The true rivalry game: Mizzou looking to defeat Kentucky in Week 10
When Missouri joined the Southeastern Conference in 2012 SEC commissioner Greg Sankey manufactured a rivalry between Arkansas and Missouri. To this point, it has been somewhat of a rivalry in the last few seasons with Missouri leading the all-time series with nine wins to Arkansas’ four. The Tigers have won six of the last eight since joining the SEC in 2012.
If you ask some of the current Tigers players they don’t think their true rivalry is with the team located 221 miles south of them. They believe they have more of a rivalry with the team 462 miles east 一 their week 10 opponents, the Kentucky Wildcats.
Although Missouri is on the losing end of this series, having won just four of the 12 matchups between the schools all-time and four of 10 games since joining the SEC, most of the games have been competitive. Four of the last five games have been hard-fought contests with both teams getting home wins the last two seasons.
“Kentucky does a lot of stuff well," Missouri safety Martez Manuel said. "They run the ball well. They probably have an NFL talent running back and quarterback and some offensive linemen. They're a really talented team. I don't like them though. Personally, I'm just ready for Saturday."
Manuel’s comments about the Wildcats during the team’s media day heading into the week 10 matchup were not the first time he vocalized his disdain for Kentucky. Back in July at SEC media day, he told reporters “Kentucky is more of a rivalry game than Arkansas.”
He wasn’t alone in those sentiments. Missouri defensive tackle Darius Robinson and quarterback Brady Cook also believe that Missouri has a bigger bone to pick with the Wildcats than the Razorbacks.
“I definitely believe so,” Robinson said. “I remember my freshman year we were down there and we lost, my sophomore year we won and my junior year we lost. That game is always a physical game for all four quarters and the game goes down to the wire.”
“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.”
Sixth-year wide receiver Barrett Banister is from Fayetteville, Arkansas, so he doesn’t necessarily agree with his teammates as far as Missouri's biggest rival, but he has been a part of some of the controversy Cook alluded to.
“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 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.”
The 2017 game that Banister is referring to had Missouri driving down the field and in Kentucky's red zone when a Kentucky defender knocked the ball out of Moore's hands and the ball couldn't be spotted by the referees before the end of regulation.
In 2018, the Tigers squandered a 14-0 to lose 15-14. The Tigers didn't record a first down in the second half and a questionable defensive pass interference on Missouri resulted in an untimed down for Kentucky at the end of regulation from Missouri's 10-yard line down 9-14. Kentucky quarterback Terry Wilson would find tight end C.J. Conrad for the game-winning touchdown.
In 2019, Missouri lost 29-7 and bounced back with a wire-to-wire 20-10 win in 2020.
Lastly, in 2021, Missouri would fight out of an early 14-0 hole to fall 35-28 in Lexnigton.
Entering this week 10 matchup, Missouri has strung together consecutive wins for the first time since weeks 10 and 11 of 2021 while Kentucky has lost three of its last four, including a 38-point loss to then–No. 2 and now No. 1 Tennessee.
Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz hasn’t necessarily said much about the matchup from a rivalry standpoint. Instead, he kept it cordial during media day on Tuesday and said that he respects Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops for what he has been able to do with the program since taking over in 2013.
“The identity of how they plan to win, it shows up,” Drinkwitz said. “They're very tough, very physical, and very long. The style of recruiting that he has, the style of play. I think all of those things fit together. I think the continuity and stability of his vision and philosophy. I've got a tremendous amount of respect for him.”
What Drinkwitz did say about the week 10 matchup is that he expects the Wildcats to play their best game of the season after their most lopsided loss since a 63-3 drubbing by then-No. 1 Alabama in week eight of the 2020 season.
“We know that they're going to come in here and my anticipation is they're going to play their best game of the year,” Drinkwitz said. “They're going to want to atone for last week. I know they're all going to sit there and think that this is a game that they can win and so it's going to be important for us to play our best game.”
It was said that Manuel gave an impassioned pre-game speech about his feeling that the team doesn't get the respect he feels it deserves in the SEC.
Manuel gave a pre-game speech to his teammates before the South Carolina game about a lack of respect he feel's Mizzou gets and his teammates drew inspiration from that.
“We aren’t very respected in this conference," Manuel said. "I just used that to our advantage in a lot of ways and lit a fire under the guys. I just preached to them to play with no fear. I feel when you do that and have nothing to fear you play like how you’re supposed to play."
Despite Mizzou’s 23-10 win over South Carolina, Manuel still believes Missouri hasn’t and won’t get the respect he feels the program deserves until it wins a bigger prize, but is working towards earning that respect weekly.
“No, I don’t,” Manuel said. “I think that we would have to win the SEC Championship before we will get respect because no one ever thinks about the small wins. We are just worried about Kentucky right now.”
A win for the Tigers on Saturday would get them to 5-4 on the season and third in the SEC East standings. It would also give them a rare win over a team they've grown to see as a rival in the decade since they joined the SEC.
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