LINCOLN — Nebraska didn't take away everything Missouri will be playing for on Saturday.
• Where: Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, Mo.
• TV: Fox SN
The Tigers will be shooting for another 10-win season and trying to better their bowl position as they take on Kansas at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. Missouri also will be trying to maintain or improve its spots of No. 15 and No. 16 in the polls.
NU denied it a chance to be playing for a trip to the Big 12 championship game by beating Colorado 45-17 on Friday.
“I think we're much better off as a football team just focusing on Kansas itself, and take all the other stuff completely out and put all our preparation on this game and to play our best,” Mizzou coach Gary Pinkel said. “That's what works best for this team.”
Pinkel said that attitude comes from his seniors — and what a senior class it has been.
Missouri (9-2, 5-2 Big 12) can reach 10 wins for the third time in four years by beating KU. Prior to 2007, the Tigers' only previous 10-win season came with an 11-0 finish in 1960.
Five straight Missouri teams have won eight or more games.
The expectations clearly have changed as Pinkel gets deeper into a Mizzou coaching career that started in 2001.
“When we came here, we only had two winning seasons in about 18 years,” Pinkel said. “So I think the first thing was to learn how to win consistently, where you win and go to bowls. Then obviously you want to win at a high level. Hopefully, we'll take advantage of the opportunities and continue to build.
“Every senior class kind of passes it on to the next one and hopefully they raise the standards as they do that.”
The Tigers also have won three of their past four against Kansas (3-8, 1-6) after the Jayhawks had put together a three-game streak in the series.
“It's a huge game for us,” Tigers tight end Michael Egnew said this week. “They are going to come out and they are going to play hard. It is probably the hardest game that they will play all season long, which will make it one of the hardest for us as well. You will always have that feeling in the back of your mind like, ‘We have to beat these guys.' That's the feeling I always have when we play Kansas.”
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