Missouri vs. South Dakota: 2023 Week 1 game preview

Missouri starts out the season with a warm-up against an FCS team. What will this game show about the QB battle between Horn and Cook?

TV schedule: August 31st, 2023 at 8:00 P.M on the SEC Network 

Location: Memorial Stadium 

Missouri is going into this season after making a bowl game for the last two seasons. They have been unable to win that bowl game but this shows that the Tigers could be on the rise. Missouri returns with Brady Cook as a possible QB. Cook is entering a QB battle with Sam Horn for the starting QB spot.

Cook was a solid QB for the Tigers in the back half of the season which has allowed him to have a chance to be the starting QB this season. Sam Horn is a redshirt freshman who shows that brighter days are ahead for the Tigers. The question will be if Cook can hold off Horn for one last season.

South Dakota is one of the better FCS football teams in the country. While FCS schools shouldn’t be taken lightly as they have beaten FBS schools in past seasons, Missouri will be a heavy favorite coming into this matchup.

Aidan Bouman should be the starting QB for the Coyotes in this matchup. Bouman originally committed to Iowa St. but transferred as he was unable to get the starting job. The Coyotes play a pass-heavy system so they will need Bouman to play well if they want any chance of staying competitive in this game.

Prediction: Missouri: 42 South Dakota: 14

Missouri should be able to win this game by a huge margin. Brady Cook/Sam Horn and the rest of this offense will be too much for a school that is not in the FBS. South Dakota is a very solid FCS school but they knew what they were getting into when they scheduled Missouri as a opponent on their schedule.

Missouri will need to win this game if they want to have a better win total than last season and the year before. If this team wants to upset Florida, South Carolina, and Vanderbilt (Missouri would be favored in that matchup but Vanderbilt is a near 50/50 shot to win this game unlike South Carolina and Florida), they will need to show that this is a killer offense in their game against South Dakota.