Missouri Tigers are prepared to host Missouri State

The 2017 football season is finally upon us, and the Tigers’ first test will be against the Missouri State Bears, who will be hungry for an upset.

Well, it’s finally here. After a long, eight month wait, football has returned! Our first taste of the Tigers will be against an out of conference, FCS opponent in Missouri State, but don’t be fooled by their record last year or the fact they are FCS.

Mo State is hungry for an upset and is ready to shock the college football world. An upset probably won’t happen, as long as the Tigers keep focus and simply don’t look ahead to South Carolina next week.

We’ll get our first look at Drew Lock and see how he has improved over the summer. Lock should have no problem picking off the defense, and we should expect a big day from him. Expect Lock to possibly throw for four touchdowns or more and throw for over 400 yards.

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The receivers should have a hey day against the secondary, with J’Mon Moore, Dimetrios Mason and Johnathan Johnson blowing past the defensive backs. Not to mention, running backs Damarea Crockett and Ish Witter will carry some of the load off the receivers, if they struggle early.

If all things click for Mizzou’s offense, don’t be shocked if the Tigers score reaches the 50s or even the 60s.

How the defense will fare is the more interesting question. This is where we’ll really see if we should be concerned about how well they do this year.

It’s expected that the defense will contain the Bears offense effectively, but if the Tigers give up around 20 points in the game, then our worries may be justified.

This week should be an easy and fun game to watch. The Tigers outmatch the Bears in every aspect of the field, and the offense should put on a show for the fans. As long as Missouri doesn’t walk in sleeping, it should be a blow out, and we can look forward to the Tigers’ first real test in South Carolina. Kickoff is at 11:00 a.m. (CDT) on the SEC Network.