When the Missouri Tigers and Texas A&M Aggies both left the Big 12 at the same time for the sake of the SEC, the belief was that both teams were going to maintain a rivalry that would maintain at least some semblance of tradition and keep a key recruiting line into Texas for Gary Pinkel’s squad.

Instead, it’s announced today that the Arkansas Razorbacks are going to be the Tigers’ new rival in the SEC as the only permanent cross-division opponent in the new scheduling format. And Pinkel doesn’t seem too happy.

“I’ve been told that’s probably going to happen. When we got here, they said A&M was going to be our rival game, and somehow, somewhere it got switched,” Pinkel said.

“It doesn’t matter, because of all the players we’ve recruited (from Texas) to come to Missouri, (they’re) the greatest salesmen we have. Plus, Dallas is our No. 1 alumni base outside of Missouri in the nation."

That’s coach speak for “Not what we were told.”