One of college football's most historic rivalries is making its return.
For the first time in 14 years, Mizzou and Kansas are meeting on the field.
Missouri football opened its season with a 61-6 win over Central Arkansas last Thursday in Columbia. Kansas is already 2-0 this year with wins over Fresno State and Wagner. To this point, neither team has really been challenged by its opposition.
Now, the stakes dramatically rise.
So, who does Mizzou need to step up to the task?
We're trying not to state the obvious here. Of course quarterback Beau Pribula needs to be productive. Instead of telling you what you already know about quarterbacks, we're looking for other players who can help Mizzou win the battle and the War.
Here are some Mizzou players who have important jobs ahead of them as Border War returns:
Last Thursday's game looked a lot like Missouri made widespread changes along the offensive line two weeks earlier. Pribula's pocket did not remain clean.
Primarily, the danger kept coming from his left side. The most egregious example came in the second quarter, when Green let an edge rusher break the line of scrimmage untouched and through to the quarterback.
The left side of the line — Green at left tackle and Giudice at left guard — was less disciplined with three penalties and more prone to allowing pressure, with two instances attributed to each of Green and Giudice.
More: Here's what we saw from Missouri football offensive line, skill positions in Week 1 win
With Sam Horn sidelined "for an extended period of time," that simply cannot happen too often or the season will be on a winding road to nowhere. This isn't Central Arkansas anymore and the Tigers ' pass-protection has to be better.
That starts with the QB's blindside, where Missouri has two very talented players who need better performances than what they showed in Week 1.
The defensive end has a mighty task in front of him. He's Mizzou's primary field end — a key player responsible for setting the edge and stopping KU's mobile quarterback, Jalon Daniels , and two talented running backs, Daniel Hishaw Jr. and Leshon Williams, from scampering to the wide side of the field for first downs.
The more pressure Mizzou can get to Daniels, the better. He's shown in the past that he can be turnover-prone. Maybe he has worked on that part of the game and will put the ball in harm's way less. Maybe not. Pressure never hurts.
But Kansas' rushing ability is the potential killer.
What the Tigers absolutely can't do is rush past Daniels and let him run all over the field to extend drives. We could see Young as one of the key players in making sure that doesn't happen.
Despite some explosive plays starting to appear the later the game went on, we left just a little underwhelmed with Mizzou's run game in the opener.
Some of that was because Pribula was dicing the Bears up in the passing game. Some of that was because Mizzou never really needed to establish the run against Central Arkansas.
But Kansas is a different animal. There will be some extra pressure on third downs, and Mizzou will need to pick up more hard-fought yards in this Power-Four matchup. Ahmad Hardy is going to be involved a lot but if the opener told us anything about MU's running backs, it's that Jamal Roberts isn't going to take a backseat to the talented Group of Five transfer.
Roberts' primary role, we think, will be as a third-down back. We don't need to tell you how important those become when the stage gets big.
For many of the same reasons listed with Young, Jacobs will be one of the key players if MU goes on to win.
The versatile linebacker figures as the most likely candidate to keep a spying eye on Daniels and as one of the key contributors in stopping the run.
Jacobs was one of the clear standouts in MU's fall camp. He's got great sideline-to-sideline speed, and he isn't going to back out of meeting a back in the B-gap.
Mizzou might ask a lot of him on Saturday, and if he's up to the task then the path to victory gets clearer.
More: It's Beau time: Missouri football QB battle upended by injury, but Pribula earned it anyway
Don't know the name? You will soon.
Meyer is a preferred walk-on kicker out of Colfax, California. He filled in on PAT duties after Blake Craig went down injured and went 4-of-4 on the chip shots. Now, he's the Tigers' likely starter.
The Tigers added Oliver Robbins, an NAIA-level transfer from Florida Memorial, over the summer. According to a PowerMizzou report, the Tigers are also bringing in Northeastern Oklahoma A&M kicker Ryan Goodwin as an unexpected late addition.
But Meyer took the No. 2 reps in fall camp and figures as the most likely fill-in for placekicking duties. He had some struggles in fall camp, and it never looked like Craig had any legitimate competition for starting duties.
It will be intriguing to see if Mizzou's offensive play-calling changes without Craig on the field. Even if Missouri does go for more fourth-downs, Meyer's name will be called at some point and what happened in the preseason won't matter anymore. Missouri can't waste opportunities for points, and some of that falls on Meyer's foot.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Missouri football players who will have major roles vs Kansas
