COLUMBIA, Mo. – The Missouri Tigers are bowl-bound after Friday’s 29-27 thriller win over the Arkansas Razorbacks in the Battle Line Rivalry.
Mizzou has clinched bowl eligibility for the third time in three seasons under head coach Eli Drinkwitz. The upcoming bowl game will be the 35th in program history, though the bowl game, location and date are still to be determined.
A college football selection committee is responsible for the process of assigning 82 FBS teams to bowl spots. The Top 4 ranked teams at the end of the year will clinch a spot in the College Football Playoff, or two specific bowl games before the championship.
From there, the committee aims to fill up certain bowl games that are assigned to specific college football conferences. In some cases, tiers are considered based on team achievements. The pool of remaining bowl-eligible teams will fill an at-large position.
Essentially, this means Mizzou will either get assigned a bowl game spot specifically designated for a Southeastern Conference team (like the Liberty Bowl) or could get an at-large spot (like the Tigers secured last season in the Armed Forces Bowl against Army).
If within conference, Mizzou could be considered for any of the following bowl games involving one SEC opponent:
ReliaQuest BowlTaxSlayer Gator BowlTransperfect Music City BowlTaxAct Texas BowlAutozone Liberty BowlSRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl TicketSmarter Birmingham Bowl Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl
Eleven SEC teams, including Mizzou, finished the regular season with a 6-6 record or better to qualify for this slate of eight bowl games. It’s possible there might not be any at-large contenders here, depending on the final pre-bowl college football rankings. SECSports.com breaks down dates, times and conference matchup agreements in this report.
At least one of the bowl-bound, but non-playoff SEC teams will also play in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl, an annual contest against the top teams of the Big Ten and Southeastern Conferences. Mizzou will not qualify for this, just making the cut for bowl eligibility at 6-6.
What do college football aficionados project for Mizzou?
CBS Sports: Birmingham Bowl (Mizzou vs. East Carolina, Dec. 27)Athlon Sports: Liberty Bowl (Mizzou vs. Baylor, Dec. 28)Last Word on Sports: Liberty Bowl (Mizzou vs. Baylor, Dec. 28)Dratings.com: Liberty Bowl (Mizzou vs. Kansas State, Dec. 28)Rock M Nation: Las Vegas Bowl (Mizzou vs. TBD Pac-12 team, Dec. 17)
If you’re one who likes to plan ahead for college football bowl games, hopefully this gives you some ideas of what to expect. All matchups in the 2022-23 bowl season will be revealed next weekend on Selection Sunday, Dec. 4, 2022.
Mizzou has a 15-19 record in bowl games all-time. The Tigers are currently on a three-game bowl losing streak and last won a bowl contest in 2015. For a closer look at Mizzou’s bowl game history, click here.