Tennessee wideout Justin Hunter could have a big day against Missouri's defense. (Jim Brown-US PRESSWIRE)
The divisions will likely be decided this weekend in the SEC West and East, and while those two races mean plenty to Alabama and Georgia, there is another game on the slate with very high stakes.
It will take place in Neyland Stadium in Knoxville when Missouri takes on Tennessee. If you are a cynic, you might call it the battle for fifth place in the SEC East. If you are a fatalist, you might call it the battle for Derek Dooley’s employment.
But if you are a fan of either Missouri or Tennessee, you will call it the quest for a postseason bowl game.
Missouri and Tennessee come in with identical 4-5 overall records, and both need two wins in their final three games to become bowl eligible.
Tennessee is coming in off a 55-48 win over Troy, while Missouri dropped a 14-7 game at Florida last weekend. The Vols were impressive offensively and horrible defensively against the Sun Belt opponent.
Missouri let a halftime lead slip away, and the Tigers couldn’t score in the second half despite outgaining Florida by 335 to 276 yards in total offense while rolling up 23 first downs to the Gators 11.
The winning team Saturday will be one step closer to landing a bowl bid and the resulting practice time that goes along with it. But a loss will leave the losing team with no margin for error if it hopes to reach the postseason.
“We now are preparing forTennessee,” said Missouri coach Gary Pinkel. “They’re a very good football team, and it’ll be another great stadium to play in like it was last week, another great opportunity for us. They’re a very, very impressive offensive football team; the quarterback is very talented; they’ve got great receivers. They’ve had a few struggles on defense, but we’ve had a few struggles on offense.”
Tennessee has certainly had its share of defensive problems.
“Obviously, there are a lot of issues on defense, a lot of issues,” said Dooley. “The two fair questions are what is the problem and how do you fix it. I think early on in the season, of course, we had a lot of problems with lining up right and getting the assignments so we really tried to simplify it and we’ve done that.
“Now we find ourselves with the same result but we’re probably getting there a different way. Philosophically we are a lot of a matchup-oriented team. Whether we are playing zone; whether we are playing man; whether we are bringing pressure; there a lot of diff
