Tennessee football: Five Vols to watch for at Missouri Tigers

Coming off a bye, Tennessee football has a tough matchup vs. Mizzou. Here are five key Volunteers to focus on against the Tigers.

Maybe they didn’t want the bye after being so red-hot. But Tennessee football had to take the week off following their 17-13 win over the Kentucky Wildcats. Now, they’re back at 5-5, the same record they had at this time last year.

And once again, they’ll be looking to reach bowl eligibility by winning one of their last two games, which they failed to do last year. It starts on Saturday, when they head to Columbia to take on a reeling Missouri Tigers team.

Despite Mizzou reeling, they are 5-1 at home this year, they have won five of seven against the Vols, and they have won each of the last two 50-17. So Tennessee football can’t take this game lightly at all.

Former UT head coach Derek Dooley is now Missouri’s offensive coordinator, and his offensive coordinator when he was with the Vols, Jim Chaney, is now back as the Vols’ offensive coordinator. So this is an intriguing connection.

What it also means is that the players will have to step up to win this game, and that will be very difficult considering what they are up agains. In a matchup of 5-5 teams, both programs will be fighting desperately to reach that sixth win.

Despite Barry Odom being a defensive guy, Missouri has been winning this year when Kelly Bryant and the offense have been scoring. That’s been a recurring theme for him ever since he took over the program, and as they have slid this year, the offense has slid. Part of that is due to Bryant getting hurt, but he’s back for this game.

How can Jeremy Pruitt’s team offset that? Such a question will determine which guys he turns to on Saturday. And some of them have been guys he has been turning to all season. Who are those players? Let’s break that down here. These are the five Vols to watch for when Tennessee football visits the Missouri Tigers on Saturday.