Robert Woodyard Jr. will play for Missouri at Ole Miss

Missouri's defense got half of the good news it wanted on Friday afternoon, and Pete Thamel had it first.

Pete Thamel

@PeteThamel

Sources: Missouri linebacker Robert Woodyard Jr. will play for the Tigers tomorrow at Ole Miss. He'd been listed as questionable. Defensive tackle Sterling Webb will be a game-time decision.

Woodyard is the bigger name of the 2. The senior came over this year after 4 seasons at Auburn and has fit right in, with 43 total tackles, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and an interception through 6 games. A veteran SEC linebacker who has made plays on the ball is not someone you want to lose the week you go to Oxford, and that is the week Missouri nearly had to.

Webb is still up in the air. The defensive tackle has 8 tackles and a sack this season, and he stays a game-time decision after being listed questionable on the SEC availability report. Interior depth matters a lot in a game like this one, where you have to keep the pocket from turning into a lane for the quarterback.

The stakes are real. No. 13 Missouri (5-1, 2-1 SEC) heads to No. 9 Ole Miss (4-1, 2-1 SEC) for a 3:30 p.m. ET kickoff on SEC Network, and the loser falls to 2 conference losses in the middle of October. The Tigers come in hot after a 27-6 beatdown of Texas A&M in which Jamal Roberts ran for a career-high 222 yards and 2 touchdowns. Ole Miss has Trinidad Chambliss at quarterback, and the prediction markets have the Rebels as the clear favorite, about 66% to win on Kalshi.

Mizzou needs every body it can get. The Tigers put a season-high 24 players on Wednesday's injury report, and running back Ahmad Hardy and safety JaDon Blair are among the 6 players ruled out. Getting Woodyard back next to Nicholas Rodriguez, whose 63 tackles are tied for the national lead, keeps the second level of that defense in one piece.

The thing to watch is Webb in warmups. If he goes, Missouri has its whole front for a road game against a top-10 team. If he doesn't, the Tigers are thin up the middle against one of the most dangerous offenses in the league, and Woodyard and Rodriguez will be cleaning up a lot more than tackles.