Missouri Fever

Freshman Zach Johnson, sophomore Andrew Holman, freshman Nick Roettgen and senior Travis Franks watch the Missouri-Tennessee game together. “I love this team so much. I hate the Vols. I want Mizzou to win all the way,” Roettgen said. “I want them to go to College GameDay — I want College GameDay here.”

Missouri Fever

Despite my school's SEC status, I have little to no interest in football. I do, however, have a big interest in the students who care so much about their team that they are willing to subject themselves to full-coverage body paint, packed bleachers and never ending sunburns.

Through body paint, pom-poms and homemade signs, many students pull out all the stops when it comes to cheering on the Tigers.

Led by the ZOU, many students can be found shoulder-to-shoulder on the bleachers of the student section every home game day. Some students arrive hours before kickoff in hopes of earning a prime seat at the front.

The obsession with their team has no limit, and any threat to their team's success will be met with boos, insults or even a pie to the face.

This project is ongoing.

Junior Dominic Radecki, a game day chair for the ZOU, claps for the Tigers while watching in anticipation. The ZOU student leaders often arrive at games early to paint their chests and prepare for the game.

Missouri fans berate Myles Evans, center, by yelling "kick him out" as he walks out of the student section. Evans, a Los Angeles native and Kansas fan who had purposefully pushed to the front of the section before turning back, relished in the booing and insults. "People give attention to those who want it," said Evans.

Marching Mizzou tuba players lift up their instruments while chanting with the crowds before kick off.

Brett Pascoe runs back and forth down Faurot Field with the cheer team. Cheerleaders run with flags spelling "MIZZOU" as the game kicks off, during halftime and each time their team makes a touchdown.

Cheerleader Peyton Oltman wears a Missouri Tigers sticker on Sept. 7, 2024 at Faurot Field in Columbia, Mo. Oltman performed on the sidelines and during halftime for a crowd of over 62,000 fans.

Junior Austin Ball celebrates a touchdown while being recorded for a social media video. Due to stadium construction and large crowd numbers, the student section was expanded using extra fencing to allow for more attendance. Still, some students were denied entry into the student section because they reached capacity.

Sophomore Malachi Housh reps the Missouri Tigers by painting his face to resemble a tiger eating a Kansas jayhawk. "KU is one of the lower IQ states," said Housh. "They all look like they come from a very circular family tree."

Nicholas Rodriguez raises a fan's cowboy hat as Missouri players celebrate beating Kansas with the student section.

A sold-out crowd of Missouri fans watch as their team battles against Kansas. The 2025 Border War against their decades-long rivals, the Jayhawks, was the first in 14 years.