ESPN’s FPI predicts the outcome of every game on Mizzou’s 2026 schedule
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With Eli Drinkwitz‘s Missouri Tigers looking to claw their way to the upper echelons of the SEC after spending years in the middle of the pack, the team will have to do so while facing one of its most difficult schedules to date.
After playing against a softer (by SEC standards) schedule over the course of the past two seasons, Missouri is staring down a gauntlet this fall.
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Of the teams on the slate, 5 are ranked in the preseason top 25, although the Tigers will only have to make 4 road trips in the SEC’s new 9-game league schedule.
With Mizzou kicking off its season Thursday night, ESPN’s Football Power Index updated its projections for the Tigers’ season, and it gives them a greater than 50% chance to win in 7 of their 12 games.
- Sept 3: Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions | 99.9% chance to win
- Sept 11: Kansas Jayhawks | 72.0% chance to win
- Sept 19: Troy Trojans | 93.9% chance to win
- Sept 26: Mississippi State Bulldogs | 67.3% chance to win
- Oct 3: Florida Gators | 54.1% chance to win
- Oct 10: Texas A&M Aggies | 34.0% chance to win
- Oct 17: Ole Miss Rebels | 32.2% chance to win
- Oct 31: Arkansas Razorbacks | 67.1% chance to win
- Nov 7: Texas Longhorns | 18.1% chance to win
- Nov 14: Georgia Bulldogs | 13.4% chance to win
- Nov 21: Kentucky Wildcats | 75.4% chance to win
- Nov 28: Oklahoma Sooners | 39.7% chance to win
All in all, the FPI believes Drinkwitz & Co. should win 6.67 games on average this season, making either 6 or 7 victories a reasonable estimate.
Mizzou will open its 2026 campaign at home against the FCS’ Arkansas Pine-Bluff at 8 p.m. ET on Thursday, with the game being broadcast by the SEC Network.
Parker is currently the sports editor for Gulf Coast Media in Foley, Alabama. He's a graduate from Mizzou who has experience covering the Tiger football and basketball beats for SB Nation, and he's worked for a variety of sports news outlets in the past.
