The Missouri Tigers have entered an interesting and rather unusual venue for their game against the UMass Minutemen today.
The ranked Tigers squad traveled all the way into the cold as they visited Massachusetts to take on the Minutemen. UMass, traditionally a bottom feeder in collegiate athletics, hosted the 21st-ranked school in the country in a head scratching move. Typically, the bigger school seeks home field advantage and pays the opponent to travel, but this situation appears to be the opposite.
Missouri is fresh off of a tough 41-10 loss against the Texas A&M Aggies deep in SEC country in front of a sold-out crowd. The crowd that Missouri played in last week is bigger than the mere 7000-person capacity that UMass has. For reference as well, UMass has frankly never filled the entire capacity for a football game.
Missouri Tigers Take On UMass Minutemen in Nearly Empty Stadium
The bare crowd during the game offers an interesting look at football as the fans have been almost entirely taken out of the equation. Fans on social media were quick to notice the odd venue and the intriguing situation that the Missouri Tigers are in.
Why is Missouri at UMass in the middle of October pic.twitter.com/IS97bBn8Y0
— CFB Kings (@CFBKings) October 12, 2024
have arrived for the most intriguing game of my time covering UMass athletics.
#21 Missouri arrives in Amherst to take on UMass football. kickoff in 30 pic.twitter.com/HMVS56rKaC
— Dean Wendel (@DeanWende1) October 12, 2024
While the scheduling of the game is downright bizarre, the Missouri Tigers have appeared to take it in stride and play their football on the field. The Tigers may not appear to find the situation odd, but the fans certainly did not expect a game like this to occur.
There’s a stray UMass fan standing fieldside during warm ups, yelling at Missouri players and telling them they aren’t ready to play the Minutemen. The same fan just turned to his buddy and asked “who’s Missouri’s quarterback?”
— Adam Busack (@Kingbus5) October 12, 2024
This is truly incredible.
A top-25 team from the SEC looks like it’s entering a middle school locker room for today’s game at UMass. pic.twitter.com/8fCfUPegAV
— Connor O’Gara (@cjogara) October 12, 2024
Perhaps what is even more intriguing is that the Missouri Tigers will travel back home after the game to defend their home turf next weekend. The visiting Auburn Tigers will play in Missouri next weekend, which makes the scheduling even more bizarre.
Had the Missouri Tigers planned on playing Syracuse or perhaps another team in the north, it would make sense to travel to warm-up against UMass. However, with a home game awaiting the Missouri Tigers next weekend, the scheduling truly makes no sense at all.
Missouri has done so in the past, traveling to Storrs to take on the UConn Huskies in 2017 for a landmark game. The Tigers agreed to a deal with murky terms surrounding payment, but a clear clause that would have required Missouri to pay out upwards of $1 million to avoid a trip up to Massachusetts.
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