A lot about Missouri football's season has been thrown into question.
There's the health of quarterback Brady Cook , who sustained his second different injury — this time seemingly to his throwing hand — in as many games during a blowout loss to Alabama. Cook's status moving forward is currently unknown.
That brings into question the ceiling for Mizzou for the remainder of this year, with four SEC games left on the regular season slate and anything from 10-2 to 6-6 still seemingly possible.
The Tigers are currently working through their second and final idle week of the season. After that, they face Oklahoma on Faurot Field, South Carolina and Mississippi State on the road and, finally, Arkansas at home.
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One thing that isn't in question: Missouri is, no matter how the remainder of 2024 plays out, going bowling at the end of the year, courtesy of hitting the six-win threshold in mid-October.
Here's where the national media prognosticators have Mizzou (6-2, 2-2 SEC) projected to play in the postseason after its loss to Alabama:
Brett McMurphy of Action Network has Missouri tabbed to play Duke in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl, which takes place Jan. 2 in Jacksonville, Florida.
The Blue Devils currently are 6-2 with losses to SMU in overtime and Georgia Tech. Mizzou has only played Duke once before, winning on the road in 1947.
Last season, Clemson defeated Kentucky in the Gator Bowl, which is a pool of six bowl for SEC teams, meaning it will pick teams after the CFP field has been decided and the Citrus Bowl has selected its matchup.
Kyle Bonagura of ESPN has selected Missouri to match up with Texas Tech in the Liberty Bowl, which is played Dec. 27 in Memphis, Tennessee.
Mizzou hasn't played Texas Tech since it was a Big 12 member. The Red Raiders currently are 5-3 with losses to Baylor, TCU and Washington State.
Last season's Liberty Bowl matched up a then-nine-win Memphis team and a seven-win Iowa State squad. The Tigers won 36-26.
His ESPN colleague Mark Schlabach, as he has for multiple straight weeks, has projected Missouri to face Michigan in the Music City Bowl, played Dec. 30 in Nashville, Tennessee. The Wolverines are 5-3 this season and have Big Ten frontrunners Oregon, Indiana and Ohio State still on the schedule.
Maryland defeated Auburn in the Music City Bowl in 2023. Mizzou was selected to the game in Nashville along with Iowa in 2020, but the game was canceled due to the pandemic.
Jerry Palm of CBS Sports is staying high on the Tigers.
Palm picked Missouri to face a currently 8-0 Indiana in the Citrus Bowl, which selects the SEC and Big Ten teams with the best records that aren't part of the CFP field.
The Hoosiers appear to have a favorable path to the playoff, with ESPN's playoff predictor giving them a 69% chance of making the 12-team field, which is the seventh-best mark in the country.
A berth to the Citrus Bowl is likely the best-case scenario for Mizzou, and likely would require the Tigers to win out and reach double-digit wins to play the game Dec. 31 in Orlando.
Erick Smith of USA Today projected Missouri to face Utah in the Las Vegas Bowl, which is played Dec. 27 in Sin City.
The Utes have had their own injury woes at the quarterback position this season, as starter Cam Rising 's availability has been a question for much of the season. Utah offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig recently resigned.
Utah has lost four straight games after a 4-0 start to the season, and appears to be in a fight to the finish to secure bowl eligibility with three ranked teams left on the schedule and two wins needed to meet the required mark.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Missouri football bowl projections: Where Mizzou could land in postseason
