Missouri football looking to ruin Tennessee’s highest ranking since 2016

After a climb up into the rankings, Tennessee is looking to add more to their resume against a sneaky good Missouri football team.

One of the more surprising teams to make an appearance in the Top 25 this week was Tennessee. With a decent amount of hype, they traveled to Columbia and defeated the Gamecocks of South Carolina.

Tennessee did a little bit of everything in this game in order to walk out of Columbia with a win. Jarrett Guarantano threw for a touchdown, the Vols rushed for two more, and the defense got it on the fun with a pick-six of Collin Hill.

It was a pretty balanced game as the Vols as it was nearly 50/50 in terms of run-pass plays (33 runs, 32 passes).

For Missouri, they had one of the toughest tasks of Week 1 in facing Alabama. Although one of the less talked about Alabama games, Missouri’s offense was stagnant for three quarters and Jaylen Waddle  and Najee Harris had a field day against the defense.

TCU transfer quarterback Shawn Robinson did lead two pretty good drives in the fourth quarter. Although, with Alabama’s second-stringers in, Missouri outscored Alabama 13-3 in the final quarter of play.

These teams faced off in 2019 as it was Tennessee securing a bowl berth with a 24-20 win on the road. Guarantano put up a monstrous 415 yards and Missouri could not muster enough offense in the fourth quarter to win.

Although turnovers or penalties wasn’t an issue for the Tigers, it was third-down conversions that was less than ideal. Missouri only converted four out of their 15 third-down opportunities and only had 2.7 yards per rush.

With a new quarterback at the helm in Robinson, Missouri is also looking for more success through the air. Kelly Bryant last season, was a somewhat efficient 58 percent passing, but only had 6.2 yards per attempt. If Missouri wants the upset in 2020, those mistakes have to be fixed.

Here’s how to watch the game between the Tigers and Volunteers.

Date: Saturday, Oct. 3
Time: 12:00 p.m. ET
Venue: Neyland Stadium
TV: SECN
Stream: SEC Network

Keys to a Victory

Missouri absolutely has to win up front along the offensive line to give Robinson or Connor Bazelak a chance to throw. Tennessee runs a defense that involves the Star and Jack positions, which are hybrids. This was notably developed from last year’s LSU team, under Dave Aranda.

Tennessee is extremely veteran heavy along the defensive line, as all three of their linemen, plus Jack Deandre Johnson are seniors. The reason why Tennessee has been highly thought of this year is their experience and returning production.

If Missouri wants to stay in this ballgame, they have to catch disguised blitzes and keep Robinson up right and give him enough time to throw the football

One of the big bright spots from the Alabama game was sophomore safety Martez Manuel. Manuel played very sparingly in 2019, collecting just four tackles on the season.

To start out 2020, he broke out with seven tackles and 3.5 tackles for loss. For a safety, especially someone so young and making his first start against Alabama, that’s extremely impressive.

Although, the Tigers do not have a ton of major bright spots, Manuel is an up and coming player, that if he replicate those numbers, can become a household name. Other players the Tennessee offense needs to watch out for is leading tackler from 2019, linebacker Nick Bolton.

Not a huge factor in the Alabama game, he can get tackles and in a hurry. He finished last season with 103 tackles, to go along with 8.5 for loss.

Prediction

Missouri will come out better in the first half of this game, making things close. Receiver Jalen Knox is their go to slot threat, that hurt Alabama at times last Saturday.

With that, this game will be a relatively close game, but one that Tennessee will pull out. There is reason for optimism from the Tiger side, but experience will win out.

Jarrett Guarantano passes for three touchdowns and running back Ty Chandler ices it late with a go-ahead score to give the Vols the win and a 2-0 start to 2020.

Final Score: Tennessee 31, Missouri 28