The Tigers cruised into St. Louis early on Friday, early enough to hold a light,  quick practice at the Edward Jones Dome before settling in for the evening at the Renaissance at the Airport. They are a little further removed from the downtown crowds than Illinois, which is stationed at the Sheraton next to Scottrade Center.

Coach Gary Pinkel held a brief press briefing after the workout, mainly to give the TV guys a chance to get a few sound bites. Among the nuggets everyone picked up were that linebacker Van Alexander will definitely not play, the receivers and return men practiced catching balls in the dome lights and Pinkel doesn’t know where the Tigers are ranked.

The practice was closed but it couldn’t have been too involved because Pinkel was well dressed, not in his usual practice garb. After all, those TV cameras were waiting.

Alexander has made a quick recovery from his knee surgery in the spring and was practicing the first week of camp. However, he didn’t improve enough to face Illinois, although he will be in uniform.

It seems that all of the prognosticators are picking Missouri to win, but Pinkel warned that opening games can be tricky.

“We’re more experienced,” he said of the difference between last year and this year. ”But I don’t care what kind of team you have coming back, first games are always different.”

The Tigers also will have some young players experiencing their first college action and getting into the dome gave them a chance to see things before a sellout crowd arrives on Saturday. But Pinkel said there is no way to eliminate the butterflies, which he expects to experience himself.

“I’ve been doing this 30 years and I’ll have first-game jitters,” he said.

Pinkel was asked again about the future of the series and offered little insight. Athletic directors Mike Alden of Missouri and Ron Guenther of Illinois are expected to have discussions on that topic during the weekend.

“There are a lot of different things to look at,” Pinkel said. “This is like a bowl game. It’s great for St. Louis.  But you have to look at scheduling for both schools. You have to respect what you want to do in Columbia. So there are a lot of things to analyze. I think we can come up with something that hopefully makes everybody happy.”