Missouri is now a factor in the SEC and on the national landscape of college football.
That’s what happens when you win the renewal of the Border War, as Missouri did on Saturday by rallying past Kansas at a rocking Faurot Field. The Tigers didn’t let a fourth-quarter deficit get in the way of beating the hated Jayhawks, and their 42-31 victory did something else for Mizzou on Sunday.
The win lifted the Tigers into the new AP Top 25 Poll, with Missouri sneaking in at No. 25, the last of a record 11 SEC teams to make this AP Top 25. Missouri helped break that all-time record for any conference in any AP Poll, and now the 2-0 Tigers will enjoy life as a ranked team in Week 3.
They’ll also enjoy being a heavy favorite this Saturday at home against Louisiana. The 4 p.m. ET kickoff in Columbia pits Mizzou against a Sun Belt opponent, and Missouri is a 21-point favorite to open the week against the Ragin’ Cajuns.
Here is the full list of opening betting lines for Week 3 in college football, via Circa:
While the line opened at -21 at Circa, some books such as DraftKings have already moved the line to -25.5. Here’s a DraftKings Missouri promo code to help you earn a sign-up bonus after sports betting goes live in the state of Missouri later this year.
If Missouri takes care of business again at home, without the 4th-quarter drama, it could see its AP ranking slide up again in a week’s time. Right now, Eli Drinkwitz‘s team is just trying to get to 3-0.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
