The Missouri Tigers will kick off the new college football season with a home game against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Thursday night in Columbia. (Photo: Terrance Williams)
Mizzou Football – Gameday Info
Game No. 1 — Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions (0-0) at #25 Missouri Tigers (0-0)
Date/Time – September 3, 2026 – 7 pm
Location – Faurot Field — Columbia, MO
Watch — SEC Network
Listen — Learfield Sports/KTRS 550 AM
Live Stats — Mizzou Stat Broadcast
COLUMBIA, MO — The long offseason is finally over and kickoff day is finally here.
The University of Missouri football team will officially begin its 2026 season at 7 p.m. tonight, when the Tigers host Arkansas-Pine Bluff in a matchup at Faurot Field. The game will be televised live on the SEC Network.
It’ll be everyone’s first opportunity to see the new-look Missouri Tigers, who be featuring a new quarterback, a new set of wide receivers, and seven new starters on defense.
It’s been exactly 250 days since the last time Mizzou took the field and everyone seems excited about how the Tigers look heading into the new season.
“Game week. Excited,” Mizzou head coach Eli Drinkwitz said, in a meeting with the media last Saturday. “Appreciate this team. They really have worked really hard over the past eight months to become a team, and that’s really what they’ve done as a group.
“This group of men, all the transfers, the returning starters, have worked really hard to form just us, unity over self, and I’m proud of this group, and I’m proud to take them to play UAPB, and very appreciative of the fans. As we were walking in, a generous booster just purchased the last remaining. I think there was about 80 tickets left, so we are officially a sellout for what do we call it, Kickoff in CoMo?”
Eli Drinkwitz will begin is seventh season as Mizzou’s head football coach when the Tigers host Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Thursday night at Faurot Field. (Photo: Terrance Williams)
Players to Watch: Missouri is a 54.5-point favorite heading into kickoff. So the Tigers are expected to win easily.
But fans still want to see what this new group looks like. All-American running back Ahmad Hardy will not play. He’s still recovering and rehabbing after suffering a gunshot wound back in May.
Native St. Louisan Jamal Roberts will start in his place. Last season, the 6-foot, 216-pound former St. Mary’s High star, rushed for 753 yards and scored six touchdowns as Mizzou’s No. 2 RB. This year, Roberts will start at least the first two games until Mizzou decides when Hardy will make his come back.
The player most Mizzou fans want to see most is new starting quarterback Austin Simmons. The former Ole Miss starter, who transferred to Missouri this offseason.
Simmons was Ole Miss’s starter heading into last season, but injuries cut his season short. A coaching change at that program made Simmons look into leaving himself and he found what he believed to be a better situation at Mizzou, so he transferred back in January.
The 6-foot-4, 220-pound lefty from Miami has thrown for 1,024 yards and six touchdowns in his career, and Mizzou is hoping he can stay healthy and reach his full potential this year.
“We have a phrase for the quarterbacks that we’ve used for a long time: smart, not conservative,” Drinkwitz said. “I think for us with Austin, he’s extremely talented. He’s got a great arm. We need to be smart with the football, not conservative. We don’t need to be out here just willy-nilly trying to fit footballs in tight windows and potentially throwing interceptions.
“You know, we need to know when it’s time to cut it loose and when it’s time to take a check down. He’s done an excellent job of that throughout camp. I’ve been thoroughly impressed with his ability to play within the system, move the ball, push the ball vertically when it’s needed and when it’s appropriate, take checkdowns when he has to, and then obviously just overall command of the team. That’s going to be as he continues to develop as a leader here. Leadership always continues to show up, one, when you face adversity and show the courage that you need, or, two, you make plays on the field and people rally behind you. So excited to see both of those things occur.”
St. Louis native Jamal Roberts will be Mizzou’s starting running back in the Thursday’s season opener against Arkansas-Pine Bluff. (Photo: Terrance Williams)
Up Next: The Tigers will be on the road for the first time this season, next weekend, when they’ll travel across the border to take on archrival Kansas on Friday night. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m., and the game will be televised nationally on FOX.
2026 MIZZOU TIGERS FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
| Date | Time | At | Opponent | Location | TV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 3, 2026 (Thursday) | 7 pm | Home | Arkansas- Pine Bluff | Faurot Field |   |
| September 11, 2026 (Friday) | 7 pm | Away | Kansas | Lawrence, Kan. / David Booth Memorial Stadium |  |
| September 19, 2026 (Saturday) | 6 pm | Home | Troy | Faurot Field |  |
| September 26, 2026 (Saturday) | TBD | Away | Mississippi State | Starkville, Miss. / Davis Wade Stadium | |
| October 3, 2026 (Saturday) | TBD | Home | Florida | Faurot Field | |
| October 10, 2026 (Saturday) | TBD | Home | Texas A&M | Faurot Field | |
| October 17, 2026 (Saturday) | TBD | Away | Ole Miss | Oxford, Miss. / Vaught Hemingway Stadium | |
| October 31, 2026 (Saturday) | TBD | Away | Arkansas | Fayetteville, Ark. / Razorback Stadium | |
| November 7, 2026 (Saturday) | TBD | Home | Texas | Faurot Field | |
| November 14, 2026 (Saturday) | TBD | Away | Georgia | Athens, Ga. / Sanford Stadium | |
| November 21, 2026 (Saturday) | TBD | Home | Kentucky | Faurot Field | |
| November 28, 2026 (Saturday) | TBD | Home | Oklahoma | Faurot Field |