By DON KAUSLER JR.

It's understandable if college football fans are underwhelmed with a game Saturday matching 2 underachieving bowl-eligible SEC teams.

Under winter conditions – the forecast calls for 1-3 inches of snow – Arkansas (6-5, 3-4 SEC) visits Missouri (8-3, 4-3) at 2:30 p.m. CDT (SEC Network).

The understated Battle Line Rivalry, as usual, is the end of the regular season for both teams.

Arkansas qualified for a bowl Saturday with a 35-14 victory over Louisiana Tech. Bowl berths will be announced on Dec. 8. The Razorbacks are a 3-point underdog. The over/under is 53½ points.

All 5 of Arkansas’ losses have been to teams that were ranked at the time of the game, but the Razorbacks do have a signature victory: 19-14 on Oct. 5 over visiting Tennessee.

The Vols were ranked No. 4 then and are currently rated No. 8 by the CFP committee. That upset raised hopes for the Razorbacks, but their record since then is 2-3.

No. 21 Missouri, which went 11-2 last season and finished No. 8 in the final AP poll, was still in the running this season for a spot in the new 12-team College Football Playoffs before suffering a last-minute 34-30 loss on Nov. 16 at No. 21 South Carolina.

The Tigers are 6-0 at home, but they are 1-3 against ranked teams. The victory was early in the season at Boston College, which was ranked No. 24 at the time. Boston College now is unranked with a 6-5 record.

Understand what we mean by underachieving?

All 3 of Missouri’s losses have been to teams that were ranked at the time of the game and still are rated by the CFP Committee. Texas A&M, then ranked No. 25 and now rated No. 20, routed the visiting Tigers 41-10 on Oct. 5. Alabama, then ranked No. 15 and now rated No. 13, crushed visiting Missouri 34-0 on Oct. 26.

Missouri trailed 21-6 at halftime at South Carolina but rallied to take a 30-27 lead with 1:10 remaining in the fourth quarter. The Tigers then gave up a 6-play, 70-yard touchdown drive that ended with 15 seconds left on a 15-yard shovel pass to former Razorbacks running back Raheim “Rocket” Sanders. He broke multiple tackles on his way to the end zone.

Missouri does not have a so-called signature victory.

Both the Razorbacks and Tigers have had ugly losses. Arkansas lost 63-31 on Nov. 2 to visiting Ole Miss, now rated No. 14 by the CFP committee. Missouri wasn’t competitive in its 31-point loss at Texas A&M and its shutout 3 weeks later at Alabama.

Missouri and Arkansas have had 3 common opponents: Arkansas lost 21-17 on Sept. 28 to Texas A&M, won 24-14 on Sept. 21 at Auburn and won 58-25 on Oct. 26 at Mississippi State. In addition to losing to Texas A&M, Missouri defeated visiting Auburn 21-17 on Oct. 19 and is coming off a 39-20 victory at Mississippi State.

FIRST DOWN

Rivalry? Missouri leads the series 10-4. That does not include a 28-24 Missouri victory in 2016 that was vacated because the NCAA charged the program with academic misconduct involving a tutor.

Arkansas is 0-5 in games played in Columbia, Mo.

Arkansas Coach Sam Pittman is 1-3 against the Tigers. That includes 2-point losses in 2020 and 2022 in Columbia.

The teams met only 5 times before 2014, 2 years after Missouri joined the SEC. Arkansas lost the first game 11-0 in 1906 in Columbia. Arkansas won 7-6 in

1944 in St. Louis. Missouri won 7-6 in 1963 in Little Rock.

The next two meetings were in bowl games. Arkansas won 27-14 in 2003 in the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, La. Missouri won 38-7 in the Cotton Bowl following the

2007 season.

Missouri won 21-14 in Columbia in the first SEC meeting in 2014. Including that game, the Tigers are 7-2 in SEC games against the Razorbacks. The Battle Line Trophy was

introduced in 2015.

Missouri has a 2-game winning streak since Arkansas won 34-17 in 2021. The Razorbacks are out to avenge a 48-14 loss a year ago in Fayetteville.

This is not one of college football’s most heated rivalries, but Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz seems to take it more seriously than others, perhaps because he is an Arkansas native.

After Missouri signed 2 Pine Bluff high school stars last December, with billboards celebrating that news appearing in Pine Bluff.

Pittman was asked this week where Missouri falls on his program’s list of rivals.

“I think Missouri is right up there at the top of rivals for us,” he said. “I think if you ask our team — obviously, we have several trophy games. I would think Missouri is one, Texas certainly

would be one. LSU would be one. But I think Missouri ranks up there at the top.”

Drinkwitz is 19-5 the past 2 seasons after a 17-19 record in his first 3 seasons.

“He stirred up a lot of stuff, not just with Arkansas, so I have a lot of respect for him,” Pittman said. “He’s a hell of a coach now, and you don’t want him to have the ball on the last drive … because he’s outstanding and has won a lot of games that way. … 

“He’s obviously done a really nice job there. So, you know, we’re rivals, and they’ve got the trophy. They’ve had it for the last 2 years. We’d like to get it back.”

SECOND DOWN

Snow? Arkansas fans might want to tune into The Weather Channel as they wait Saturday to tune into the SEC Network to watch the Razorbacks. It will be cold in Columbia, and snow is in the forecast early in the day. The high temperature is expected to be 34 degrees. The chances of snowfall with accumulation of 1-3 inches in the morning is 70 percent. Winds out of the east/northeast of approximately 5 to 10 mph are in the forecast. The low temperature overnight Friday is expected to be 25 degrees. After the sun sets at 4:47

p.m. CDT Saturday, the temperature will dip toward an overnight low of 17.

Drinkwitz said he’s never been involved in a snow game. The Tigers were set to practice outdoors all week.

“There are two different types of snow,” Drinkwitz said. “There’s dry snow and wet snow. Wet snow sticks and compacts, makes it a little bit more difficult to throw, catch, makes a slicker ball. You have to be more cognizant of the way that you’re utilizing your cleats and running, because the snow will clamp and be a factor in route running and slippage. So there are some things as a staff that we’ve already put in place to prepare for, but the reality of it is, that’s just part of the game.”

THIRD DOWN

Injury report: Arkansas junior defensive tackle Nico Davillier had knee surgery Monday and won’t play Saturday. He started 6 games this season and appeared in 4 others, recording 23 tackles with 1½ sacks. Arkansas linebacker Anthony Switzer and defensive end Anton Juncaj missed the Louisiana Tech game because of injuries. Switzer is expected to be ready to play. Juncaj is doubtful. Cornerback Jaylon Braxton will miss a 10th consecutive game with a knee injury. The true sophomore is eligible to redshirt.

Missouri wide receiver Mookie Cooper had season-ending surgery this week after missing the past 4 games with an undisclosed injury. The senior had 12 catches for 235 yards after catching 36 passes for 447 yards last season.

FOURTH DOWN

Bowl guesses: Where will the Razorbacks go bowling? The projections are all over the place.

According to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and wholehogsports.com, The Sporting News predicts an Arkansas-West Virginia game on Dec. 27 in the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces

Bowl in Fort Worth, Texas.

Arkansas will meet TCU on Dec. 27 in the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, according to 247Sports.com.

Jerry Palm of CBS Sports also has the Razorbacks in the Liberty Bowl against Kansas State.

Arkansas will meet Baylor in the Liberty Bowl, according to Kyle Bonagura of ESPN.

Arkansas will meet Pittsburgh on Dec. 27 in the Birmingham (Ala.) Bowl, according to the

College Football Network.

The Razorbacks will meet Memphis in the same bowl, according to Athlon Sports.

Mark Schlabach of ESPN has the Razorbacks meeting North Carolina in the Birmingham Bowl.

Brett McMurphy of The Action Network and Erick Smith of USA TODAY predict an Arkansas-Baylor game on Dec. 31 in the Texas Bowl in Houston.