After beating Kentucky, Tennessee football will need different stars to step up if they want to beat Mizzou. Here are five Volunteers to watch for.
When Tennessee football took out the Kentucky Wildcats, the suspected stars stepped up. Jeremy Pruitt’s 3-4 defense against a one-dimensional offense was a recipe for Vols like Darrell Taylor and Daniel Bituli to thrive, and that’s just what they did.
Now, in order to build off that and pull off a minor miracle by reaching bowl eligibility this weekend, they will need to rely largely on a different set of stars this Saturday to beat the Missouri Tigers. A balanced, high-powered offense is replacing that one-dimensional offense.
Meanwhile, a defense that’s very exploitable is replacing one of the best defenses in the SEC. So Tennessee football could be in for a completely different type of game on Saturday, and that could make things extremely rough.
As the Vols get set to take on Mizzou, they have to make sure they can hang with this type of team. Their two big SEC wins came over opponents who have had major offensive issues of some sort, issues in particular that a good front seven can exploit. And as we’ve noted, the front seven can be UT’s strength.
So they will have to find other big-play guys to win this one, and it may not be so easy. But if they want their Senior Class to go out with a bang by clinching a bowl berth, that’s the task at hand against Barry Odom’s team.
Missouri has been a thorn in UT’s side over the past few years, so Jeremy Pruitt needs to have his team ready. And if other individuals can step up and make the necessary difference, he’ll get back above .500 for the first time since September.
Pruitt has the players to be able to pull this off. But it’s another difficult outing. Let’s find out who those guys are. Here are the five Vols to watch for in Tennessee football’s final home of 2018 game against the Missouri Tigers.