
Missouri will look to earn its 10th win of the season over Kirk Ferentz’s defensively-sound Iowa Hawkeyes.
On December 30, Mizzou Football will close out the 2024 season with a shot at its 10th win of the season. It would be the first time in exactly a decade for back-to-back double digit win seasons. And just like in 2014, Mizzou will face a Big 10 foe. Only instead of an ascendent Minnesota, this time the Tigers will take on an old stalwart — Kirk Ferentz and the Iowa Hawkeyes.
Here are three keys for Missouri to take home the Music City Bowl victory over Iowa.
1. Take away Iowa’s main threat
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Anyone with a semblance of college football familiarity will be well aware of the Ferentz modus operandi – win in a rock fight. The Hawkeyes have one of the nation’s best defenses (6th in ESPN’s SP+ metric) and one of the nation’s most moribund offenses (67th by the same metric). The kicker for Monday night? Iowa will be without Kaleb Johnson, one of the nation’s best running backs, who declared for the NFL Draft and has opted out of the bowl game. Almost all of Iowa’s offense funnelled through Johnson this year, as the rest of the roster combined for fewer rushing attempts, yards and touchdowns than his numbers combined. With Brendan Sullivan returning from an ankle injury and Cade McNamara off to the transfer portal, Iowa’s offense will be searching for answers all over the field. If Missouri can bottle up the run, they’ll force Sullivan, who only has 35 pass attempts on the season, to be the man who beats them. That feels like a recipe for success.
2. Spread the ball around on offense
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Missouri isn’t without their own missing pieces. Luther Burden III is off to the NFL, removing the Tiger’s number one threat for instant offense. But unlike Iowa, the Tigers have a host of other available players to turn to. Nate Noel and Marcus Carroll are back for their final games as Tigers, as are Theo Wease and Brady Cook. Combined with a host of other young playmakers like Marquis Johnson, Josh Manning, and Brett Norfleet, the Tigers won’t have the same dearth of options as their opponents. Iowa’s pass defense is much stouter than the ground defense, so if Missouri can keep up on standard downs, they should be able to keep Phil Parker’s defense on their toes by putting the ball in many different pairs of hands.
3. A fast start
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This may be some wishful thinking heading into the new year. After all, Eli Drinkwitz’s Missouri teams have become notorious for playing games close late into the game, especially against quality opponents. But it would behoove the Tigers to jump on Iowa early and force them out of their rhythm. If the Tigers can put up multiple scores in the first half, they’ll put the Hawkeyes in a situation where they have to put the ball in the air and get more aggressive than they’d like in defending the run. That should open things up for Missouri’s ball hawking secondary on one side of the ball and their deep threats on the other. Again, it’s a tall order against a defense as well-drilled as Iowa’s. But an early lead would be a well-timed shot in the arm for a Tiger team looking to send off a host of popular players on the right note.
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