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Tennessee football at Missouri: 10 keys for Vols and Tigers

By Caleb Calhoun

COLUMBIA, MO - NOVEMBER 7: A general view of the field taken during the game between the Baylor Bears and the Missouri Tigers at Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium on November 7, 2009 in Columbia, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
COLUMBIA, MO - NOVEMBER 7: A general view of the field taken during the game between the Baylor Bears and the Missouri Tigers at Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium on November 7, 2009 in Columbia, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) /
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When Tennessee football faces Mizzou Saturday in Columbia, Mo., bowl eligibility will be on the line. Here are the Volunteers’ and Tigers’ keys to the game.

Coming off their second bye week, Tennessee football has to face a Missouri Tigers team that has won each of the last two games against them by a score of 50-17 and has won five of seven since entering the SEC. Also, Mizzou is 5-1 at Faurot Field, where this game is set to be played.

Simply put, after winning four of their last five games and three straight, there’s a chance the bye killed the Vols momentum. This could be their toughest outing since they faced the Alabama Crimson Tide on the road.

Anyway, as an underdog heading into this game, Tennessee football has an uphill battle if it’s going to win. Even before the season began, this was written off as a loss for Jeremy Pruitt’s team, or at least their most unlikely win.

However, now the same standards of an uphill battle could apply to Barry Odom’s team as well. After all, both programs enter this game with a 5-5 record and a chance at bowl eligibility on the line. But UT enters red-hot, as we already mentioned. Mizzou enters in the exact opposite way, on a four-game losing streak after reaching the top 25 in mid-October.

In fact, Rocky Top turned things around by beating the Mississippi State Bulldogs, just a week before Missouri started to collapse. So what does that say about this matchup? As we get set to break down the keys to the game, that morale difference is certainly going to be a factor.

But believe it or not, it didn’t make a difference. That’s because Mizzou has only lost one home game during this stretch, and it was to the Florida Gators. So they are much better at home, and that’s where they’re playing.

As a result, this slide has nothing to do with what will happen Saturday. But what are the factors at play? Let’s analyze that now. These are the 10 keys to the game between the Vols and the Tigers when Tennessee football visits Missouri on Saturday.

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