Missouri-Tennessee college football preview

Tennessee defensive end Derek Barnett sacked Utah State quarterback Chuckie Keeton during their game in August. Amy Smotherman Burgess The Associated Press

When/where: 6:30 p.m. Saturday at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn.

TV/radio: ESPN; KMBZ (980 AM)

The series: Missouri leads 2-0

The line: Tennessee by 3 1/2

MISSOURI (8-2, 5-1 SEC)

Date	Opponent	Result/time
Aug. 30	South Dakota State	W, 38-18
Sept. 6	at Toledo	W, 49-24
Sept. 13	Central Florida	W, 38-10
Sept. 20	Indiana	L, 31-27
Sept. 27	at South Carolina	W, 21-20
Oct. 11	Georgia	L, 34-0
Oct. 18	at Florida	W, 42-13
Oct. 25	Vanderbilt	W, 24-14
Nov. 1	Kentucky	W, 20-10
Nov. 15	at Texas A&M	W, 34-27
Saturday	at Tennessee	6:30 p.m.
Nov. 28	Arkansas	1:30 p.m.

TENNESSEE (5-5, 2-4 SEC)

Date	Opponent	Result/time
Aug. 31	Utah State	W, 38-7
Sept. 6	Arkansas State	W, 34-19
Sept. 13	at Oklahoma	L, 34-10
Sept. 27	at Georgia	L, 35-32
Oct. 4	Florida	L, 10-9
Oct. 11	Tennessee-Chattanooga	W, 45-10
Oct. 18	at Mississippi	L, 34-3
Oct. 25	Alabama	L, 34-20
Nov. 1	at South Carolina	W, 45-42, OT
Nov. 15	Kentucky	W, 50-16
Saturday	Missouri	6:30 p.m.
Nov. 29	at Vanderbilt	3 p.m.

What’s at stake

The SEC Championship Game. Missouri must win at Tennessee to return to the Georgia Dome. The Tigers must beat Arkansas at home on the Friday after Thanksgiving too, but beating the Volunteers is the first step. MU can share a title with one victory, but Georgia owns the head-to-head tiebreaker and would go to Atlanta.

Cheers if …

Missouri’s offense builds off last week’s 587-yard performance, including 199 yards and two touchdowns in 20 carries by junior Russell Hansbrough. The Tigers’ output at Texas A&M was the most against a conference team since joining the SEC, but the work to win the SEC Eastern Division remains unfinished.

Jeers if …

Missouri takes Tennessee lightly. The Volunteers have put up 95 points in the last two games, the most points Tennessee has scored in consecutive conference games since 2003, and they would love to gain bowl eligibility for the first time since 2010 by keeping the Tigers from reaching a second straight SEC title game.

Three things about Tennessee

1 Sophomore quarterback Josh Dobbs struggled last season, throwing two interceptions in a 31-3 loss at Missouri. He’s a dual-threat player, who’s coming into his own since taking over as Tennessee’s starter. Since being inserted against Alabama, Dobbs is 61 of 99 for 790 yards with seven touchdowns and two interceptions along with 53 carries for 289 yards and four touchdowns rushing.

2 The Volunteers will be without senior linebacker A.J. Johnson, who is second in the SEC with 101 tackles. He was suspended Monday along with sophomore cornerback Michael Williams amid a police investigation into an alleged rape last weekend at Johnson’s residence. Junior safety Brian Randolph also is suspended for the first half because of a targeting ejection last week against Kentucky.

3 Tennessee is 46-9 in November at Neyland Stadium since 1990 and 27-2 on Senior Day since 1985.

Key matchup

It could be Missouri’s defensive ends containing Dobbs, but we’ll go with the Tigers’ offensive line against the Vols’ 4-3 front. Defensive end Derek Barnett has Tennessee freshman records for sacks (nine) and tackles for a loss, but junior center Evan Boehm and company are coming off their best game of the season.

MISSOURI OFFENSE

P	No.	Player	Ht.	Wt.	Yr.
WR	21	Bud Sasser	6-2	220	Sr.
WR	88	Jimmie Hunt	6-0	205	Sr.
LT	65	Mitch Morse	6-6	305	Sr.
LG	63	Brad McNulty	6-4	305	Jr.
C	77	Evan Boehm	6-3	320	Jr.
RG	60	Connor McGovern	6-4	300	Jr.
RT	62	Taylor Chappell	6-5	300	Jr.
TE	80	Sean Culkin	6-6	245	So.
WR	8	Darius White	6-3	205	Sr.
QB	7	Maty Mauk	6-0	195	So.
TB	32	Russell Hansbrough	5-9	190	Jr.
K	99	Andrew Baggett	6-1	215	Jr.

MISSOURI DEFENSE

P	No.	Player	Ht.	Wt.	Yr.
DE	33	Markus Golden	6-3	260	Sr.
DT	96	Lucas Vincent	6-2	300	Sr.
NG	90	Harold Brantley	6-3	290	So.
DE	56	Shane Ray	6-3	245	Jr.
LB	10	Kentrell Brothers	6-1	240	Jr.
LB	30	Michael Scherer	6-3	230	So.
LB	25	Donavin Newsom	6-2	230	So.
CB	7	Kenya Dennis	6-0	195	Jr.
SS	9	Braylon Webb	6-0	200	Sr.
FS	21	Ian Simon	6-0	195	Jr.
CB	11	Aarion Penton	5-10	185	So.
P	92	Christian Brinser	6-2	195	Sr.

TENNESSEE OFFENSE

P	No.	Player	Ht.	Wt.	Yr.
WR	8	Marquez North	6-4	221	So.
WR	2	Pig Howard	5-8	187	Jr.
LT	77	Kyler Kerbyson	6-4	312	Jr.
LG	75	Marcus Jackson	6-2	306	Jr.
C	57	Mack Crowder	6-2	295	Jr.
RG	73	Jashon Robertson	6-3	304	Fr.
RT	65	Jacob Gilliam	6-4	297	Sr.
TE	82	Ethan Wolf	6-5	240	Fr.
WR	3	Josh Malone	6-3	204	Fr.
QB	11	Josh Dobbs	6-3	216	So.
RB	1	Jalen Hurd	6-3	227	Fr.
K	25	Aaron Medley	6-2	181	Fr.

TENNESSEE DEFENSE

P	No.	Player	Ht.	Wt.	Yr.
DE	50	Corey Vereen	6-2	253	So.
DT	54	Jordan Williams	6-5	284	Sr.
NT	95	Danny O’Brien	6-2	286	So.
DE	9	Derek Barnett	6-3	267	Fr.
LB	34	Jalen Reeves-Maybin	6-1	230	So.
LB	44	Jakob Johnson	6-4	240	Fr.
LB	56	Curt Maggitt	6-3	251	Jr.
CB	23	Cameron Sutton	6-1	190	So.
SS	6	Todd Kelly, Jr.	6-0	203	Fr.
FS	33	LaDarrell McNeil	6-1	215	Jr.
CB	27	Justin Coleman	5-10	188	Sr.
P	43	Matt Darr	6-1	220	Sr.

Tod Palmer’s pick: Missouri 31-20

Missouri continues grinding out wins and has proved its mettle on the road, owning a nine-game road win streak with seven straight road wins in SEC play. Quarterback Maty Mauk doesn’t have to outplay his counterpart Josh Dobbs, but he must keep avoiding turnovers. Field position will be critical.

Tod Palmer, tpalmer@kcstar.com

This story was originally published November 20, 2014 at 2:25 AM with the headline "Missouri-Tennessee college football preview."