Rivals.com has released their bowl projections for the 2011 season and the Missouri Tigers are penciled in for a return trip to the Insight Bowl for a rematch with a Big Ten team. It's not all the same as last year as the Tigers are projected to face off against Brady Hoke and the Michigan Wolverines. That would mean that Missouri fans would get to see Heisman hopeful Denard Robinson up close and personal.
The Tigers are picked to finish fifth in the Big 12 according to these projections. The Insight Bowl is slotted to go to the fourth place team in the Big 12 unless the conference gets an at-large BCS berth, thus moving everyone up a spot. They have Oklahoma playing in the BCS Championship against Alabama and Texas A&M in the Fiesta Bowl against Nebraska. Rivals also has Oklahoma State (Cotton) and Texas (Alamo) finishing ahead of Missouri.
Last year, the Tigers fell to the Iowa Hawkeyes in Tempe in what was one of the most exciting bowl games of the year, 27-24, thanks to a Micah Hyde interception of Blaine Gabbert that was returned for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. Fans will never forget how the game ended as a T.J. Moe catch on a fourth down conversion was overturned, much to the dismay of Missouri fans.