@MizzouFootball Looks for Third Consecutive Win as it Heads to Rocky Top

Tigers In Search of Third Straight Win Saturday on Rocky Top
OPPONENT	LOCATION	DAY	TIME (CT)	WATCH	STATS
at Tennessee	Knoxville, Tenn.	Saturday, Nov. 17	2:30 PM	CBS	Stats

#ShowMe Mizzou Game Notes

The Matchup

Mizzou Football (6-4, 2-4 SEC) will play it final road game of the season Saturday at Tennessee (5-5, 2-4 SEC), looking to earn a third-straight win and fourth in five games. Tennessee, fresh off of a 24-7 win over No. 11 Kentucky, is in search of bowl eligibility this weekend.

ALL-TIME SERIES WITH TENNESSEE

Mizzou leads the all-time series with Tennessee, 4-2, with all six meetings coming since Mizzou joined the SEC in 2012. Mizzou won the initial meeting in a wild, 51-48 win in four overtimes at Neyland Stadium. Mizzou won the first three meetings between the two SEC East rivals, including wins in 2013 and 2014 as the Tigers claimed back-to-back SEC East championships. Tennessee won two straight in the series from 2015-16, including a 63-37 win in 2016, the last time Mizzou played at Neyland.
Mizzou won last year's meeting in Columbia, 50-17. The Tigers are 2-1 all-time in games played at Neyland Stadium.

RECAPPING LAST TIME OUT

Mizzou Football rallied from down 11 to defeat Vanderbilt, 33-28, last Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium. Mizzou trailed 28-26 going into the fourth quarter, but a huge fourth-and-goal stop from the one-yard-line by Mizzou's defense swung momentum back to the home team. Mizzou then drove 99 yards and scored on its ensuing drive courtesy of a three-yard rush from senior QB Drew Lock to take the lead for good.
Mizzou improved to 6-4 on the year and 2-4 in SEC play and is bowl eligible for the second consecutive season. Mizzou head coach Barry Odom will be just the fourth Mizzou coach ever – joining Dan Devine, Don Faurot and Warren Powers – to take Mizzou to a bowl game in two of his first three seasons.
Lock moved into third place on the SEC's career passing yards list in the win and junior RB Damarea Crockett tallied his third 100-yard game of the season and ninth in his career.

TENNESSEE vs. KENTUCKY

Tennessee played arguably its best game of the season last Saturday at Neyland Stadium as it knocked off No. 11 Kentucky, 24-7. The Vols, who led 17-0 at the half, put 24 points on the scoreboard against a defense ranked eighth nationally with just 15.3 points allowed per contest. They also surrendered their fewest points to an SEC opponent since Oct. 18, 2008, when UT won 34-3 versus Mississippi State.
The triumph was UT's second over a ranked foe this season, following a 30-24 road win over No. 21 Auburn on Oct. 13. The Vols improved to 5-5 overall and 2-4 in the SEC with the win over Kentucky.

ODOM IN ELITE COMPANY AS TIGERS GAIN BOWL ELIGIBILITY

As Mizzou gained bowl eligibility with last Saturday's 33-28 win over Vanderbilt, third-year head coach Barry Odom found himself among some elite company at Mizzou. Odom becomes just the fourth Mizzou head coach ever to earn bowl eligibility two of his first three seasons, and he is the first to do so since Warren Powers took his team bowling in each of his first four seasons from 1978-81. The only other Tiger head coaches to accomplish that feat are Dan Devine and Don Faurot, both of whom are in the College Football Hall of Fame.

A FAMILIAR FEELING FOR DOOLEY

Mizzou first-year offensive coordinator Derek Dooley will make a return to Neyland Stadium this Saturday, playing against the school that he served as the head coach of from 2010-12. Dooley went 15-21 during his time in Knoxville and spent the 2013-17 seasons as the Dallas Cowboys WR coach before coming to Mizzou to run one of the nation's top offenses.

THOSE WHO WIN IN NOVEMBER, WILL BE REMEMBERED

Mizzou's 33-28 win over Vanderbilt last Saturday continued an impressive streak for Mizzou in the month of November. Mizzou is 8-2 in games played in November under third-year head coach Barry Odom. After winning the final game of the 2016 season over Arkansas, all four games in November last year, and the first two games this year, Mizzou is currently riding a seven-game winning streak in the month of November. Since 2013, the year Mizzou won the first of back-to-back SEC East Championships, the Tigers are an incredible 17-5 in games played during November. That 17-5 record includes three perfect 4-0 slates in the month of November (2017, 2014 and 2013). It is no surprise that Mizzou has been bowl eligible in four of those seasons.

TIGERS LOOK FOR RUN GAME SUCCESS AGAIN VS. VOLS

Over the past two seasons, Mizzou has had tremendous success on the ground against Tennessee. In 2016, Mizzou hung 420 rushing yards on the Vols, highlighted by a career-high 225 from then true freshman Damarea Crockett. Last year, Mizzou rushed for an incredible 433 yards, with 155 coming from then true freshman Larry Rountree III. Over the last two seasons, Mizzou has put up 853 yards on the ground (426.5 avg.) against the Vols. The Tigers are averaging 7.1 yards per carry in that span.
Last year, in Mizzou's 50-17 win over the Vols, both Rountree (155 yards on 18 carries, 8.6 avg.) and senior Ish Witter (216 on 24 attempts, 9.0 average) rushed for a career-highs. Two years prior, Crockett led the charge in Tennessee, rushing for 225 on 24 attempts (9.4 avg.) with a score while Witter ran for 163 on 31 attempts.
Mizzou had 4,977 rushing yards combined in 2016 and 2017 and 17 percent of that output came in two games vs. Tennessee.

GROUND GAME THE KEY TO SUCCESS

Speaking of the ground game, while Mizzou's passing attack led by Drew Lock often steals the headlines, it is the Tiger ground game that has been the key to the offensive success this season. Over the last two games vs. Florida and Vanderbilt, Mizzou has rushed for 474 yards (237.0 avg.) on 91 attempts (5.2 per carry). Mizzou has scored four TDs on the ground in that span as well.
Only Kentucky and Alabama have been able to slow Mizzou's ground attack this season and of course, Mizzou is 0-2 in those games. In the other eight games, Mizzou is 6-2 and has 1,805 rushing yards in those games (225.6 per game). In those games, Mizzou is averaging 5.2 yards per carry. Last Saturday vs. Vandy, Mizzou's offense was perfectly balanced with 253 rushing yards and 253 passing yards, a point of emphasis for second-year OC Derek Dooley.

LOCK LIVES AMONG SEC'S GREATNESS

Mizzou senior QB Drew Lock's three TD passes at Florida moved him into sole possession of third place all-time among SEC quarterbacks and he now has 92 career passing TDs after throwing two more vs. Vanderbilt last Saturday. At Florida two weeks ago, he passed Florida's Tim Tebow (2006-09) and Chris Leak (2003-06), who both had 88 in their careers, and Tennessee' Peyton Manning, who had 89. Lock has some work to do to catch the next QB on the list - Florida's Danny Wuerffel, so it is likely that Lock will finish his storied Mizzou career with the third-most TD passes in SEC history. Below is a list:

Rank	TD Passes	Quarterback	School	Year
1.	121	Aaron Murray	Georgia	2010-13
2.	114	Danny Wuerrffel	Florida	1993-96
3.	92	Drew Lock	Mizzou	2015-18
4.	89	Peyton Manning	Tennessee	1994-97
5.	88	Chris Leak	Florida	2003-06
	88	Tim Tebow	Florida	2006-09

Additionally, Lock now has 11,342 career passing yards, making him just the 67th quarterback in college football history to surpass 11,000 career yards. Only seven SEC quarterbacks have ever thrown for more than 11,000 yards in a career and before Lock, the last to do so was Georgia's Aaron Murray in 2013. Lock is now third in career passing yards on the SEC's all-time list. Last week,with his 253-yard outing against Vanderbilt, he moved past Georgia's Eric Zeier, Tennessee's Peyton Manning and Florida's Chris Leak. He needs 187 yards this Saturday to move past Georgia's David Greene for second place. The complete list is below:

Rank	Yards	Quarterback	School	Years
1.	13,166	Aaron Murray	Georgia	2010-13
2.	11,528	David Greene	Georgia	2001-04
3.	11,342	Drew Lock	Mizzou	2015-18
4.	11,213	Chris Leak	Florida	2003-06
5.	11,201	Peyton Manning	Tennessee	1994-97
6.	11,153	Eric Zeier	Georgia	1991-94
7.	11,342	Drew Lock	Mizzou	2015-18
8.	10,875	Danny Wuerffel	Florida	1993-96
9.	10,345	Jared Lorenzen	Kentucky	2000-03
10.	10,119	Eli Manning	Ole Miss	2000-03

Among active FBS quarterbacks, Lock is third with his 11,342 career passing yards. Only Boise State's Brett Rypien (12,924) and Washington's Jake Browning (11,347) rank ahead of Lock.
Lock is just the second Mizzou QB to throw for more than 11,000 yards, trailing only 2007 Heisman finalist Chase Daniel, who holds the school record of 12,515 from 2005-09. That, by the way, ranks 26th in FBS history.
Lock now has 31 career games with 200+ passing yards, second in school history.
Lock has thrown for 200+ yards in 26 of his last 29 games. He had a streak of 15 straight games doing so snapped at No. 1 Alabama.
With 350 yards vs. Memphis, Lock now has 12 career 300-yard games, second in school history behind only Daniel (20).
Lock registered his 11th career game with four or more TDs vs. Memphis - he has nine such games among his last 13.
Lock now has 49 career TD passes of 20+ yards, the most in school history.

DEFENSE EXCELLING IN CRUCIAL SITUATIONS

Mizzou's defense might not have eye-popping season numbers to tout, but if you've paid attention to the details during the course of the year, you'd see just how the Tiger defenders have been above average in a couple of critical categories: sudden-change and fourth downs.
This past Saturday, Vanderbilt had some success against Mizzou's defense, but the Tigers bowed up in three important situations that played a crucial role in MU's 33-28 comeback win. Vandy notched a pair of tipped-ball interceptions deep inside Mizzou territory, taking over at the Tiger 30-yardline in the first quarter, and then later at the MU 35-yard line late in the fourth quarter – but it came away with zero points in both situations. The Tigers allowed just seven yards on three plays in the first sequence, and forced a 41-yard field goal attempt, which was no good. In the fourth quarter, clinging to a 33-28 lead with 5:38 remaining, the Tiger defense forced three incomplete passes sandwiched around a rush for one yard to get the ball back to the offense.
Perhaps the biggest play of the game Saturday, though, came on a huge fourth-down stop on the goal line. On the first play of the fourth quarter, Vandy had a fourth-and-goal from the Tiger one-yard line, looking to stretch out its 28-26 lead into a two-score edge. But Vandy RB Ke'Shawn Vaughn was stuffed in the middle for no gain, thanks to great push up the middle by DT Jordan Elliott and DE Akial Byers. That stop gave the ball back to MU's offense, and it reciprocated by driving 99 yards the other way in 14 plays to score what proved to be the game-winning touchdown.
For the season, Mizzou's defense has been outstanding on fourth down, allowing opponents to convert only 6-of-20 times – a success rate of 30.0 percent which ranks sixth-best nationally (third-best among Power 5 programs). The Tigers made three 4th-and-1 stops three weeks ago against Kentucky as the Tigers nearly pulled the upset over the Wildcats.

CROCKETT HEATING UP

Mizzou junior RB Damarea Crockett, a former 1,000-yard rusher as a true freshman, is enjoying his best stretch of his junior season. Over the last two games, Crockett has 236 yards on the ground on 43 carries (5.5 avg.) with two scores while adding an 11-yard TD grab in that span.
Crockett has rushing TDs in the last four games and has five total TDs in that span.
The production for Crockett comes after a tough loss to Kentucky, after which he and Coach Barry Odom sat down and had a conversation about what Crockett needed to do to help the team. Odom's response to Crockett: we need you to lead. And lead, he has done.
The Kentucky game capped a personal streak where Crockett's production was below what he expects from himself, totaling just 110 yards on 31 carries (3.5 average) over games against Alabama, Memphis and Kentucky. Since being asked to lead the team by Coach Odom, Crockett has been one of the SEC's top running backs, posting his 236 yards over the last two games. Mizzou's rushing offense has 474 yards over the last two games, including 253 last week vs. Vanderbilt and Crockett's contributions have obviously been a key cog in Mizzou's offense becoming more balanced in that span.

TIGERS STRONG ON KEY DOWN

Heading into Saturday's game at Tennessee, Mizzou is among the nation's best teams on third down, both offensively and defensively. Mizzou is 20th nationally, converting 72-of-158 third downs this season (45.6 percent). On the flip side, Mizzou has allowed its opponents to convert just 49-of-144 third downs (34.0 percent), which ranks 32nd nationally.
Mizzou is one of just 12 teams nationally to rank in the top-32 nationally in both third down offense and defense and one of just three SEC teams to make that claim - the others are Alabama and Georgia which will play for the SEC title in December.
Of the 11 teams that Mizzou finds itself on this common ground with, nine are ranked in this week's AP poll while the other two - Army and Fresno State - are receiving votes as Mizzou finds itself in elite company. The average rank of the 11 teams ranked or receiving votes on the list is 12th nationally (Army is 26th while Fresno is 28th when looking at votes received).
Mizzou is coming off of a strong performance on third down last week vs. Vandy. Mizzou converted 9-of-15 (60 percent) while limiting Vandy to 6-of-14 (43 percent) and just 1-for-3 on fourth down (41 percent combined).

BALANCED OFFENSE

As mentioned earlier in the notes, Mizzou's offense was incredibly balanced in its 33-28 win over Vanderbilt last Saturday. With 253 yards passing and 253 rushing, it marked just the ninth time in program history that Mizzou had at least 250 yards on the ground and through the air in a conference game and just the third time since joining the SEC. Two of the three occurrences in an SEC game have come under Coach Odom. Below is a breakdown:

Year	Opponent	Rush	Pass	Total	Result
2018	Vanderbilt	253	253	506	W, 33-28
2016	at Tennessee	420	320	740	L, 63-37
2014	at Texas A&M	335	252	587	W, 34-27
2011	Iowa State	294	289	583	W, 52-17
2009	vs. Kansas	250	303	553	W, 41-39
1997	Texas	252	266	518	W, 37-29
1984	at Kansas State	355	259	614	W, 61-21
1976	Iowa State	250	269	519	L, 21-17
1969	at Kansas	344	307	651	W, 69-21

DON'T CALL IT A COMEBACK

Mizzou's win Saturday marked the third time in head coach Barry Odom's career that the Tigers rallied from down double-digits to earn a win. Mizzou now has 21 wins in program history where it has rallied to overcome an 11-point deficit (or more) and Coach Odom has three of those such wins. Below is a look:

Deficit	Year	Opponent	Largest Deficit	Final
17	2016	Arkansas	24-7, third quarter	W, 28-24
14	2017	Arkansas	21-7 (second) & 28-14 (third)	W, 48-45
11	2018	Vanderbilt	21-10, second quarter	W, 33-28

GARRETT IS ONE OF SEC's BEST AT LB

Mizzou junior captain LB Cale Garrett is coming off a strong performance again last Saturday vs. Vanderbilt. He tallied five tackles and a sack, which unfortunately snapped a four-game streak in which he had at least 10+ tackles in every game. Still, he was the team's field general last week and was again very disruptive.
On the year, Garrett is now sixth in the SEC with his 86 total tackles while his 55 solo tackles lead the league.
Over his last four games, he has 55 tackles with 32 of those being of the solo variety.

WELCOME BACK, E-MAN!

It may not be fair to put the burden of success of the entire offense on one guy, but senior WR Emanuel Hall might be one of the more valuable players in the country. When healthy, he's undoubtedly one of the nation's top receivers, and most dangerous deep threats. Unfortunately for Mizzou, E-Man has missed a lot of action with an injured groin, and his absence affected the Tiger offense dearly, as the numbers show below.
Hall began the season healthy, playing in the first three games, but he injured the groin the week of Mizzou's game at Purdue, and while he played early in that game, he missed the vast majority of the second half. He also started the next week against Georgia, but was nowhere near himself, and didn't catch a pass on the day. Hall returned to action at Florida (Nov. 3), and his impact was noticeable, as he not only caught four passes for 77 yards and a touchdown, but his presence opened things up for other Tiger receivers as well as the running game as MU put up 38 points and 471 yards of offense in its 38-17 win – both season highs against Florida's vaunted defense. He caught three passes for 22 yards last week vs. Vandy and was targeted multiple times with the deep ball as he continually ran by defenders.
For purposes of this analysis, the Georgia game is included in the five-game stretch where Hall wasn't healthy.

Category	With Hall (5 games)	Injured Hall (5 games)
Record	5-0	1-4
Pass TDs/INTs	16-to-3	5-to-5
Pass Yards/Gm	334.0	221.0
Pass Efficiency	168.7	113.21
Total Offense	548.8	398.0
20-yard TD Pass/TDs	26/6	15/5
# of Tigers w/ TD catch	7	2
Third Down Conversions	55.9%	33.8%

MIZZOU RATES HIGHLY IN FPI

Mizzou is 16th in the latest ESPN Football Power Index, with wins over FPI No. 22 Florida, No. 35 Purdue, and losses to FPI No. 1 Alabama, No. 3 Georgia, No. 38 Kentucky and No. 29 South Carolina.
The FPI has a "Win Out Pecentage" ranking for each team, and it has Mizzou at a 61.8 percent probability to win the rest of its games. Among Power 5 teams, that's the ninth-highest percentage, trailing only Kentucky (75.6), Florida (73.4), Mississippi State (67.4) and Alabama (63.5) among SEC teams.
FPI's offensive efficiency rankings has Mizzou 21st (72.1 rating), 28th in defense (69.7) and 16th overall (74.3).
Mizzou is now 23rd in the SB Nation S&P rankings.
Mizzou is now 20th in the Sagarin rankings and Sagarin has Mizzou's strength of schedule at No. 12 nationally.
It's worth noting that Mizzou is 6-4 against the nation's 12th-toughest schedule, with two last-play losses, several tough breaks in those games, all while doing so without its top receiver (who is vital for Mizzou's offense) for half of the season.

DOMINANT DTs

A key reason for Mizzou's success in stopping the run - Mizzou is allowing just 3.5 yards per attempt over its last 17 games - has been the production of a loaded group at the defensive tackle position. Led by senior captain Terry Beckner, Jr., Mizzou's coaching staff has been thrilled with the play of that position this season.
On the year, the group - comprised of Beckner, seniors Walter Palmore and Rashad Brandon, and sophomores Jordan Elliott and Kobie Whiteside - has combined for 74 tackles, 18.5 of which have been tackles for loss. The DT group also has 4.0 sacks and eight QB hurries with a fumble recovery.
Beckner leads the group with his 24 tackles and team-high 8.5 tackles for loss as he turned down a chance to pursue the NFL to return to Mizzou for his senior season.
Last week vs. Vanderbilt, Beckner and Palmore posted seven combined tackles with a sack and Elliott came up with one of the game's biggest plays, teaming with DE Akial Byers to stuff Vandy RB Ke'Shawn Vaughn at the goal line on a fourth-and-one stop on the first play of the fourth quarter.

PASS DEFENSE IMPROVING

Mizzou's defense has been slowly improving all season, and a key component to that improvement has been the shoring up of the back end. Mizzou has allowed just 60 points over the last three games - two of those three games came against top-15 teams nationally.
Since both CB Christian Holmes and S Tyree Gillespie took over starting roles in the Mizzou secondary, Mizzou's pass defense has been slowly improving. Over the first six games, Mizzou was allowing 300.7 yards per game through the air with 13 passing TDs against them. QBs were averaging an incredible 9.0 yards per attempt against Mizzou in that span. But over the last four games, Mizzou has seemed to reverse that trend, allowing just 240.3 yards per game through the air. The opposing QBs are averaging just 6.3 yards per attempt in that span and have thrown for just seven TDs.
Combine Mizzou's improving pass defense with an already dominant run defense, and things are trending in the right direction for DC Ryan Walters' defensive unit.

PASS DEFENSE IMPROVING

Mizzou's defense has been slowly improving all season, and a key component to that improvement has been the shoring up of the back end. Mizzou has allowed just 32 points over the last two games - both against top-15 teams nationally - and is coming off of a very good defensive outing against Florida, limiting the Gators to just 17 points, their third-lowest output of the season.
Mizzou allowed just 210 yards passing to the Gators, continuing a trend of recent good play against the pass. Since both CB Christian Holmes and S Tyree Gillespie took over starting roles in the Mizzou secondary, Mizzou's pass defense has been slowly improving. Over the first six games, Mizzou was allowing 300.7 yards per game through the air with 13 passing TDs against them. QBs were averaging an incredible 9.0 yards per attempt against Mizzou in that span. But over the last three games, Mizzou has seemed to reverse that trend, allowing just 237.3 yards per game through the air. The opposing QBs are averaging just 6.1 yards per attempt in that span and have thrown for just four TDs.
Combine Mizzou's improving pass defense with an already dominant run defense, and things are trending in the right direction for DC Ryan Walters' defensive unit.

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@MizzouFootball Looks for Third Consecutive Win as it Heads to Rocky Top

#ShowMe Mizzou Game Notes

The Matchup

ALL-TIME SERIES WITH TENNESSEE

RECAPPING LAST TIME OUT

TENNESSEE vs. KENTUCKY

ODOM IN ELITE COMPANY AS TIGERS GAIN BOWL ELIGIBILITY

A FAMILIAR FEELING FOR DOOLEY

THOSE WHO WIN IN NOVEMBER, WILL BE REMEMBERED

TIGERS LOOK FOR RUN GAME SUCCESS AGAIN VS. VOLS

GROUND GAME THE KEY TO SUCCESS

LOCK LIVES AMONG SEC'S GREATNESS

DEFENSE EXCELLING IN CRUCIAL SITUATIONS

CROCKETT HEATING UP

TIGERS STRONG ON KEY DOWN

BALANCED OFFENSE

DON'T CALL IT A COMEBACK

GARRETT IS ONE OF SEC's BEST AT LB

WELCOME BACK, E-MAN!

MIZZOU RATES HIGHLY IN FPI

DOMINANT DTs

PASS DEFENSE IMPROVING

PASS DEFENSE IMPROVING

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Terry Beckner, Jr.

Rashad Brandon

Akial Byers

Damarea Crockett

Jordan Elliott

Cale Garrett

Tyree Gillespie

Emanuel Hall

Christian Holmes

Drew Lock

Walter Palmore

Larry Rountree III

Kobie Whiteside

Ish Witter

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