The annual Braggin' Rights game between the Missouri Tigers and Illinois Fighting Illini basketball teams is routinely one of the most anticipated games in the state of Missouri. Unfortunately, the two football teams don't have nearly as intense of a rivalry; although they faced off in the previous five years, the teams decided not to play this season, and with Missouri moving to the SEC, it's questionable whether the teams will hook up again in the near future.
But there is always the possibility of the two finding each other in a bowl game, and according to the new bowl projections from SB Nation's Bill Connelly, that just might happen in 2011. Though both teams are struggling at the moment to stay above .500, Connelly's math says that both teams will finish with winning records, and may even meet up in the Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas on New Year's Eve. Although Missouri facing Illinois in Texas just feels distinctly wrong, thisis the type of bowl game that both executives and fans dream of.