The Missouri Tigers are looking to get back on track coming off their second, and final, bye week of the regular season.
The Tigers will get that chance to go in the right direction at today against former Big 12-foe and now Southeastern Conference-rival Oklahoma.
Kickoff is scheduled for 6:45 p.m. today at Faurot Field.
"Excited to get back to it, I thought our team had an excellent bye week," Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz said. "We accomplished the things we wanted to accomplish, not only working on ourselves and finding areas we can improve but also working on upcoming opponents."
Missouri (6-2, 2-2 SEC) suffered a 34-0 loss last time out Oct. 26 at then-No. 15 Alabama.
Tiger starting quarterback Brady Cook battled through an ankle injury to start the contest, but he suffered an injury to his throwing hand in the second quarter and did not return.
Backup Drew Pyne stepped in and played a majority of the remainder of the game, completing 6-of-12 passes for 42 yards with three interceptions.
Entering today's game, Cook has been ruled out with a hand injury and Pyne will start at quarterback for the Tigers.
"Hopefully it was a learning opportunity, we put him in some bad situations," Drinkwitz said of Pyne's performance at Alabama. "We've got to protect better, we have to establish the run better and we can't turn the ball over."
The Tigers will also be without wide receiver Mookie Cooper, while starting running back Nate Noel, who is questionable.
Oklahoma (5-4, 1-4 SEC) has had an up-and-down Year 2 under head coach Brent Venables.
The Sooners opened with three straight wins against Temple (51-3), Houston (16-12) and Tulane (34-19) but has won just one of their first five games in their first trip through the SEC. The lone win came Sept. 28 in a 27-21 contest at Auburn.
Oklahoma was able to snap a three-game losing streak last week with a 59-14 home victory against Maine.
"I have a lot of respect for the history of that program and the coaches, I think they do an excellent job in all three phases," Drinkwitz said.
The Sooners have been led by their defense so far this season, which enters allowing 21 points per game.
Venables, who was the defensive coordinator at Clemson for 10 seasons prior to arriving in Norman, Okla., has his team buying into a defensive-first approach.
"Coach Venables and his defensive prowess is really good," Drinkwitz said. "I think he's done a tremendous job of changing the identity of that program and team to being a defensive team. They really swarm to the football, really aggressive and attacking style."
Oklahoma has been hampered by its offense so far this season.
The Sooners enter averaging 25.3 points per game, tied for the 14th-best mark in the SEC, and have made changes at both quarterback and offensive coordinator this season.
Sophomore quarterback Jackson Arnold (6-foot-1, 210 pounds), who was ranked as the 10th-best recruit in the 2023 class by 247 Sports, started the first four games of the season but was benched for freshman Michael Hawkins Jr. during Oklahoma's 25-15 loss at Tennessee.
Hawkins Jr. started the next two games before the Sooners went back to Arnold as the signal caller. Arnold has completed 116-of-190 passes so far this season for 1,169 yards and 12 touchdowns with three interceptions.
Following Oklahoma's 35-9 loss at South Carolina on Oct. 19, Venables relieved Seth Littrell of his offensive coordinator and play-calling duties and gave the reigns to Joe Jon Finley the past two games.
The switch did not provide much change in a 26-14 loss to Mississippi, but the Sooners scored a season-high 59 points last week.
"Offensively, it looks like they've found their rhythm," Drinkwitz said. "They've made a change at the offensive coordinator position, and you can see in the last two games continually getting better, obviously had a breakout game last week against Maine."
Notes: Today will mark the 97th meeting all-time between Missouri and Oklahoma, with the Sooners leading the series 67-24-5. The two sides last played in 2011, with Oklahoma picking up a 38-28 home victory. The Sooners have won eight of the past nine matchups, with the Tigers' lone win coming in a 36-27 victory in 2010 to upset top-ranked Oklahoma. ... Other names on the injury report for Missouri this week are offensive linemen Logan Reichert (questionable) and Cayden Green (probable).