Tennessee football: Will Vols build upon momentum when Missouri visits?

How will the Tennessee football Volunteers respond against the Mizzou Tigers?

Last Saturday, Tennessee football had a rough time fighting off the South CarolinaGamecocks on the road to get the 31-27 win and move to 1-0. We were able to see that some things need to be cleaned up.

Jarrett Guarantano has to improve his throws, and the receivers need to be on the same page with him. It’s not a one person fix up the Vols are dealing with. These are some reasonable issues to see during the first game.

However, what matters now is how Jeremy Pruitt and Tennessee football respond to this in their home opener against the Missouri Tigers on Saturday afternoon. With that being said, Mizzou is going to be in trouble.

I see Guarantano coming in ready to go because he wants to show the world exactly what he has become. We didn’t see that against, South Carolina which is understandable. It was the first game, and now the Vols have a better idea of what they are looking at. This is where it starts to get really serious. UT has Cade Mays, who is now cleared to play, which is huge for their offensive line.

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We can’t really read the way Mizzou played against the Alabama Crimson Tide, as much as we would like to. Tennessee football has to come in ready to play. It is a noon game, and they have to remain focused.

There’s a chance the Vols overlook this game just so they can get to the Georgia Bulldogs. They need a good solid win to feed off of before heading to Athens. Rocky Top has the talent and knows what it takes. The question is whether or not they will use the talent effectively.

Ty Chandler and Eric Gray are going to make it really hard on a Missouri defense that didn’t look well put together against Alabama. To be fair, though, what does? On the other hand, Mizzou could get things going offensively, and UT could fold as a result.

Early in the game, the Vols have to take control and set the tone. They don’t want to play down to Missouri’s level of competition. That is a big flaw that was noticeable last game. Tennessee football builds off of the energy of the other team. It can’t be that way.

Rocky Top should see a lot of change after brushing off that win at South Carolina. Who is going to step up for the Vols? Will Guarantano be out to disprove those that do not count on him? We’ll find out Saturday afternoon.