COLUMBIA, Mo. • After his team wrapped up the week’s first practice for the final game of the regular season, Missouri defensive line coach Craig Kuligowski touched on the concept of Mizzou and Arkansas sharing a rivalry.
“Here’s an interesting thing,” he said Monday night. “We’re playing Arkansas. They’re our rivals. And none of us has ever been to their stadium.”
Yes, there’s that.
When Missouri joined the Southeastern Conference and severed ties with its century-old rivalries from the Big 12, the SEC settled on Arkansas as the Tigers’ new permanent cross-division football opponent, hoping the schools from bordering states could recapture what Missouri sacrificed by switching leagues — mainly its historic, bitter feud with Kansas.