After Mizzou coach Gary Pinkel's weekly media briefing on Monday, MU showed off the new Nike-furnished uniform that the Tigers officially will unveil at Arrowhead Stadium today against Kansas.

To better illustrate the look, a mannequin was bedecked in the Pro Combat series garb with which Nike this month outfitted 10 teams.

Highlights of the Missouri flourishes include an "anthracite" (gray) helmet, a white jersey featuring "flywire" shoulders (think Spiderman) with long black sleeves and cleats with gold-colored outsoles.

"The uniform is pretty sweet," Mizzou quarterback Blaine Gabbert said.

So sweet, tailback Derrick Washington said, that the team "erupted" when players saw the new togs the night before.

The effect, he suggested, would be bound to put extra bounce in MU's step.

"We're going to look good," he said, smiling. "We're going to feel good. We're going to play good."

Then again, those thoughts don't necessarily connect.

A fresh fashion statement last year didn't quite do the trick, as the Tigers broke out a gold jersey-black pants look for the first time since 1984 only to lose to KU 40-37 on Todd Reesing's late touchdown pass to Kerry Meier.

The loss was a nasty dent in Mizzou's 10-4 season, which otherwise featured three losses to teams that spent weeks in the top 10.

Meanwhile, KU had entered the game losing four of its last five.

Flash forward, and the setting has a similar ring: The Tigers are 7-4 and winners of three of their last four as Kansas seeks to end a six-game losing streak and become bowl-eligible.

"A win against Missouri ... saves their season," Mizzou senior linebacker Sean Weatherspoon said.

Maybe not completely, considering Kansas coach Mark Mangino's job appears to be in jeopardy as he remains the focus of an internal investigation regarding his treatment of players.

Conversely, though, a loss to the Jayhawks definitely would dampen MU's season in several ways, including downgrading its spectrum of bowl prospects. While bowl projections are conditional to an array of moving parts, an MU win today most likely would put the Tigers on track to the Insight Bowl in Arizona.

But as speculated in a Post-Dispatch "Tiger Tracker" blog entry on Monday and confirmed by Cotton Bowl spokesman Charlie Fiss on Friday, the Tigers could even end up there for the second time in three years.

The possibility is far-fetched and almost certainly requires prerequisites: Texas beating Nebraska in the Big 12 title game next week and going on to play in the BCS national championship game; Oklahoma State beating Oklahoma today and earning a second BCS bowl berth for the conference — perhaps in the Fiesta Bowl as it seeks to retain its Big 12 ties.

Those outcomes aren't even remotely assured.

But if each fell that way, that would open up the prospect of the Cotton for Mizzou, which Fiss said is one of the few schools being considered. Another source said a Cotton Bowl representative already has spoken with MU about the possibility.

One of the key issues then would be whether the Cotton Bowl would want Big 12 North champion Nebraska back at Cowboys Stadium — where the Cotton Bowl now is held — just weeks after losing the Big 12 title game there.

But the possibility isn't at all plausible without an MU win today in a matchup MU coach Gary Pinkel calls "bigger than bowl games."

Kansas, of course, sees it the same way.

"This game holds a little more power than every other game on our schedule," KU safety Justin Thornton said.

As a measure of the contentiousness of a rivalry that has Civil War roots, including the teams' nicknames, the schools can't even agree on the series record.

From MU's perspective, it's tied 54-54-9. Kansas says it's up 55-53-9 since it doesn't recognize as a loss the 1960 game in which KU beat No. 1 Missouri 23-7 only to later forfeit for the use of ineligible players.

More immediately, Mangino has a 4-3 edge in meetings with Pinkel, whose Tigers are well-steeped in the rivalry.

"As soon as you sign on that paper (as a recruit), you inherit it," said Weatherspoon, adding that it's impossible to explain the intensity to newcomers "until you play."

Part of the added benefit of playing in new duds, Weatherspoon noted, is that MU's 2009 motto of "Beast M.O.D.E" now literally will be part of the fabric of the team — stitched into their gloves and back collar of their jerseys.

Weatherspoon and others still decline to specify what M.O.D.E. stands for, but for the layman he suggested the concept might be considered comparable to the Incredible Hulk getting mad and ramping up the intensity.

And achieving the right mind-set could be the difference today between just looking good and playing well.