ESPN analysts predict Missouri as surprise SEC team to make 2024 College Football Playoff

With an expanded College Football Playoff and expanded SEC, there’s never been a season where more SEC teams truly believe they can compete for a national title come December and January.

Some experts speculate the SEC could get up to five teams into the 12-team playoff, and at worst, the league is looking at least three. On Friday morning’s edition of Get Up, Matt Barrie asked Peter Burns and Harry Douglas how many SEC teams they predict to make the field and if Burns has a sleeper team that could crash the party.

“Alright, so I got eight teams,” Burns joked. However, he does say “it might be three or four coming up this year. We’ve seen that in the past.” Meanwhile, Douglas noted he’s expecting four or five.

Burns then named a few of the consensus contenders before examining one program who may make surprise push for the CFP following a tremendous season in 2023.

“I think Texas is going to be one of those teams, Ole Miss of course, LSU if they get by USC. But a team that I’m looking into right now… is the Missouri Tigers,” declared Burns.

“They’re coming off an 11-win season and you’re talking about what Eli Drinkwitz said, the same thing Lane Kiffin said: ‘Hey, this is our time,'” he added. The main reasons for that belief: 1.) Ei Drinkwitz returns some superstars; and 2.) Missouri’s schedule lines up very favorably.

“They’ve got the easiest schedule in the SEC,” Burns asserted. “They’re going to be an FPI favorite in 11 of the 12 — and the 12th game is (against) an Alabama team where we have question marks.”

Frankly, this is the year for Mizzou. They have a star in Luther Burden III, who Peter Burns claims “is going to win the Biltenikoff,” alongside a returning quarterback and a talented squad overall.

Then there’s the schedule. The Tigers can sleepwalk through at least four weeks against Murray State, Buffalo, Boston College and Vanderbilt to start the season. Yeah, at Alabama is tough, but their second-toughest game is either a road trip to South Carolina or a home game vs. Oklahoma. Otherwise, the slate is extremely manageable, which is why Burns likes them, and so does Harry Douglas.

“Yeah, I like Missouri,” Douglas commented. “The only concerns I have, they lost a lot of guys on defense, how are they going to replace those guys?” he asks. Like Burns, though, Douglas had a hard time finding a ton of losses for this group with their schedule.

“But I think, with an easier schedule, that allows you to get over that hump a little bit,” he added. And Missouri certainly got over the hump last season. Now, if they can replicate that success, the playoff beckons.