Mizzou announces second-straight Thursday night season opener
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
For the second season in a row, the Mizzou football team will host its season opener at Faurot Field in primetime, on Thursday, August 31. MU and South Dakota will kick off at 7 p.m. on SEC Network.
The game was originally schedule for Saturday, Sept. 2, but the athletics department said they wanted to start off Labor Day weekend with some football for the Tiger fanbase.
“We listened to our fans after last year’s season opener and wanted to create another memorable experience to open the 2023 season," Athletics Director Desiree Reed-Francois said in a press release. "Our student section and the crowd set the tone that night and built a season-long, home-field advantage. We look forward to welcoming everyone home to Columbia on August 31 inside Memorial Stadium.”
The match up with South Dakota is just the fourth weeknight game hosted at Faurot Field since 2009.
“A primetime game under the lights of Faurot Field is an awesome way to open the season,” head coach Eli Drinkwitz said in a press release. “We believe this allows our student section and the best fans in the country to show out loud and proud and lead into Labor Day weekend in Missouri the right way!”
The athletic department also announced that Mizzou's season finale against Arkansas will be in it's traditional slot. The Tigers and the Razorbacks will meet on Friday, Nov. 24 in Fayetteville. Kick off is slated for 3 p.m. The game had been played on the Friday after Thanksgiving for seven of the last eight years, except for 2020.
