A DIAA playoff spot and the Heart of America Conference championship is on the line this weekend as Arkansas visits Missouri.

Both teams are 6-0 going into this game, and it’s a fairly simple scenario to track - winner is the champion, and the loser is second. Simple as that. Arkansas won the conference last year in a tough three-team race including Mizzou and Kansas State. That time, Arkansas and Missouri tied, but Missouri lost a close game to Kansas State, ensuring Arkansas won the conference. Does Missouri remember? You bet they do.

“Last year was tough,” said Missouri captain and fullback Shane Glascott. “We hurt ourselves in those two games. But we have pretty much the same group from last year, and we remember what it was like to just miss out. We’re more experienced, more mature.”

Through the season, said Glascott, the Tigers have remained focused on playing well, and peaking now, against Aransas. 

“We’ve got our heads right,” Glascott said. 

Missouri is led by Glascott at fullback, No. 8 James Glavin, prop Connor Fairfax, and flanker Adam Cooley. But they will need a full team effort against an outstanding Razorbacks squad. Arkansas has a finely-tuned halfback combination, and they ran 106 in on Truman State this past weekend. Up front, Robert Henderson is the captain and leads by example. His battle with Fairfax will be an intriguing element of this game.

But Coach Warren Fyfe said there’s more to it than personnel.

“This is a team that is very coachable, and is improving all the time,” Fyfe told Goff Rugby Report. “They have those intangibles you need. And we’ll need it because Mizzou is getting stronger and stronger each game.”