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos