Tennessee Football has to bounce back against Missouri

The Tennessee football program has struggled against Missouri in recent years, and Jeremy Pruitt could use a win against Mizzou.

When I say Tennessee football has to bounce back against Missouri, I don’t mean that the team needs a bounce-back win for the season, but a bounce-back win against a team it has struggled against in recent history.

Jeremy Pruitt and the Tennessee Volunteers were run off their own field last year when Missouri came to down. The Tigers easily won 50-17, which was one of two losses to close the season for Tennessee.

I think this Tennessee team is much better than last year’s team, and Missouri isn’t near as good, at least offensively, as they were last year.

Pruitt previewed this matchup on Tuesday. He didn’t say anything too crazy and hit all of the coaching talking points, but I don’t think he forgot about what Missouri did to him and his team last year.

He didn’t touch on last year’s game when discussing Missouri, but he did mention his familiarity with Tigers QB Kelly Bryant from his time at Clemson.

"“Offensively, like a lot of teams in this league, the have had to bounce around a couple of quarterbacks due to injury,” Pruitt said. “I’m very familiar with Kelly Bryant, I coached against him when he was at Clemson. The guy is extremely athletic and can extend plays. He has a big arm. When you look at Missouri offensively, they’re really big and strong and physical up front. To me they have two really unique tight ends that can present a lot of issues. They have multiple guys they play at the running back position and they all are plenty capable, and they have plenty of play-makers on the outside.”"

The Vols have a chance to go into Missouri and get a big win for the program. Believe it or not, it’s not always easy winning on the road at Missouri. They’ve made it tough for Tennessee and plenty of other SEC teams as they’re 5-1 at home this season.

Hopefully, the BYE week ahead of this game will benefit the Vols as Missouri had to play a tough game against Florida this past weekend.

"“Our guys are excited to get back into game week,” Pruitt said following Tennessee’s open date in Week 12. “They should be fresh, I know I definitely am, had a good weekend."

I am excited, they’re excited, Pruitt’s excited I think we are all excited to see our Vols back on the field. This season has taken a turn for the better since the Mississippi State game, and these guys should be excited because they went from possible two wins to a max of eight with a bowl win.

Pruitt has things on the right track in Knoxville, and his team should be ready for Missouri. It’s time to go out there and win the games that matter to make it to the postseason.