While many Missouri football fans remain focused on the daunting nine games left on the Tigers’ 2017 schedule, Mizzou released its 2018 football schedule Tuesday afternoon along with the rest of the teams in the Southeastern Conference.
Here’s a look at the Tigers’ slate for next fall:
Sept. 1: vs. Tennessee at Martin (Columbia, Missouri)
Sept. 8: vs. Wyoming (Columbia, Missouri)
Sept. 15: at Purdue (West Lafayette, Indiana)
Sept. 22: vs. Georgia (Columbia, Missouri)
Sept. 29: Bye week
Oct. 6: at South Carolina (Columbia, South Carolina)
Oct. 13: at Alabama (Tuscaloosa, Alabama)
Oct. 20: vs. Memphis (Columbia, Missouri)
Oct. 27: vs. Kentucky (Columbia, Missouri)
Nov. 3: at Florida (Gainesville, Florida)
Nov. 10: vs. Vanderbilt (Columbia, Missouri)
Nov. 17: at Tennessee (Knoxville, Tennessee)
Nov. 24: vs. Arkansas (Columbia, Missouri)
For the second time in three years, Missouri will open conference play at home against the Georgia Bulldogs in 2018. The conference opener at Faurot Field will also mark the third consecutive season in which the Tigers will open conference play at home. The Tigers are currently 1-4 against Georgia since joining the SEC in 2012, and will travel to Athens, Georgia, on Oct. 14 this season to take on the Bulldogs.
Missouri will open the season with two consecutive nonconference home games against UT Martin and Wyoming, marking the first time the Tigers will face off against either team in football. The Tigers then round out their 2018 nonconference schedule with the second half of a two-year home-and-home series with Purdue on the road Sept. 15, then a visit from Memphis on Homecoming weekend Oct. 20.
The game that stands out most from next year’s schedule is the Tigers’ Oct. 13 visit to Alabama to take on the Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa. Missouri has faced Alabama just twice in the five years since the program joined the SEC, and neither contest went well for Missouri. In their first conference meeting on Oct. 13, 2012, Alabama rolled over the Tigers 42-10 at Faurot Field. Two years later, in the SEC Championship in Atlanta, Georgia, the Tigers were once again overmatched against the Crimson Tide, losing 42-13. Next fall’s trip to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, will be the Tigers’ first in team history, with Missouri’s only other visit to the state to take on the Crimson Tide taking place in Birmingham in 1975.
After Georgia, Missouri’s home schedule features Kentucky, Vanderbilt and Arkansas. Missouri’s annual Battle Line Rivalry game against Arkansas will be played the Saturday after Thanksgiving in 2018, contrary to the Friday after Thanksgiving installment fans have come to know since 2014.
The schedules for all 14 of the SEC’s teams can be found [here](http://www.secsports.com/article/20754471/sec-releases-2018-football-schedule).
_Edited by Joe Noser | jnoser@themaneater.com_
