Truman's Tales
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Making the case for the Missouri Tigers to become bowl eligible

By Patrick McHugh

COLUMBIA, MO - OCTOBER 21: Berry Odom head coach of the Missouri Tigers waits with his team as the prepare to take to the field for a game against the Idaho Vandals at Memorial Stadium on October 21, 2017 in Columbia, Missouri. (Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images)
COLUMBIA, MO - OCTOBER 21: Berry Odom head coach of the Missouri Tigers waits with his team as the prepare to take to the field for a game against the Idaho Vandals at Memorial Stadium on October 21, 2017 in Columbia, Missouri. (Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images) /
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After an easy and convincing win against Idaho, the Missouri Tigers have a daunting task to win their next four-of-five games, to become bowl eligible. The task is an uncertain possibility.

While the homecoming victory was fun to watch and a nice break from all the losses the Tigers have racked up this season, fans now have to worry about the rest of the season and whether the Tigers can go bowling.

With the team sitting on a record of 2-5, it doesn’t look good for head coach Barry Odom’s squad, which will have to win their next four-of-five, if they want to be playing in December.

While that will be difficult, Mizzou’s schedule softens up from here on out. After beating a helpless Idaho, the Tigers face UConn, which shouldn’t be overlooked, but the Tigers easily outmatch them offensively, and as long as they come in 100%, Missouri should walk out with a win.

Missouri Tigers Football
Missouri Tigers Football /

Missouri Tigers Football

The week after that, the Tigers take on Florida at home, in what should be an almost guaranteed loss. The Gators defense is stout, and it seems anytime quarterback Drew Lock faces a strong defense, he collapses under pressure.

After their tilt against Florida, the Tigers will host Tennessee, in the last home game of the season. Missouri then finishes the season on the road at Vanderbilt and Arkansas.

Tennessee is having as bad, if not worse, season than Missouri, and it’ll be a miracle if Vols coach Butch Jones is still the coach by the time they visit Columbia. The Volunteers are a disaster on both sides of the ball and could barely beat UMass this year.

I expect the Tigers offense to overwhelm the Volunteers, in what should be a good win for Mizzou, and the game that finally costs Jones his job.

Vanderbilt and Arkansas will be a tougher test than Tennessee, but even they aren’t good teams by any stretch of the imagination. Both have been blown out in almost all of their SEC games and have won against weak non-conference teams.

Vanderbilt’s defense looked scary in the beginning of the season, as it led the nation in defensive scoring, but after they got killed by Alabama, 59-0, the Commodores haven’t been the same. In fact, they haven’t kept an opponent under 30 points, since.

Now, can Missouri run the table, and become bowl eligible? Probably not, but it certainly is possible. The team’s defense is simply too much of a liability, but the offense will keep the Tigers in the games, and besides Florida, they face weaker teams for the rest of the year. If Missouri continues to play like it did against Idaho and even Kentucky, then the 2017 season may not be the awful disaster it looked like it was going to be.

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