COLUMBIA — Fans packed into Columbia's Memorial Stadium for Mizzou football's first game this season against the University of Central Arkansas on Thursday.

University of Missouri alumni and St. Louis resident Mike Hughes said he comes to one or two games per year, usually with a group of his friends.

Although there are several construction zones on Interstate 70 between St. Louis and Columbia, Hughes said the traffic he experienced was not because of I-70 road work, but because of a crash in Wentzville.

"We had one of the online maps," Hughes said. "It said (exit the highway) here and take one of the surface roads, so we did that and managed to keep going."

Sixteen-year-old Michael Leonard, also from the St. Louis area, came to see the Tigers play because his older sister just start

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