COLUMBIA, Mo. – The start to the much-anticipated 2018 college football season is fewer than 100 days away, and the Missouri Tigers are busy preparing for the upcoming season with summer workouts and classes. The schedule for the early portion of the season took shape today, as the Southeastern Conference and television partner ESPN released game times and network information for the first three weeks of the season, giving fans the opportunity to start making plans for the fall.
Head Coach Barry Odom’s Tigers, fresh off a seven-win season and the program’s first bowl game since 2014, will start the year with a Labor Day Weekend tilt at home against UT Martin on Sept. 1. The game will kick at 3 p.m. (CT) from Memorial Stadium/Faurot Field, and will be televised on the SEC Network alternate channel. Check with your provider for information on how to receive the SEC Network alternate channel, or visit http://getsecnetwork.com/channel-finder for more details.
The following week will see senior QB Drew Lock (Lee’s Summit, Mo.) and company play host to the Wyoming Cowboys on Sept. 8, with a kick time set for 6 p.m. (CT). The game will be televised on either ESPN2 or ESPNU, with that determination to be made earlier that week. Lock, considered to be the nation’s top returning quarterback by many pundits, leads an experienced offensive attack which returns nine starters from last year’s bowl team. They’ll be facing a Wyoming squad which went 8-5 a year ago and closed their season with a win in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.
With the 3 p.m. kick in week one and the 6 p.m. kick in week two, Mizzou is opening its home schedule with a game in each slot for the first time since 2013.
In week three, Mizzou will face its first road test of the young season, as they head to West Lafayette, Ind., to take on the Purdue Boilermakers. Game time for the Sept. 15 contest will be at 6:30 p.m. (CT), and will be televised on the Big Ten Network. The Tigers will look to even the score after a Purdue victory last season in Columbia, and they’ll be looking to senior DT Terry Beckner, Jr. (East St. Louis, Ill.) and his defensive teammates to lead the charge. Beckner returns for his final year in a Tiger uniform as one of the nation’s top defensive lineman and a candidate for national honors. He and his defensive teammates will look to build on the momentum created from last season’s six-game win streak which closed the regular season.
All remaining games will be subject to the 12-day advance notice window, per league policy, meaning game times and television information will be announced two Mondays prior to each contest. The rest of the 2018 home season includes exciting games in Columbia against the likes of Georgia (Sept. 22), Memphis (Oct. 20 – Homecoming), Kentucky (Oct. 27), Vanderbilt (Nov. 10) and Arkansas (Nov. 23 or 24).
— Mizzou Athletics —
MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State’s September 8 matchup against Mississippi State will kick off at 11 a.m., on ESPN, while its September 15 contest against UTSA will start at 3 p.m., on FSN as the Big 12 Conference and its television partners have announced game times and TV designations for the first three weeks of the season.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The MIAA has announced that Southwest Baptist University has formally withdrawn from the conference and accepted an invitation from the Great Lakes Valley Conference. The departure is effective August 1, 2019.
Nebraska will usher in the Scott Frost era under the lights at Memorial Stadium on Sept. 1 against Akron. The game, which will be televised nationally on FOX at 7 p.m., was one of six kickoff times for the 2018 season announced on Thursday by the Big Ten Conference and its television partners.
LAWRENCE, Kan. – The Big 12 Conference released the early television broadcast assignments for the 2018 college football season, with Kansas being tabbed for live broadcasts in each of its first three games, plus its November 23 matchup with Texas.
The St. Joseph Mustangs opened their 10th season Wednesday night at Phil Welch Stadium with a 4-3 win over the Midwest A’s.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Mike Moustakas homered, doubled and drove in four runs in the first two innings, Jorge Soler went 4-for-5 with a home run, but the Kansas City Royals nearly blew a nine-run lead before holding on for a 11-8 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday night.
MILWAUKEE (AP) — It was a memorable return for Alex Reyes. Same for Orlando Arcia, albeit for much different reasons.
St. Joseph, Mo. – Bishop LeBlond High School Athletics Director Michael Evans has announced the hiring of Mallory McCullough to be the school’s softball coach for the 2018-19 school year.