A 10-win season is still on the table.
Missouri football comfortably took care of business on the road Saturday in Starkville, Mississippi , defeating Mississippi State 39-20 behind three touchdowns from running back Marcus Carroll and a pair of eight-minute, second-half drives that kept the Bulldogs off the field as they couldn't stop Mizzou on the run.
It was Missouri 's last true road game of the season — and its first road SEC win of the season. The Tigers had lost at South Carolina , Alabama and Texas A&M up until Saturday, taking Eli Drinkwitz's team out of the College Football Playoff conversation. MU's lone road win in 2024 before Saturday had come at UMass in October.
More: Missouri football vs Mississippi State score: Tigers run down Bulldogs to win on the road
More: Missouri football report card: Here's how we graded Mizzou in road win at Mississippi State
Add it all up and Missouri, now 8-3 on the year and 4-3 in SEC play, is going bowling and likely going bowling in the upper echelon of the postseason games.
But, with eight wins in hand, where is that going to be?
Here are the Tigers' most likely bowl options:
Too good for the bottom-feeder bowls, but falling short of the marquee matchups.
With an 8-3 record, Missouri is too good for the last bowl to make their pick but falling short of 2024's marquee matchups.
Mizzou has likely played its way past the Birmingham and Gasparilla bowls, which are the last to select teams. The Tigers also, due to the league's current standings, seemingly are too far back to make the top non-CFP destination, which is the Citrus Bowl, played Dec. 31 in Orlando.
That means Mizzou is likely to fall into one of the six aptly named Pool of Six bowl games.
So, here's where Missouri could end up: The Las Vegas Bowl (Dec. 27, Las Vegas); the Liberty Bowl (Dec. 27, Memphis , Tenn.); the Music City Bowl (Dec. 30, Nashville, Tenn.); the Texas Bowl (Dec. 31, Houston); the ReliaQuest Bowl (Dec. 31, Tampa, Fla.); and the Gator Bowl (Jan. 2, Jacksonville, Fla.).
Once the SEC Championship has been played and the CFP field and Citrus Bowl matchup are decided, bowl representatives, member athletic departments and the conference will meet to decide each team's assignment.
All bowl selections will be revealed Sunday, Dec. 8.
As it stands, the SEC is poised to send approximately four teams to the playoff. That could swing to three of five, but four seems to be the most likely outcome at this point.
There are currently seven teams ahead of Mizzou in the pecking order in the SEC. With one game remaining in the regular season, Missouri is statistically ruled out of the SEC Championship and too far back to jump enough teams in the standings to be considered for an at-large berth to the CFP.
Missouri can still make the Citrus Bowl, but it's unlikely.
The Citrus Bowl, in this new era of college football, is the next-best bowl game destination for SEC and Big Ten teams that are left out of the College Football Playoff field. The bowl is obligated to take the team with the best record out of each conference that does not get a berth to the 12-team playoff.
Let's play out a hypothetical: If Mizzou beats Arkansas next Saturday and finishes the year 9-3 and four SEC teams are selected to the CFP, that leaves three non-CFP SEC teams that could finish the season with the same or a better record than the Tigers. Those three, as it currently stands, are above MU in the Citrus Bowl in the pecking order.
The list includes Alabama, Texas A&M and South Carolina, who all have a win over MU.
There is still a path where Missouri finishes the season above three teams currently ranked ahead of it in the standings, but it's a narrow road reliant on several results falling in MU's favor.
Mizzou likely needs Ole Miss to lose at home to Mississippi State ; Tennessee to lose at Vanderbilt; and South Carolina to lose at Clemson.
There are also paths if Alabama loses against Oklahoma (OU leads 10-3 at halftime at time of publishing) and Auburn ; and if Texas A&M loses to Auburn (AU leads 21-7 at halftime at time of publishing) and Texas.
So, not impossible. But certainly, on the whole, unlikely.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Where will Missouri football play its bowl game? Options after MSU win
