SEC Nation crew previews the matchup between Mizzou and Kansas

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

For the first time in nearly six years, the crew from SEC Nation has made its home in Columbia for the weekend. Host Laura Rutledge will be joined by Tim Tebow, Roman Harper and Jordan Rodgers, on Saturday morning before kickoff between Mizzou and Kansas.

In addition to SEC Nation, the 'Marty & McGee' show will be live from Carnahan Quad from 8-9 a.m. on Saturday, as well.

Ahead of all the action, both Harper and SEC Network personality Ryan McGee met with local media to preview the renewed rivalry at Faurot Field.

"[This rivalry] is everything that the sport should protect. I don't think it's high enough priority. You know, next week it's the Backyard Brawl...we have these kind of spurts of these games for two or three years and then we have to not have them for a while, so going forward with a nine-game SEC schedule and conference realignment, whatever, to me if you want to keep the fabric of college football, you have to protect games like this," McGee said.

You can watch the full interview with McGee in the video player below.

Harper is in the midst of his fourth season in one of the analyst chairs for SEC Nation, but he brings his own experience in rivalry games. In fact, when he was a player at Alabama, he played in one of the most iconic ones the sport has to offer: the Iron Bowl.

However, he said that the even the energy surrounding the clashes between Alabama and Auburn, don't quite compare to what he's seen on Mizzou's campus this week.

"You guys hate each other. Alabama and Auburn don't really hate each other. It's a lot of houses divided, it's a lot of cousins and brothers, it's just another school in the same state," Harper said. "The hatred is real between [Missouri and Kansas], the fan bases and that's what makes rivalries. It's all about the fan base and so, for me, I've been really learning a little bit more about this...The fans are fired up. I saw that last night. I was very, very visual about it. As soon as I landed, people were telling me all about it. The fans are excited, so I'm excited. It's going to be a great game and I'm leaning Missouri right now."

You can watch the full interview with Harper in the video player below.

The folks at SEC Nation have been getting an education on just what this rivalry means to each fanbase, as one of the show's producers actually hails from Kansas. Apparently, he's been having a hard time setting foot in Tiger country.

"He's telling me stories that when he was a young kid and he would crossover into the state of Missouri, he would hold his breath because he didn't want to breath air from Missouri," Harper said.

"I don't think people, nationally, don't understand the animosity here. Anytime you start going back to the Civil War and burning down cities and that's literally where the mascots came from," McGee said. "Our producer is a Kansan and he doesn't even like being on campus. He doesn't want to breath the air an we're going to openly make fun of him during the show tomorrow."

The crew also took a few minutes to get into the X's and O's of Saturday's game at Memorial Stadium. Each gave Mizzou the edge in the matchup, but didn't give a final score prediction.

First-year Tiger quarterback Beau Pribula and veteran Jayhawk quarterback Jalon Daniels will go head-to-head in Saturday's game, which Harper said is probably the best QB matchup of the entire weekend in college football.

"Jalon Daniels is playing really, really good football. He's a veteran quarterback who's had a lot of success in this offense and he has great command of it. They got some upgrades on the outside, as far as their playmakers, and so Missouri has to be able to cover those guys when they throw it," Harper said. "Beau Pribula, I thought played excellent last week. The only time I thought there was any negatives was really not his fault. I thought the offensive line blew a couple of assignments and they got up on him really fast and then it was an errant throw here and there. But, overall, I really like what I saw from the young man. Carrying over from Penn State, where he was just known as a running quarterback, he put everybody on notice like no, I can throw it too. If he continues on that trend, I think Missouri is set up for a really, really nice run this year."

Mizzou and Kansas will kickoff the Border War at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, at Faurot Field.