#ShowMe Mizzou Game Notes

• Liberty Bowl Bowl Guide

The Matchup

• No. 23 (CFP)/24 (AP) Mizzou Football, riding a four-game win streak with victories in five of its last six games, is headed to a bowl game for the second consecutive season and second time in three seasons under head coach Barry Odom as it will square off against Oklahoma State in the 2018 AutoZone Liberty Bowl on Dec. 31 in Memphis, Tenn. The game will air live on ESPN at 2:45 p.m. (CT) with Clay Matvick, Dan Orlovsky and Paul Carcaterra on the call. 

BOWL HISTORY

• As mentioned above, Mizzou is making its second bowl appearance in three seasons under the direction of head coach Barry Odom. Odom is just the fourth Mizzou coach to take a Tiger team to a bowl in two of his first three seasons, joining Dan Devine, Warren Powers and Al Onofrio. 
• The Liberty Bowl bid is the program's 33rd bowl appearance. Mizzou is 15-17 all-time in 32 bowl appearances, and has won three of four dating back to 2011, including a 41-31 win over Oklahoma State in the 2014 AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic (2013 season). Mizzou's all-time bowl record is a bit skewed as Mizzou lost its first seven bowl games from 1924-61. Since 1961, Mizzou is 15-10 in bowl games during that span. Mizzou head coach Barry Odom is 0-1 as a head coach in bowl games, falling in last year's Texas Bowl to Texas, 33-16, in Houston. 

MIZZOU RANKED!

•  Mizzou enters bowl season as one of the nation's hottest teams, completing a perfect 4-0 November while winning five of its last six games with the only loss in that span coming on an untimed down vs. then No. 12-ranked Kentucky in a 15-14 loss. The Tigers have earned recognition for their hot finish to the season, climbing to No. 24 in the Associated Press Top 25 and No. 23 in the College Football Playoff Top 25. The ranking in the CFP Top 25 is Mizzou's sixth all-time appearance in that poll and it is the first time under Coach Odom. Below is a snapshot: 

MIZZOU AMONG NATION'S BEST OVER LAST SEASON AND A HALF

• Since the midway point of last season, Mizzou Football has been one of the nation's elite teams when looking at win-loss record. Mizzou closed last season by going 6-1 over its last seven games, winning six straight before losing its bowl game. Combine that 6-1 mark with this year's 8-4 record and Mizzou is an incredible 14-5 over its last 19 games. 
• Among the 129 FBS teams, only 13 schools have a better record than Mizzou in their last 19 games. If you narrow that to Power 5 teams, only six schools have a better mark in their last 19 - No. 1 Alabama (18-1), No. 2 Clemson (18-1), No. 3 Oklahoma (17-2), No. 6 Ohio State (17-2), No. 5 Georgia (16-3) and No. 22 Northwestern (15-4). Keep in mind that of those six schools ahead of Mizzou, three are among the four teams playing in the College Football Playoff and five are among the nation's top six teams. Below is a list of FBS teams that are 14-5 or better over their last 19 games:

ALL-TIME SERIES WITH OKLAHOMA STATE

• Mizzou and Oklahoma State have a storied history, dating back to Mizzou's time in the Big Eight and Big 12. The two teams have met 52 times in a series that dates back to 1915. Mizzou is 29-23 all-time against the Cowboys and won the last meeting, a 41-31 win in the 2014 Cotton Bowl. The Liberty Bowl will mark the second meeting between the two teams in a bowl game. 
  Mizzou has won six of the last 10 meetings since 1996 when Mizzou and Oklahoma State joined the Big 12 Conference. OSU coach Mike Gundy is 3-2 vs. Mizzou. Barry Odom has never coached vs. OSU as a head coach. 

MIZZOU LOOKS FOR NINTH WIN

• As Mizzou enters the Liberty Bowl, it does so with eight regular season wins for the just 17th time in program history and just the 12th time since 1958. A win over Oklahoma State would give Mizzou nine wins on the year, which would be just the ninth time in program history that a team would finish with nine or more wins in a season. Below is a look at Mizzou's teams to win nine or more in a season:

• As you can see, only three coaches in Mizzou Football history have ever won nine games in a season. Barry Odom would become just the fourth with a win in the Liberty Bowl. 
• Odom would also become just the second Mizzou coach during the AP rankings era (1936 and on) to win nine games in one of his first three seasons, joining Dan Devine who went 11-0 during his third season in 1960.         

EIGHT WINS IS A BIG DEAL

• As mentioned earlier, Mizzou won eight regular-season games for just the 12th time in the last 60 years and first time since 2014. Head coach Barry Odom is just the fourth Mizzou coach to finish a regular season with eight wins in one of his first three seasons, joining Gary Pinkel (2003 - year three), Warren Powers (1980 - year three) and Dan Devine (1960 - year three). Below is a look:

• Mizzou has won seven games in back-to-back years for the first time since 2013-14 when Mizzou won back-to-back SEC East Championships. 

RECAPPING LAST TIME OUT

•  Mizzou Football finished the regular season 8-4 (4-4 SEC) after earning a dominant, 38-0, win over SEC West rival Arkansas on a rain-soaked Nov. 23 afternoon on Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium.
• On senior day, a day when the program's 19 seniors were honored while playing their final home game, it was Mizzou's defense that was dominant from start to finish. The Tigers posted 8.0 tackles for loss, including a season-high 5.0 sacks, 4.0 of which came in the first half. Mizzou limited the Razorbacks to 187 total yards, including just 52 on the ground. It was Mizzou's first shutout over an FBS team since Nov. 28, 2010, against Iowa State. 
• Mizzou senior QB Drew Lock, playing in his final home game, went 16-for-25 for 221 yards and two TDs while rushing for two more scores. He exited the game in the fourth quarter to a standing-ovation from the crowd. Sophomore DT Jordan Elliott had 4.0 tackles for loss, including 3.0 sacks, to spark Mizzou's dominant defensive showing. One of his three sacks was a strip sack, recovered in the end zone for a Mizzou score. 

OKLAHOMA STATE vs. TCU

•  In its final game of the regular season, Oklahoma State fell to TCU (6-6, 4-5 Big 12), 31-24, in Fort Worth, Texas.  
• TCU's Jawuan Johnson scooped up a fumble and returned it 15 yards for a touchdown on the first play of the second half, and Jalen Reagor ran 83 yards for a score on TCU's first offensive snap after halftime and the Horned Frogs gained bowl eligibility with their 31-24 victory over the Pokes. 
• Oklahoma State (6-6, 3-6) had only 58 total yards after Johnson's defensive score set up on a pass behind the line that went off the hands of freshman running back Chuba Hubbard. Reagor's TD run made it 21-3 only 73 seconds into the second half, and TCU held on from there. 

THOSE WHO WIN IN NOVEMBER, WILL BE REMEMBERED

• Mizzou's 38-0 win over Arkansas last time out continued an impressive streak for Mizzou in the month of November. Mizzou is 10-2 in games played in November under third-year head coach Barry Odom. After winning the final game of the 2016 season over Arkansas, all four games in November last year, and all four games this year, Mizzou is currently riding a nine-game winning streak in the month of November. Since 2013, the year Mizzou won the first of back-to-back SEC East Championships, the Tigers are an incredible 19-5 in games played during November. That 19-5 record includes four perfect 4-0 slates in the month of November (2018, 2017, 2014 and 2013). It is no surprise that Mizzou has been bowl eligible in all four of those seasons. 

WALKING IN MEMPHIS

• As Mizzou enters the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tenn., it will do so with some local connections to the city. The most obvious is head coach Barry Odom, who spent three seasons at Memphis. Odom became one of the nation's more highly sought-after coordinators due to three stellar years directing Memphis' defense from 2012-14. His 2014 defense was a key component of Memphis' 10-3 season, as his unit finished the regular season ranked fifth nationally in scoring defense (17.1 avg.) and 22nd in total defense (343.3 avg.). That marked an impressive incremental improvement under Odom's watch, as Memphis ranked 117th nationally in total defense the season prior to his arrival. In his first season at Memphis, the defense improved to 50th nationally (383.6 avg.), followed by a jump to 39th in 2013 (370.7 avg.). Memphis earned a share of the 2014 American Athletic Conference title, giving it a conference championship for the first time since 1971.
• Defensive coordinator Ryan Walters and strength coach Rohrk Cutchlow came to Mizzou from Memphis as well, both having a connection with Coach Odom.
• Mizzou also has three players on its roster from the Memphis area. SEC All-Freshman running back Tyler Badie went to Briarcrest Christian HS, RS junior slot WR Johnathon Johnson went to Memphis' Melrose HS and sophomore LB Aubrey Miller went to Whitehaven HS in Memphis. 

THE COMPUTERS LOVE MIZZOU

• In virtually every computer ranking available to college football pundits, Mizzou rates as one of the nation's best teams. Below is snapshot
  • 9th – Massey Index | 12th – ESPN FPI
  • 13th – Sagarin |  20th – Colley Matrix
• Mizzou played the No. 3 Strength of Schedule (Massey Ratings – Through Dec. 7)
• Mizzou has a top-15 Strength of Schedule according to:
  • No. 9 in Colley Matrix  | No. 10 in NCAA |  No. 12 in Sagarin
• Mizzou is 12th in ESPN's FPI and is ninth in combined efficiency (13th offense,  16th defense).
• Nine of Mizzou's 12 opponents finished bowl eligible – 5-4 record against them.
• Mizzou's worst loss, according to FPI, was at No. 28 South Carolina on a walk-off field goal. The average FPI rank of Mizzou's four losses is 19.3 (No. 1 Alabama, No. 3 Georgia, No. 26 Kentucky, No. 28 South Carolina).