Mizzou football notebook: Perfect home season, stadium construction & roster movement

For the first time since 2010, Missouri football wrapped up its season undefeated on home turf with a 28-21 win over rival Arkansas on Saturday at Memorial Stadium.

The Tigers finished their regular season with a 9-3 mark, with all three losses coming on the road to Southeastern Conference foes. Their perfect 7-0 tally at home represents the best single-season mark at home in program history.

Missouri’s home winning steak stands at 10 games, and its last loss at Memorial Stadium came in a 49-39 loss to eventual Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels and LSU on Oct. 7, 2023.

“We’re always searching for things to accomplish that haven’t been accomplished before,” Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz said postgame. “For us to be able to do something like that this year is really a remarkable thing.”

The Tigers (9-3, 6-3 SEC) will now wait until next weekend to find out their bowl game destination and opponent. Should the Tigers win their bowl game, they will reach the 10-win mark in consecutive seasons for the first time since they did so in the 2013 and 2014 seasons.

Ground breaks for Memorial Stadium improvement project

Ground officially broke on Missouri’s newest Memorial Stadium upgrade project. Mizzou athletic director Laird Veach, alongside a handful of Missouri administrators, broke ground at the top of the north end zone hill in a pregame ceremony meant to symbolize the beginning of the end zone upgrade’s construction, which is already underway.

“The ground did break,” Veatch said. “It was muddy. It was good, actually. For the weather and all the issues, everything came off really well. It’s obviously symbolic, but it’s a huge moment in what it represents.”

The $250 million north end zone improvement project, which was approved unanimously in September, is expected to be completed before the fall 2026 season.

As for the 2025 season, Veatch expects some fan displacement as Faurot Field is an active work zone.

“Next season, there will be a substantial area which will be sort of out of bounds for everybody, and we’ll have it fenced off really well,” Veatch said. “We’ll provide a lot of information to our fans about how to work around it, and in our case, the vast majority of the seats will still continue to be intact, so it’ll be fun.”

RB Brendon Haygood decommits while at MU game

Running back Brendon Haygood, a three-star product of Sachse, Texas, announced that he has decommitted from Boise State on Saturday. Haygood made the announcement via his X, formerly Twitter, account, while standing on the sideline at Memorial Stadium amid a visit with the Tigers.

Haygood, a 5-foot-9, 190-pound back, is ranked as the 33rd-best running back in the class of 2025, per On3. He was one of a several players who were in attendance to see the Tigers’ Battle Line Rivalry win.

Five-star quarterback Matt Zollers, who committed to Missouri in April, was also among the recruits in attendance. Notably, Zollers, who suffered a season-ending ankle injury in September, was not wearing a walking boot on the Missouri sideline, which is a positive development regarding the quarterback’s availability moving forward.

Phillip Roche no longer with program

Missouri safety Phillip Roche is no longer with the program, a team spokesperson confirmed. Roche, a sophomore from Crown Pointe, Indiana, appeared in 10 games for the Tigers this season after appearing in 11, primarily on special teams, in his freshman campaign.

He recorded just one solo tackle and four total tackles this season.

Roche, who was arrested in late July for failing to appear in court after being cited for three separate speeding offenses, was disciplined by the program but ultimately did not face a suspension following his arrest.

He is the first confirmed player to depart Missouri’s program as the offseason nears. It is not immediately clear if Roche intends to enter the transfer portal, which does not open until Dec 9.

Copyright 2024 Columbia Missourian

This story was originally published December 1, 2024 at 1:41 PM with the headline "Mizzou football notebook: Perfect home season, stadium construction & roster movement."