Greg McElroy explains why Mizzou is a ‘dark horse’ in the SEC
By Mark Kern
Published:
Greg McElroy has been giving his predictions all across college football over the past couple weeks as we are now just 9 days away from the start of the 2025 season.
The SEC has its normal contenders like Alabama, Georgia and Texas, but McElroy think Eli Drinkwitz and the Missouri Tigers are a dark horse in the conference.
“Missouri is coming off back to back 10 wins seasons,” McElroy said. “Six home games to start is a pretty impressive place to go. They were 11-2 in 2023, and last year was a very quiet 10-3 season. Eli Drinkwitz is outwardly calling this his most talented team. They bring in Beau Pribula from Penn State who is competing with Sam Horn. When you look at the offense, they have a tremendous addition in Ahmad Hardy.”
The offense is having to replace some all-time Missouri greats in Brady Cook and Luther Burden III, but that side of the ball appears to once again be good. The defense is an area where McElroy thinks could be a real strength.
“Damon Wilson is a transfer from Georgia, and he is going to be great at one of the defensive end spots,” McElroy said. “Damon Wilson with Zion Young is a pretty good way to start. This is a defense that was really good last year. They are deep and actually have a chance to be improved from where they were a year ago.”
The schedule has been a huge reason why analysts like McElroy and Joel Klatt think Missouri have a chance to surprise people in the SEC. As McElroy mentioned, the Tigers first six games of the season are at home. Their three toughest games are Alabama, South Carolina and Texas A&M, and all three of those games are at home as well.
At BetMGM, Mizzou’s win total currently sits at 7.5. If you’re in Missouri, you’ll soon be able to legally bet on sports — here’s a BetMGM Missouri bonus for when the time comes.
Drinkwitz and the Missouri Tigers have been close the last couple of years, as they went 21-5 in the last two years. Missouri will kickoff the 2025 season on Aug. 28 against Central Arkansas.
