The Missouri–Oklahoma football rivalry is an American

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

rivalry A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant ...

between the

Missouri Tigers football The Missouri Tigers football program represents the University of Missouri (often referred to as Mizzou) in college football and competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). History Mis ...

team of the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

and

Oklahoma Sooners football The Oklahoma Sooners football team represents the University of Oklahoma (OU) in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level in the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The program began in 1895 and is one of the most succ ...

team of the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...

in the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

(SEC). The Tiger–Sooner Peace Pipe was the trophy awarded to the winner of the game.

Series history

Missouri and Oklahoma's football teams first played in 1902, and played annually from 1910 to 1995, with only a one-year interruption in 1918 during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. The Tiger-Sooner Peace Pipe has been awarded since 1929.Mascot & Football Traditions
" The

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

was formed in 1995, and was split into two divisions. The two universities being placed in different division (Missouri in the Big 12 North Division, Oklahoma in the South Division) prevented an annual matchup. After the formation of the Big 12, the teams played a home-and-home series with three years in between each series (1998–99, 2002–03, 2006–07, 2010–11). The Sooners won the last meeting 38–28 on September 24, 2011. With Missouri's withdrawal from the Big 12 and admission to the SEC effective July 1, 2012, the future of the rivalry became uncertain. On July 30, 2021, however, Oklahoma and Texas asked for and received an invitation to join the Southeastern Conference, effective July 1, 2025, reigniting the rivalry. Later, on February 9, 2023, it was reported that Oklahoma would join a year earlier in 2024. Since Oklahoma joined, they are Missouri's most played conference rival. Missouri is Oklahoma's second most behind Texas. The teams' first meeting as SEC members and first since 2011 was on November 9, 2024, in Columbia.

Tiger–Sooner Peace Pipe

In November 1940, a genuine Indian peace pipe was donated by Dr. John S. Knight of Kansas City to become the traveling trophy of the rivalry. Dr. Knight was a 1923 graduate of the University of Missouri. The peace pipe, in the form of a tomahawk, belonged to Chief White Eagle of the

Pawnee Pawnee initially refers to a Native American people and its language: * Pawnee people * Pawnee language Pawnee is also the name of several places in the United States: * Pawnee, Illinois * Pawnee, Kansas * Pawnee, Missouri * Pawnee City, Nebraska * ...

tribe. The peace pipe was believed to be over 100 years old at the time it was donated in 1940. An inscription on the peace pipe reads "Mystical Seven Society Ceremonial Tomahawk Pipe, University of Missouri vs. University of Oklahoma, Dr. John S. Knight –; donor of peace pipe." Winners of each game are also inscribed on the pipe. The peace pipe was entrusted to MU's Mystical Seven and OU's Pe-Et, who would share the peace pipe in the end zone at halftime to celebrate the two universities. The society of the winning university would return the peace pipe to its university until the next meeting of the two teams. The Sooners were the first to take possession of the peace pipe following their 7–0 victory over the Tigers in 1940. "Oklahoma" was inscribed 19 times on the pipe from 1940 to 1963. After a tie in 1964, OU gave possession of the pipe to MU as Oklahoma had held the trophy so many more times since the trophy's inception. Records indicate that the tradition continued through 1974, but the peace pipe exchange did not take place in 1975. The current location of the pipe is unknown since it was last held by Oklahoma. OU's senior associate athletic director, Kenny Mossman, has indicated that Oklahoma officials have conducted an extensive search of their archives for historical items, and the peace pipe has not been located.

Notable games

2007 Big 12 Championship Game

The Tigers were the Big 12 North's representative in the 2007 Big 12 Championship Game, where they faced Big 12 South representative Oklahoma in a rematch of a regular season game won by the Sooners. Missouri came into the game ranked #1 in the AP Poll and BCS rankings, while Oklahoma was ranked #9. Nevertheless, Oklahoma was favored by

bookmaker A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays out bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds In probability theory, odds provide a measure of the probability of a particular outco ...

s and won, 38–17.

2008 Big 12 Championship Game

The 2008 Big 12 Championship Game was a rematch of the 2007 Big 12 Championship Game. This time, Oklahoma was favored and won handily, 62–21.

October 23, 2010

In their 2010 meeting, Mizzou defeated Oklahoma (then ranked #1 in the BCS rankings). The game was the site of ESPN's College GameDay, where Missouri set the on-campus attendance record for GameDay. Tigers fans tore down the goalposts after this victory.

November 9th, 2024

In their first meeting since either team left the

for the

, Mizzou defeated Oklahoma by scoring 14 points in the last 65 seconds of game time.

Game results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Missouri-Oklahoma football rivalry College football rivalries in the United States Missouri Tigers football Oklahoma Sooners football