COLUMBIA, Mo. — For a couple of weeks and for a couple of reasons, the Missouri football schedule is helpful as can be.

Overall, it was most frequently described as “favorable” during offseason breakdowns of the calendar. No stretch will be more useful than the fortnight the Tigers are about to enter, given a key player’s injury and the games that lie beyond.

Mizzou, for those who’ve been under a rock, is 4-0 with wins over Central Arkansas, Louisiana, Kansas and South Carolina. It has outscored those opponents 184-67 and climbed to No. 20 in the nation.

The Jayhawks are perhaps a slightly better team than they were thought to be over the summer, the Gamecocks perhaps slightly worse. But on the whole, the first four games went to plan, with Missouri making use of a smooth on-ramp to the

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