As Eli Drinkwitz sat on the SEC Nation set at about 10 a.m. Saturday on Carnahan Quad on the Missouri campus, more than four hours away from kickoff in Border War, his backdrop served as a stark reminder that this day was different.

Missouri football’s mascot Truman the Tiger pranced between the healthy crowd of MU fans who had shown up bright and early and with signs — one with ‘Burn Lawrence’ printed in big, bold letters — while holding a makeshift spear with a toy Jayhawk impaled on the end.

Among the hordes of Mizzou tailgaters nearly 1.5 miles away, a fan had decapitated a plushie of the fictitious bird and insignia of the University of Kansas and propped it on top of a fully cooked rotisserie chicken.

One of the more popular outfit choices of the day among the fanbase was a shirt

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