Missouri and Virginia have a chance to make history in the Gator Bowl.
The No. 25 Tigers (8-4) are trying to reach nine wins for the third consecutive season for the first time. The 20th-ranked Cavaliers (10-3) are looking for an 11th victory for the first time.
One of them will reach their goal Saturday night at EverBank Stadium.
“We’d be remembered forever around here, which would be awesome,” Virginia quarterback Chandler Morris said. “We’re chasing that each day.”
Missouri is a 4 1/2-point favorite, according to BetMGM Sportsbook, despite playing without starting quarterback Beau Pribula.
Pribula announced plans last week to enter the transfer portal, leaving freshman Matt Zollers to step in for the Tigers in Jacksonville.
It’s the second time in as many years that Pribula is searching for a new school. He left Penn State after the 2024 season, landed in Missouri and led the Tigers to a 6-1 start before dislocating an ankle during a game at Vanderbilt in late October.
Zollers started the two games Pribula missed, throwing for 189 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.
If things go as planned, the Tigers won’t need Zollers to do a lot. They plan to rely on All-American running back Ahmad Hardy, who needs 68 yards rushing to break Cody Schrader’s single-season school record (1,627) set in 2023.
“Hopefully I get it,” Hardy said.
Hardy will have most of his teammates in tow for the bowl. Linebacker and leading tackler Josiah Trotter (knee) and tight end Brett Norfleet (shoulder) won’t play following surgery, and receiver Josh Manning and reserve running backs Marquise Davis and Brendon Haygood joined Pribula in announcing plans to transfer.
“For me, finish what you started,” Mizzou safety and graduate student Daylan Carnell said. “This is my team. We came into the season, we were all in this together, right or wrong, good or bad.”
Cavaliers trying to flush ACC disappointment
Virginia was oh-so-close to making the College Football Playoff. The Cavaliers scored the final 10 points in the fourth quarter against Duke in the Atlantic Coast Conference title game earlier this month and seemed to have all the momentum heading into overtime. But Duke scored a touchdown on its first possession in OT and then intercepted a pass to end the game.
“You’ve got to flush it down the drain and move on,” senior safety Antonio Clary said. “To lose it the way we did was heartbreaking. Any athlete would say you would rather get your butt kicked than to lose that way, on a last-second play or something like that.”
New play-caller for Missouri
The Tigers will have a new play-caller for the Gator Bowl after losing offensive coordinator Kirby Moore, who recently took the head coaching job at Washington State. Coach Eli Drinkwitz said Moore “can’t serve two masters” and has moved forward with his new gig.
Drinkwitz hired Michigan’s Chip Lindsey to replace Moore, but Lindsey will be a spectator at the bowl game. Drinkwitz said the team will use a collaborative effort while preparing for the Cavaliers.
Homecoming for Clary
The only player in Virginia coach Tony Elliott’s program who has been to a bowl game with the Cavaliers is Clary, who grew up in Jacksonville. So the sixth-year senior will get a rare homecoming for his collegiate finale.
Clary shared a childhood photo his mom took of him in the stands at the home of the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars.
“Seeing that, it’s pretty cool being able to finish in Jacksonville, my last college game, especially after everything I’ve been through.”
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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