Tennessee vs Missouri: Five Vols to Watch for vs Tigers

Nov 14, 2015; Knoxville, TN, USA; The Tennessee Volunteers run through the T before the game against the North Texas Mean Green at Neyland Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

The Tennessee vs Missouri game looks like a toss-up . Here are five players on the Volunteers football team to watch for in the match-up.

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What looked like a sure win for the Tennessee Vols just a few weeks ago when they had all the momentum has turned into what might be their toughest game down the stretch.

Butch Jones’s team has looked ugly, especially on offense, since the second half of the South Carolina game a couple of weeks ago. Now, they play a team that feeds off of ugliness.

Everything in this match-up works against the Vols. They are playing a Missouri Tigers football team riding a wave of momentum after beating the BYU Cougars and the announcement that their coach, Gary Pinkel, is retiring at the end of the year. They are also on the road playing this game.

At the same time, this game is hard for them to get up for since the Tigers are 5-5 and lost to Vanderbilt.

Meanwhile, Missouri has beaten the Vols for three straight years, Joshua Dobbs is hobbled, the Vols play right into the hands of the Tigers’ defense.

You could not ask for more of a trap game late in the season than this one, particularly with the string of mistakes Tennessee has been making out on the football field.

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To win this game, the Vols are going to want to make sure they limit mistakes on offense. It is the perfect opportunity for the defense to step up and make a ton of plays, but the offense has to keep this one from being ugly.

That means no crucial mistakes or turnovers and great play by the offensive line, which has gotten torched the past two years the Vols have played the Tigers.

Tennessee really needs everybody to step up, so it’s hard to narrow it down. But here are the five most important players on the Vols that we should watch for Saturday when they travel to Columbia to play the Tigers.

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