A common theme for the Missouri Tigers since approaching the 2024 season has been to prevent last season’s success from overclouding it.

Although its nice to call itself the reigning Cotton Bowl Champions, that

team and season is very different from the present. There’s a whole different mindset for the Tigers now, and they

aren’t letting the success of last year dictate their approach.

“I understand that there’s a lot of outside expectations on what our football program should be,” head coach Eli

Drinkwitz said at SEC Media Days. “I think for us the most important thing is to focus on running our race.”

“2024 is all that matters,” Brady Cook said. “That’s the record that’s going to be

talked about. These are the games that’s going to be talked about. No one is going to be talk about the Cotton Bowl versus

Ohio State moving forward. It’s in the past. It’s in the history books. We have to go out and prove it every single week.”

As the college football season has gotten started, some teams have seemed to struggle with this. Specifically, Florida State.

After just missing the College Football Playoffs in an undefeated regular season campaign last season, the Seminoles have lost their first two games out of the

gate in 2024 against Georgia Tech and Boston College. The angst from what they felt like was robbery last season helped

foster some high expectations for them, but its been anything but a hopeful first two weeks.

Drinkwitz and Missouri were right. Last season is in the past, and what they want to achieve is the only thing that matters

for the program. Not only are the 2024 Tigers different, the college football landscape is, too.

After going up 10-0 at halftime, Missouri handled Miami (Ohio) pretty narrowly in a low-scoring outing. Quarterback James Franklin completed 17-of-26 passes for

129 yards and a touchdown, which connected with receiver Marcus Lucas in the fourth quarter.