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Tennessee football: Five reasons Missouri could upset Vols

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 12: General view of a Tennessee Volunteers flag during a game against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Neyland Stadium on October 12, 2019 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 12: General view of a Tennessee Volunteers flag during a game against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Neyland Stadium on October 12, 2019 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images
Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images /

Mizzou could upset the Tennessee football Volunteers Saturday.

After beating the South Carolina Gamecocks 31-27 on the road last weekend, Tennessee football moved to 2-0 when favored in SEC games under Jeremy Pruitt. Those two wins just happened to be the two most recent league games they have played, dating back to their 28-10 win last year against the Vanderbilt Commodores.

Well, entering Saturday, the Vols are set to be favorites again. As the 0-1 Missouri Tigers come to town, Rocky Top is a double-digit favorite for the second time in these three games, with the line ranging from 11 to 13 points.

There are plenty of reasons to believe in Tennessee football. The Vols are on a seven-game winning streak, the longest of any Power Five school at the moment, Jarrett Guarantano threw for over 400 yards in a win at Mizzou last year, and the Tigers are rebuilding with a first-year head coach in Eliah Drinkwitz, while UT is in its third year under Pruitt.

All expectations, as a result, are for the Vols to move to 2-0 with a trip to Athens to face the Georgia Bulldogs coming up next. However, Rocky Top can’t afford to overlook this game if you look at all the factors involved. Otherwise, they’ll be in trouble.

In this post, we’re going to look at the reasons the Tigers could pull off the upset. Vol fans should know first-hand how easy it is to be upset in early-season games. After all, they fell to 0-2 last year with two losses to Group of Five teams at home, and that started with them falling to the Georgia State Panthers, a team they were favored to beat by 26 points.

Those losses are what set them back so far early on and why that turnaround from 2-5 to 8-5, while remarkable, was necessary. After winning such an important toss-up game last week, that’s something they desperately want to avoid on Saturday.

What are the biggest concerns for UT? Why could their first home game be a trap game? Let’s break all of that down here. These are the five reasons the Missouri Tigers could upset Tennessee football in Knoxville.

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