Missouri opens Barry Odom era at West Virginia

On Saturday, at last, college football’s long, slow offseason comes to an end as the Missouri Tigers travel to Morgantown to face the West Virginia Mountaineers (11 a.m. on Fox Sports 1).

On Saturday, it’ll have been 281 days since Missouri’s 2015 season came to an end, with a miserable 28-3 loss to Arkansas in a cold Ozark rain.

That’s 281 days for the Tigers and their fans to stew about last year’s 5-7 season, 281 days to fret about this year’s schedule, 281 days to dream of a return to the glory of the 2013 and 2014 SEC East champion seasons.

First-year Missouri coach Barry Odom’s debut presents a stout challenge, playing a decent West Virginia team on the road, in the raucous Milan Puskar Stadium. It feels fitting that the coach will begin his career at an SEC school with a game played just south of the old Mason-Dixon Line.

West Virginia is a solid favorite, but this is the upside to what non-conference games can be. It’s a fun matchup of an SEC school and a Big 12 school. It gives the Tigers a strong test right out of the gate. It could help prepare them for what will be a challenging slate of road games this fall. The Tigers have a lot to gain if they win, scoring a big upset on the road to start 1-0. But if they lose, that’s more or less expected.

Still, in a season in which Missouri could really use a 6-6 or better record, an 0-1 start with Georgia, LSU and Florida all looming in the season’s first six games would be a tough spot.

West Virginia went 7-5 in the regular season each of the last two years, and might do that again. The Mountaineers have an offense that could be explosive, with eight starters returning, led by senior quarterback Skyler Howard, a dangerous runner as well as passer. Receivers Shelton Gibson and Daikiel Shorts should provide a test for the Missouri pass defense right out of the gate.

West Virginia had the Big 12’s second best defense last year, but they return only four starters. The defense should take a step back, but still be pretty good this year.

For Missouri to win, the Tigers need to dominate the line of scrimmage. When SEC schools prevail in non-conference games, especially against high-scoring spread offenses, they usually do it when the defensive line disrupts things. The Tigers certainly have a very good defensive line.

Of course, Tiger fans will be watching the Missouri offense closely. The Tigers need lots of improvement on that side of the ball to win games like this.

Come Saturday, by the time the West Virginia band plays “Take Me Home, Country Roads” pregame, the Mountaineer fans will be fired up and loud. These fans, after all, famously burn couches in celebration.

Can the Tigers keep steady and pull out the win? Even after 281 days, I don’t know. But I’m excited to find out. Welcome back, college football.

Editor’s Note: Benjamin Herrold grew up in Daviess County and graduated from Gilman City High School in 2005. He then attended and graduated from the University of Missouri School of Journalism in 2009. He now writes as the field editor for Missouri Farmer Today and is based in Columbia. He visits home frequently and owns a farm in Daviess County.