4/30/2023 football Edit

Making the case for Mizzou-Kentucky to be permanent rivals in 3-6 model

Jarod Hamilton • PowerMizzou

Staff Writer

Earlier in the offseason we previewed what a possible schedule would look like for Missouri in 2024 and 2025 when Oklahoma and Texas join the conference next year.

In that article, we briefly touched on the teams that would likely make Mizzou’s three permanent opponents in the 3-6 model schedule.

In the 3-6 model, teams would have three conference opponents that play every year while the other six conference games would be made up of the other 12 teams on a rotating basis. This also means just three non-conference games instead of four.

We've already given cases for Missouri-Arkansas, Missouri-Oklahoma, Missouri-South Carolina and Missouri-Vanderbilt.

Here, we will give a detailed case as to why Missouri-Kentucky should become a permanent rivalry.

Historical context, fan engagement and geography

Missouri-Kentucky doesn’t have the billing that the historic rivalry Missouri-Oklahoma has.

It doesn’t have the gimmick of the “Mayor’s Cup” like Missouri-South Carolina.

And it was never a manufactured rivalry like Missouri-Arkansas, although that is easily the Tigers’ biggest archnemesis in the Southeastern Conference 一 to everyone, except some of the players themselves.

At SEC Media Days last July, former Mizzou safety Martez Manuel said that he dislikes Kentucky more than he disliked Arkansas. He circled back to those comments leading up to the teams’ week 10 matchup this past November.

“To me, it’s more of a rivalry game than Arkansas,” Manuel said at the July conference.

“Kentucky does a lot of stuff well," Manuel said on the Wednesday leading into the game. … "They're a really talented team. I don't like them though. Personally, I'm just ready for Saturday."

Manuel wasn’t alone in his sentiments. Quarterback Brady Cook sided with him.

“Usually when we play them it’s a real tight game,” Cook said. “There’s been a couple of controversial endings. … It’s always a tight game. I could definitely see why they (Manuel) made that comment. I agree for sure.”

Former wide receiver Barrett Banister, a Fayetteville, Arkansas native, views Arkansas as the team’s biggest rival for obvious reasons. But in Banister’s six seasons at Mizzou, he saw a lot of heated things and controversial endings happen versus the Wildcats.

“I don’t know if I can agree with them on the Arkansas thing,” Banister said. “I have a little more feeling towards them. But it’s definitely a physical game every time we play them. Back in 2017, there was that thing when (wide receiver) J’Mon (Moore) got the ball hit out of his hands. In 2018, there was the untimed down play. In 2019, it was a rain game and we didn’t play well, and then a physical game in 2020 and a one-possession game in 2021.”

Well just like the recent installments in the series, the 2022 contest was marred in controversy as well when Missouri was in the midst of trying to get a comeback victory at home (more on this in the next section).

Although the Missouri-Arkansas matchup is picking up steam and the fans really seem to be engaged in it, for players of a team to say they consider another team more of a rival than the team billed as the top rival is telling.

Now, that doesn’t mean it has staying power. The players who played in the games Banister was talking about are out the door or on the way out.

So, if the newer Missouri and Kentucky recruiting classes and transfers come in and they’re not introduced to the brewing feud. Then this will be just another conference game.

In most sports, a divisional game on principle alone can be a rivalry game. Not in college football.

So, why should Missouri-Kentucky be a permanent rivalry?

There are a number of reasons.

First, proximity. If you’ve read the previous cases, then you’d know how important proximity is to a rivalry and the fan bases.

The ability for fans to attend both home and road games makes for a better gameday atmosphere and that’s also when the fan bases can interact with each other.

Columbia to Lexington is about 462 miles apart which is a six-hour and 44-minute drive (without stops).

In comparison to the other matchups with cases to be permanent rivals, the distance between Missouri and Kentucky is third behind Arkansas (221 miles/four hours and 39 minutes) and Vanderbilt (435 miles/ six hours and 20 minutes).

Oklahoma is fourth (514 miles/seven hours and 45 minutes) while South Carolina is last (873 miles/ 12 hours and 44 minutes).

A drive to Kentucky is not something one does on a whim, but a brewing rivalry may be worth the drive for fans of either team.

Secondly, the games have been close (more specifics in the next section).

Since Missouri joined the league in 2012, seven of the 11 games the teams have played against each other have been decided by 10 points or less.

Due to Kentucky’s longstanding rivalry with Tennessee, it’s unlikely that those schools would stop playing each other, but would it be a bad idea to swap out that rivalry for this new one?

From a competitive standpoint, probably not. Tennessee is 83-26-1 versus Kentucky all-time.

Since 2012, only three of those contests have been decided by 10 points or less.

Which coincides with the next point.

The Tigers and the Wildcats likely see this as a winnable game.

A win over a conference foe in the SEC carries weight for more than just that particular season sometimes too. It also can carry over to recruiting too.

Lastly, the SEC has to strike while the iron is hot. It’s been an intense game the last few years and a lot of the players have bought into it.

This matchup doesn’t have the history that other matchups do but it’s building one right now.

Even if Kentucky keeps the rivalries with Tennessee and Vandy alive, having Mizzou be the third rival can allow teams like Georgia, Florida and to a lesser extent Mississippi State to explore other options.

At a point in time, competitive balance in a matchup has to mean just as much if not more than historic precedent.

Sports, especially college football is the ultimate what have you done for me lately business. A team being picked (and likely losing) to lose to two of their three rivals on a yearly basis doesn’t really do much for many parties.

Competitiveness and key performances

Kentucky leads the series with a 9-4 record all-time and a 7-4 record since Mizzou joined the conference 11 years ago.

The Wildcats have also won seven of the last eight games, but like we’ve mentioned before, the contests are always close, controversial, entertaining or some combination of the three.

In 2017, Tigers quarterback Drew Lock would have a busy day when the two teams faced off. He completed 22 of 42 passes for 355 yards and three touchdowns.

After trailing by 13 in the first half, the Tigers knotted the score up at 34 with a little less than 14 minutes remaining.

The Wildcats would score a field goal to go up 37-34 with 9:40 left.

Mizzou would have its game-tying 45-yard field goal attempt blocked with 6:23 left to go.

When looking back on the play Banister mentioned earlier, Moore caught a one-yard pass from Lock with 21 seconds left at Kentucky’s 27-yard line but was tackled inbounds.

Mizzou didn’t have any timeouts and in the midst of Moore trying to hand the ball to the referee, the ball was knocked out of his hand.

Another referee had to retrieve the ball and when the ball was finally spotted, snapped and spiked by Lock there were only three seconds remaining for a hail mary.

Mizzou’s comeback attempt would fall short as it would lose that game 40-34.

A year later, Mizzou had No. 12 Kentucky on the ropes and had a 14-9 lead with five seconds left to go.

With Kentucky at Mizzou’s 10-yard line quarterback Terry Wilson threw a pass to the back of the end zone intended for wide receiver Ahmad Wagner but Wagner made the one-handed snag out of bounds.

However, defensive back DeMarkus Acy would be flagged for pass interference on Wagner and because time had expired on the play Kentucky was rewarded an untimed down.

Wilson would connect from two yards out with C.J. Conrad to give Kentucky a 15-14 win.

In 2021, Kentucky running back Chris Rodriguez Jr. rushed for 207 yards and two touchdowns on 27 carries (7.7 yards per carry) to lead Kentucky to a 35-28 win.

Mizzou was down 14-0 in the first quarter before tying it up at 28 early in the fourth on a 17-yard passing touchdown from Connor Bazelak to running back Tyler Badie.

It was one of four passing touchdowns by Bazelak on the day in addition to his 294 yards and an interception on 34 of 51 passing.

On what would be the Wildcats’ game-winning drive with 13:11 left, Rodriguez had a carry that went 28 yards and later on in the drive quarterback Will Levis completed a 28-yard pass with tight end Justin Rigg.

That would lead to a one-yard rushing touchdown by running back Eli Cox.

Most recently in 2022, the game had all the ingredients of a rivalry game.

In the first quarter, after a bit of a late hit on the Kentucky sideline by Missouri defensive end Trajan Jeffcoat to Levis, the Wildcats’ sideline and Missouri players got into a scrum.

However, only Mizzou defensive end Josh Landry was penalized for the scrum.

Later in the game, Rodgriguez appeared to get tackled for a loss on third and short and still was rewarded a first down.

Missouri was down 14-3 at one point in the second quarter before running back Cody Schrader would score a four-yard touchdown to bring the score to 14-9.

Cook wouldn’t convert on the two-point conversion anttempt after Schrader’s touchdown, but he would score a 20-yard rushing touchdown to put the Tigers up 17-14.

After Levis would lead Kentucky down for another touchdown to put the Wildcats up 21-17, Missouri would punt on the following possession before the play of the game would happen.

Kentucky was lining up to punt with 4:13 left in the game when the ball was snapped over punter Colin Goodfellow’s head and trickled inside Kentucky’s own five-yard line.

Goodfellow picked the ball up and attempted to punt the ball away as he was getting hit by Mizzou defender Will Norris. He did get the punt off and it went out of bounds around the 30-yard line.

Norris did hit Goodfellow (and Goodfellow would actually suffer a season-ending injury on the play) but was still assessed a personal foul penalty.

“The explanation I was given was that the ball was snapped over his head and the ball was still in the tackle box and he was still a protected punter when he picked up the ball,” Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz said.

Understandably Drinkwitz was perplexed about the rule.

“So, how a guy can still be a protected punter 50 yards downfield and how our guys are supposed to know they can’t tackle him is beyond me,” Drinkwitz said.

That penalty would result in a new set of downs and the momentum the Tigers had went down the drain as Kentucky would hold on for the win.

Verdict

In short, the case for Missouri-Kentucky is that the games are competitive, entertaining and controversial.

Also, there’s familiarity with the teams since they currently play in the same division, and both likely view the game as a winnable contest.

Below, is a five-star rating system based on historical context, fan engagement and geography and competitiveness.

Historical context: 2.5 out of 5

Fan engagement and geography: 4 out of 5

Competitiveness: 4 out of 5

Overall: 3.5 stars out of 5