How Mizzou's Future 2025 Opponents Fared in Week 3 of CFB

Check out how Missouri's opponents on their 2025-26 schedule did in their third week of college football.

Nov 16, 2024; Columbia, South Carolina, USA; Missouri Tigers wide receiver Marquis Johnson (2) makes a reception over South Carolina Gamecocks defensive back Jalon Kilgore (24) in the second half at Williams-Brice Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Blake-Imagn Images | Jeff Blake-Imagn Images

Week 3 in the college football world was a relatively tame one. Only two major upsets occurred and the national rankings, for the most part, stayed the same.

That doesn't mean it wasn't an important and season-shaping week, especially for the Missouri Tigers. They improved to 3-0 on the season after a 52-10 blowout of the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns, but multiple teams that the Tigers will face in the future earned big wins, and a few picked up losses.

For example, Missouri's matchups against Vanderbilt, Arkansas and Mississippi State are starting to look more and more challenging. At the same time, teams like South Carolina and Alabama have shown some vulnerability.

Here's a look around Missouri's future schedule, and how those teams did in Week 3 of the college football season.

1. South Carolina | 31-7 L vs. No. 20 Vanderbilt

Missouri's matchup in Week 4 against South Carolina had the chance to be a very entertaining game. The likelihood of that may have changed after the injury to quarterback LaNorris Sellers, who suffered a concussion against the Commodores. He's being evaluated in the build-up to the showdown on Saturday.

Despite Sellers going down, the Gamecocks simply didn't look good against Vanderbilt. South Carolina relied on receiver-turned-quarterback Luke Doty for its throwing duties once Sellers went down, going for 148 yards and an interception.

Running back Rahsul Faison and receiver Nyck Harbor were the only truly productive players on the South Carolina offense. Faison finished with 74 yards and a touchdown, while Harbor brought in four catches for 66 yards. Outside of those two, there wasn't much happening.

Their defense didn't do them many favors either. The likes of defensive back Jalon Kilgore, linebacker Fred Johnson and defensive end Dylan Stewart couldn't do much to prevent Vanderbilt's 323 total yards of offense from happening.

2. UMass | 47-7 L vs. Iowa

There isn't much to be said here. UMass is off to a terribly bad start to its season and it doesn't appear to be getting much better, at least before MAC play starts.

The Minutemen have scored 43 points this season and have allowed 116. That's a pretty glaring stat for them on both sides of the ball. They had more flux at the quarterback position, splitting snaps between AJ Hairston and Grant Jordan. Neither player played particularly well.

To make matters worse, the Minutemen allowed 435 total yards of offense to an Iowa team that's notorious for not being able to move the ball up the field. The Tigers got a taste of that in the Music City Bowl last season, but UMass allowed them to be a completely different offensive team.

The Tigers don't have a bye week until the week of October 4, right after this matchup. Each time UMass takes the field, the game looks more and more like a cake walk. This should be an excellent two-week stretch for the Tigers to recharge for the hardest part of their schedule.

3. No. 14 Alabama | 38-14 W vs. Wisconsin

Doubts about quarterback Ty Simpson and the Crimson Tide offense are slowly dying down after another impressive performance. Simpson finished his outing against the Badgers with 382 passing yards and four touchdowns, adding 25 rushing yards to that, too.

His favorite target, to no one's surprise, was sophomore Ryan Williams. He finished with 165 yards and two scores on only five receptions, showing why he can be one of the most electric players in the country with the ball in his hands.

Those weren't the only two stars and other players shone on offense, but the running game was slightly lackluster. Kevin Riley, who's been the team's feature back with Jam Miller still injured, only ran for 20 yards. The Crimson Tide only handed the ball 22 times and six of those total carries came from Simpson.

There wasn't much the Crimson Tide had to be worried about on defense, given that Wisconsin's starting quarterback, Billy Edwards, was injured. They embarrassed Danny O'Neill and the Wisconsin offense, allowing only 209 yards of offense.

4. No. 22 Auburn | 31-15 W vs. South Alabama

Most Missouri fans are likely excited about this road trip to Auburn, and rightfully so. Jackson Arnold and the Tigers look good so far, and they showed a versatile offensive attack against South Alabama.

It was running back Jeremiah Cobb who stole the show, rushing for 119 yards and a touchdown. Arnold totalled 50 rushing yards and two touchdowns on the ground, along with 142 passing yards and a score in the air.

There aren't many complaints to be had about Auburn's offense so far. But, allowing 15 points to South Alabama and only winning by 16 might not be the best look. They allowed 140 total rushing yards and let Jaguar quarterback Bishop Davenport, in many ways, get what he wanted.

When Missouri and Auburn meet, it has the potential to be a shootout. Missouri and Arnold have some exciting history that dates back to last season, and it's very possible that Arnold will be looking for revenge.

5. No. 20 Vanderbilt | 31-7 W vs. South Carolina

Vanderbilt has sneakily become one of the most challenging games on Missouri's schedule after this big win. For starters, the Commodores look much better than originally anticipated. Quarterback Diego Pavia handled business well against the Gamecocks, going for 177 passing yards, two touchdowns and an interception.

Like usual, Pavia's favorite target was tight end Eli Stowers, who finished with three catches for 45 yards. Pavia's two receiving touchdowns went to running back Sedrick Alexander and receiver Junior Sherrill.

The Commodore defense was arguably the most impressive group in this game, recording eight tackles for loss and two sacks. The sacks came from senior linebackers Bryce Cowan and Nick Rinaldi on impressive blitz calls. Rinaldi finished the game with seven tackles, closely behind the tackle leader for the game in safety CJ Heard, who finished with 12.

Mizzou's final four opponents

6. 10 No. Texas A&M | 41-40 W vs. No. 24 Notre Dame

7. Mississippi State | 63-0 W vs. Alcorn State

8. No. 11 Oklahoma | 42-3 W vs. Temple

9. Arkansas | 41-35 L vs. No. 13 Ole Miss

Around the country

Nothing earth-shattering happened here, outside of Georgia Tech's game-winning field goal to knock Clemson off its pedestal. The Yellow Jackets are the new contending team in the ACC, one step below Miami and Florida State, holding onto one of the best early wins of the season.

Teams like Indiana, Texas Tech and Michigan just keep coasting along this season and beating down on inferior opponents, like they are supposed to. South Florida, a team that took the college football world by storm through two weeks, was knocked to the ground in blowout fashion by Miami, potentially ending that cinderella story.

Outside of that, nothing crazy happened this week. Most of the teams that were supposed to win did so and the only major losses came from South Carolina and Clemson.

No. 25 USC | 33-17 W vs. Purdue
No. 21 Michigan | 63-3 W vs. Central Michigan
No. 19 Indiana | 73-0 W vs. Indiana State
No. 18 Georgia Tech | 24-21 W vs. Clemson
No. 17 Texas Tech | 45-14 W vs. Oregon State