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Where will Missouri Tigers play in bowl game? Dallas, Detroit, Memphis are options

The Missouri Tigers finished the 2021 regular season as one of five SEC teams with a 6-6 record, earning them a trip to a bowl game.

Mizzou hasn’t played in the postseason since 2018, as last season’s appearance in the Music City Bowl was canceled because of COVID-19 issues within the team. The Tigers last won a bowl game following the 2014 season, when they defeated Minnesota in the Citrus Bowl, 33-17, on Jan. 1, 2015.

What bowl will coach Eliah Drinkwitz’s team play in this season and who will it be against? There are plenty of projections that give us some sort of indication of what could be in store.

We’ll find out for sure on Sunday but here is a look at possible bowls for the Tigers.

Liberty Bowl

Several media outlets have the Tigers pegged to play in the Liberty Bowl in Memphis on Tuesday, Dec. 28 (5:45 p.m. on ESPN).

In their national college bowl projections, Sports Illustrated and Bleacher Report slated Mizzou against West Virginia.

The Tigers and Mountaineers never overlapped during Missouri’s time in the Big 12, but the two teams have met seven times previously. They most recently played in 2019, a 38-7 victory for Mizzou, which holds a 4-3 all-time lead in the series. West Virginia (6-6, 4-5) finished the regular season sixth in the Big 12.

Brett McMurphy of Action Network also has Mizzou projected for the Liberty Bowl, but he has the Tigers facing Texas Tech. The two programs have faced nine times, with the MU holding a 6-3 edge, including a win when they faced most recently in 2011.

The Red Raiders (6-6, 3-6) fired head coach Matt Wells on Oct. 25. The school recently announced that interim head coach Sonny Cumbie will continue his role for the upcoming bowl game.

The Liberty Bowl was the last postseason game Mizzou played in, when it suffered a 38-33 loss to Oklahoma State in 2018.

First Responder Bowl

Two national media outlets foresee Missouri taking a trip to Dallas to play in the First Responder Bowl on Tuesday, Dec. 28 (2:15 p.m. on ESPN).

USA Today Sports has the Tigers facing Texas Tech and Yahoo Sports has Air Force as the opponent.

The Falcons finished 9-3 and 6-2 in the Mountain West, where they were second in their division.

The Tigers have faced the Falcons six times and hold a 4-2 edge in the series. But the last meeting between these teams was on Sept. 18, 1971, a 7-6 loss for Mizzou, so this would be the first game played between the two opponents in 50 years.

Quick Lane Bowl

Missouri was projected to play in the Quick Lane Bowl in Detroit on Monday, Dec. 27 (10 a.m. on ESPN) by CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm and The Athletic’s Stewart Mandel.

Both project the Tigers to face a Michigan school, with Palm selecting Eastern Michigan and Mandel opting with Western Michigan.

The Eastern Michigan Eagles and Western Michigan Broncos both finished with the same record this season, each going 7-5 overall and 4-4 in the Mid-American Conference.

Mizzou is 2-0 against the Eagles, mostly recently defeating them in a 61-21 beatdown in 2016. The Tigers hold the same mark against the Broncos, with their most recent meeting ending in a 52-24 win in 2007.

Gasparilla Bowl

ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura has Missouri in quite the intriguing matchup for the Gasparilla Bowl in Tampa on Thursday, Dec. 23 (6 p.m. on ESPN), set to face Appalachian State.

The Mountaineers are the only other team Eliah Drinkwitz has been the head coach of, spending just one season there in 2019 before taking the job with Missouri.

Appalachian State had an impressive 10-2 record this season and will play in the Sun Belt championship against Louisiana this weekend thanks to a 7-1 mark in conference play.

Missouri will likely make a strong plea against this matchup, as it would be quite the awkward situation for Drinwkitz and loss would be an outright disaster. But if it does happen, it could be interesting, to say the least.

Birmingham Bowl

The other reporter behind ESPN’s bowl projections, Mark Schlabach, has Missouri facing Louisville in the Birmingham Bowl in Alabama on Tuesday, Dec. 28 (11 a.m. on ESPN).

The Cardinals finished fourth in the ACC Atlantic division with a 4-4 record in conference, 6-6 overall. They did manage to defeat Boston College, a team Mizzou lost to in overtime, 28-14.

The two programs have only met once before, with the Tigers coming out on top, 34-3, in 1981.