Missouri-Tennessee football: Game info, predictions

Missouri goes into Neyland Stadium on Satruday for a matinee match-up with a plucky-yet-erratic Tennessee team — a Tennessee team that steamrolled a ranked Kentucky team 24-7 last week.

Missouri has been up-and-down itself this season; that includes the last two weeks, although the Tigers won both games.

Tennessee is looking for bowl eligibility, surely not wanting to leave it up to the season finale against Vanderbilt, which has won the last two in the rivalry and four of the last six.

Here’s what fans need to know to watch the Missouri-Tennessee game on Saturday.

Missouri-Tennessee football: Time, TV channel

Time: 2:30 p.m. CT

Date: Sat., Nov. 17, 2018

Location: Neyland Stadium; Knoxville, Tenn.

TV: CBS

Missouri-Tennessee football: Live stream

The Missouri-Tennessee football game can be streamed online at CBSSports.com, with a valid cable/satellite log-in. Fans can also watch the game at that link from the All-22 camera, getting a birds-eye view of the action.

Missouri-Tennessee football: Betting odds, preview, prediction

As of Friday evening, Missouri is a 6 1/2-point favorite over Tennessee, according to VegasInsider.com. The total points (over/under) is 57.

Pete Scantlebury: I think Missouri wins and covers. Tennessee’s defense has been good; its offense has not. But Missouri’s offense is rounding into form, and Emanuel Hall is another week healthier and coming off a down game. I think that bodes well for Missouri. I think Hall goes over 100, I think Tre Williams has two sacks and Missouri wins this one, 31-20.

Ryan Herrera: 33-17, Missouri. On offense, as is the case every week, Drew Lock needs to have an efficient performance. I don’t think it will take a career game from Lock to knock off Tennessee, but he has to complete his passes and avoid interceptions for this offense to go anywhere. Defensively, Terry Beckner Jr. has to keep leading that rush defense. We saw the Volunteers rely heavily on their backfield in the win over Kentucky, but again, winning the ground game is something the Tigers have proven to be capable of. If Beckner continues to take charge of that unit, I’m expecting a good day for Missouri in Knoxville.

Josh Matejka: It’s hard to pick a game like this as both teams have the potential to come out firing, flat or any combination of the two. I do think Missouri is the better team overall, but that doesn’t particularly matter when it comes to playing November road games in the SEC (unless you’re Alabama.)

Ultimately, I think the game rides on — who else? — Drew Lock. Tennessee has played three quarterbacks at or above Lock’s level this year, was torched by two (Will Grier, Tua Tagovailoa) and the other (Jake Fromm) never really needed to have his best game in a blowout. So if there were a defense vulnerable to his talents, this would be it. On defense, I think it needs to be DeMarkus Acy. He’s been quietly very good this year, and a big game from him would help mitigate some of the damage Guarantano can do. Assuming all that happens... Missouri 34, Tennessee 27.