The Tennessee Volunteers will host the Missouri Tigers this Saturday afternoon in the final home game of the season in Knoxville. The Vols will be looking to get back on track this weekend after suffering their first loss of the season to Georgia in Athens last Saturday.
While Missouri won’t come into Neyland Stadium with an overly intimidating record at 4-5, the Tigers have been a little bit of a thorn in the side of SEC competition this season. And, for the most part, that’s because of a stingy defense.
The Tigers don’t necessarily create a whole lot of turnovers, but they do hold down opposing offenses to a degree. Missouri checks in at No. 13 in the country at total defense per game and have played better against quality competition as the season has gone on. Missouri has only given up more than 26 points one time this season, which was Kansas State back in week two.
Missouri only let up 17 points to Auburn in overtime, 26 points to Georgia, 24 points to Florida, 10 points to South Carolina, and 21 points to Kentucky.
Interestingly enough, the two teams sitting above Mizzou in the total defense rankings are Kentucky and Alabama. The Vols put up 96 points against those teams, at home, before playing Georgia. It’s safe to say that even a Top 15 defensive team has a major uphill battle when trying to stop Tennessee.
The Vols come into the game with the No. 1 offense and the No. 2 scoring offense in the country behind the arm and legs of Heisman-contending quarterback Hendon Hooker.
More from RTI: Tennessee Opens As Big Favorites Against Missouri
Here’s a look at how the numbers shake out between both SEC East foes before this Saturday’s game:
Points Per Game
- Tennessee: 45.3
- Missouri: 23.1
Points Allowed Per Game
- Tennessee: 21.7
- Missouri: 21.4
Total Yards
- Tennessee: 527.3 per game
- Missouri: 350.1 per game
Passing Yards
- Tennessee: 335.8 ypg
- Missouri: 203.2 ypg
Rushing Yards
- Tennessee: 187.9 ypg
- Missouri: 146.9 ypg
Turnover Margin
- Tennessee: +8
- Missouri: -5
Red Zone Efficiency (Offensive)
- Tennessee: 93.8 percent
- Missouri: 72.7 percent
Red Zone Efficiency (Defensive)
- Tennessee: 75 percent (opponent success rate)
- Missouri: 87 percent
Total Defense
- Tennessee: 392.9 ypg
- Missouri: 303.7 ypg
Missouri Schedule
- Week 1: Win – vs Louisiana Tech 52-24
- Week 2: Loss – at Kansas State 40-12
- Week 3: Win – vs Abilene Christian 34-17
- Week 4: Loss – at Auburn 17-14 (OT)
- Week 5: Loss – vs No. 1 Georgia 26-22
- Week 6: Loss – at Florida 24-17
- Week 7: BYE
- Week 8: Win – vs Vanderbilt 17-14
- Week 9: Win – at No. 25 South Carolina 23-10
- Week 10: Loss – vs Kentucky 21-17
- Week 11: TBD – at No. 5 Tennessee
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