The SEC eliminated the divisions format starting with the 2024 season; teams who played their first year in the conference in 2024 included Texas and Oklahoma.

On January 5, 2024, Baker was hired by LSU to be their defensive coordinator in a contract that would make him the highest paid assistant coach in college football.

Missouri was shutout 34–0 against Alabama in Tuscaloosa in Week 9, in which Cook broke the wrist on his throwing hand and left the game in the second quarter.

Backup QB Drew Pyne led the Tigers to a wild back-and-forth victory over Oklahoma in Week 11, improving Missouri to 7–2 and keeping their slim playoff chances alive.

Those playoff chances would be extinguished in the following week as Missouri rallied from a 21–6 halftime deficit only to blow a 3-point lead in the final minute to fall to South Carolina.

Mizzou was chosen to compete in the Music City Bowl, where they defeated the 8–4 Iowa Hawkeyes of the Big Ten at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee by the score of 27–24.