Missouri is 2-3 through the first 5 weeks of the 2021 season, as things haven’t gone quite as the Tigers had hoped. Especially because they haven’t performed well against SEC competition.

Mizzou fell to 0-2 in conference play this past Saturday when it took a 62-24 loss at home against Tennessee. The Tigers have now dropped 3 of their past 4 games, and they’ll need to quickly get back on the right track.

There’s an opportunity for Missouri to do that on Saturday, when it hosts North Texas. And in the week leading up to this matchup, the Tigers are conducting practice a bit differently.

“There’s no depth chart. There’s Tuesday’s practice,” Mizzou head coach Eli Drinkwitz told the media on Tuesday. “After Tuesday and Wednesday, we’ll have a better feel for who we think is going to play. But there’s no depth chart.”

That’s a change of pace for the Tigers at this time of year, which is why it may feel a bit more like August for those at practices this week.

“Normally, you go out there and the starters know who they are, the 2’s know who they are and you kind of go through practice, but there’s no starters right now,” Drinkwitz said. “… It’s not business as usual. It’s not business as the previous 5 weeks. It’s kind of like fall camp again. Whoever plays and practices the best is going to be the one that plays Saturday.”

Missouri and North Texas are set to kick off on Saturday at 4 p.m. ET on SEC Network.