Column: Missouri Isn't That Different in the SEC Than They Were in the Big 12

Brent Venables says the "spicy" recruiting wars and roster flips with Mizzou don't motivate the Oklahoma coaching staff, but it sure is fun to talk about.

Missouri Tigers wide receiver Theo Wease Jr. / Eric Canha-Imagn Images

NORMAN — Missouri has been a member of the Southeastern Conference for a dozen years now.

Do the Tigers look any different in the SEC than they did in the Big 12?

“Good question,” Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables said. 

It is. But before we try to answer it, let's dive into the series, and what has become something of a rivalry. Two things are true here. 

One, Oklahoma has dominated the all-time series with Missouri. OU leads it 67-24-5. That's no rivalry.

Two, one-sided or not, it actually is a rivalry because the OU-Mizzou series has become kind of spicy.

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“It’s not spicy for me,” Venables told me Tuesday during his weekly press conference. “ … Spicy may be for the media (and) fans, but staff-wise it isn’t.”

Don’t get it twisted. OU owns the all-time series because the Sooners are, in the strictest terms, a college football blue blood, while Missouri is most certainly not. The Tigers have exactly zero national championships and zero Heisman Trophy winners. They do have 15 conference titles — but none since 1970.

But there is a rivalry of sorts — one that goes back to 2006, long before the Tigers started looking at other conferences, and continues to this day.

That’s when 5-star wide receiver Jeremy Maclin committed to OU, and then flipped to Mizzou.

Another Missouri receiver, 5-star Luther Burden, first committed to OU, but then flipped to Mizzou when Lincoln Riley left.

It almost happened again last summer when it appears certain that 5-star defensive lineman Williams Nwaneri would be a Sooner but instead chose the Tigers.

Two current Missouri players — wide receiver Theo Wease and offensive lineman Cayden Green — began their careers in Crimson and Cream but defected to Columbia to don the Black and Gold.

And one Sooner, wideout J.J. Hester, began his career at Mizzou before entering the transfer portal bound for Norman.

When the teams meet on Saturday night at Faurot Field, there will be some words exchanged on the field throughout the game.

There’s nothing particularly unseemly about any of the flips or transfers. Hester hails from Tulsa. Maclin and Burden are from St. Louis, and Nwaneri and Green are from the Kansas City area (Wease is from Allen, TX).

“They're a program,” Venables said, “that's going to recruit well, in their own backyard.”

But recent events have added to the flavor of any OU-Mizzou drama. For instance, when Missouri lawmakers enabled legislation in 2023 so athletes in the state could sign NIL deals before they even go to college if they signed with an in-state public school, that became motivation for Nwaneri and his family.

And there were, of course, accusations of Missouri tampering with Green while he was still at OU — accusations that remain unconfirmed by either party. Green’s departure was particularly salty for the Sooners as he reportedly agreed to a new NIL deal to stay in Norman but then literally walked out of the facility during practice without telling anyone he was leaving.

“Recruiting is incredibly competitive,” Venables said. “Winning is incredibly hard, and for both programs ... certainly there's a familiarity.”

Coach Eli Drinkwitz was the SEC Coach of the Year last year as he led the Tigers to an 11-2 record in his fourth year. Mizzou was 5-5, 6-7 and 6-7 in his first three seasons replacing Barry Odom. So far this year, the Tigers are 6-2 and just slipped out of the AP Top 25 a week after suffering a 34-0 blowout at Alabama.

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“Coach Drinkwitz done a great job building the program,” Venables said. “ … And last year they were lights out. They were fantastic.”

Here’s the heart of the matter: Missouri doesn’t look all that much different after more than a decade in the SEC than they did after a decade in the Big 12.

From 2006-2011, Missouri’s team recruiting rankings, according to Rivals, were 47th, 33rd, 25th, 40th, 21st and 48th.

From 2019-2024, Missouri’s Rivals team recruiting rankings were 34th, 54th, 19th, 13th, 33rd and 22nd.

In their most recent six recruiting classes in the SEC, the Tigers’ average recruiting ranking has climbed from 36th to 29th in its last six years in the Big 12.

In that same six-year span, Gary Pinkel signed two 5-stars and 16 4-stars, while Odom and Drinkwitz have signed two 5-stars and 22 4-stars.

Missouri is 40-29 since the start of the 2019 season. In their last six seasons in the Big 12, they were 56-24. It should be noted that the Big 12 in those days was a fearsome conference, while the SEC had only just begun its ascent to the top of college football. Pinkel's Tigers, remember, were ranked No. 1 in the BCS standings when they lost in the 2007 Big 12 championship game.

Pinklel’s squad played for two Big 12 championships in 2006 and 2007 (they lost to OU both times), and two SEC championships in 2013 and 2014 (they lost both times to Alabama and Auburn).

As for the players, Venables says he has no animosity toward either of the former Sooners now in Columbia. 

Wease, a former 5-star wideout, played in 36 games and caught 64 passes for 1,044 yards and 10 touchdowns in his OU career from 2019-22. Last year at Missouri he caught 49 passes for 682 yards and six TDs, and so far this year, his sixth in college football, he has 37 catches for 482 yards and a score. He’s been voted a permanent team captain by his teammates this season.

“In regards to Theo, you know, our offensive staff didn't feel like he was — and Theo probably felt the same — he wasn't a major part of what we were doing, and he (was) looking for an opportunity,” Venables said. “And he was nothing but great. He was a really good leader. Did everything that we asked of him. And what a great example of what opportunity and development looks like. And he's kept his head down and just worked. Had a fantastic year last year, great year this year.”

Green, a former 4-star offensive lineman, played in 11 games and made five starts at left guard for OU last year and was named Freshman All-American. He’s started all eight games for the Tigers this season. He was taken out of the Alabama game, but Drinkwitz said Tuesday it was injury-related and he is trending toward a return this week.

“I think Cayden went in there and was a starter, was a starter for us, and we're not surprised success came so fantastic,” Venables said. “He was a freshman All-American. That's the world that we live in now, where players are free to come and go as they please. What's best for them. There ain’t time for bitterness and things like that. You gotta move on and adjust and get better.”

Burden, meanwhile, has emerged as one of the nation’s most explosive and reliable players, with 86 catches for 1,212 yards and nine touchdowns last year and 37 for 447 and four scores so far this year. As a true freshman in 2022, he had 45 catches for 375 yards and six TDs.

Nwaneri has played in three games for the Tigers and has made two total tackles, one tackle for loss and one sack.

Venables said he admires how competitive Missouri has been in close games under Drinkwitz.

But are they noticeably different as a member of the SEC than they were in the Big 12?

If they are, it's certainly hard to quantify. But Venables thinks they probably are.

“I would imagine — and I don't know everything, the ups and the downs — but what I would say is, in the SEC, you're forced to look at things through a different lens,” Venables said. “And the challenges of what you see week in and week out, the depth of it, how you recruit, how you develop, how you scheme, all of those things are affected to some degree. It forces you to grow in different ways. 

“And although it might be painful at times — I don’t want to speak for everybody — it can be a real healthy change and opportunity to grow differently.”