The Missouri Tigers travel to Athens Saturday for an SEC showdown with the No. 6 Georgia Bulldogs and control of the Eastern Division on the line.
Though the Tigers are ineligible for postseason play, they are appealing their one-year ban, which should have a result soon. If Missouri is able to pull out an upset on Saturday, the Tigers could play in Atlanta, with a reversal from the NCAA.
However, this game will have high stakes for the Bulldogs regardless, who cannot lose again for the rest of the season.
We don’t see Georgia dropping the matchup Saturday, but it could be a close game, if the good Missouri team shows up and not the bad one.
(More on that below).
Coming off a bye week with a rested Kelly Bryant, a determined Tigers team will take the field in Sanford Stadium on Saturday.
Without further ado, let’s get into our five reasons why Missouri could beat the Dawgs.
1. Kelly Bryant
Kelly Bryant, the former Clemson starter, helped lead Dabo Swinney and the ACC Tigers to the College Football Playoff in 2017, going 12-2 on the season.
However, after the impressive debut of Trevor Lawrence, Bryant opted to forgo the rest of his senior season and transfer to Missouri, with a year of eligibility remaining.
Though he is not a Heisman front-runner like Justin Fields, Joe Burrow or Tua Tagovailoa, Bryant still possesses plenty of talent, and has the ability to light it up on offense.
The graduate transfer averages 8.0 yards per pass this season, in comparison to 7.0 per attempt during his 2017 campaign with Clemson, though his completion percentage is slightly lower.
We don’t expect Bryant to torch the Bulldogs, but he can certainly have a big game, as he mentioned back at SEC Media Days this Summer.
The dual-threat out of Piedmont, South Carolina ranks 4th on Missouri’s 2019 rushing list, with 205 yards and can easily make a battle-tested Georgia defense wear out, after a tough game against Florida.
2. Missouri’s Passing Game
Don’t believe us, well, just check the stats. Missouri ranks 57th in the nation in passing touchdowns, as opposed to Georgia’s 64th.
At 1.75 passing touchdowns per game, the Tigers are slightly ahead of Georgia, though they have had a much easier schedule to date.
We don’t see Missouri winning this football game, but if it can establish the passing game the way it did in 2017 against the Bulldogs, it might be able to hang around in this one longer than expected.
(See Drew Lock first half highlights vs. Georgia 2017)
The Georgia defense has been solid all season long, but did give up a few big plays against Murray State, Tennessee and South Carolina through the air.
Luckily Lock is off to the NFL, but the Bulldog defense will still have to keep its eyes open downfield Saturday night.
3. Missouri’s Passing Defense
The Tigers may not be the most consistent team in the country or the prettiest on defense, but they have been very good at shutting down the passing game this season.
Despite ranking 37th in the country for opposing rushing yards per attempt, Missouri is 3rd in passing yards per attempt, compared to Georgia’s 10th overall ranking.
We expect the run-game to be the Bulldogs’ biggest strength on Saturday, with the Tigers ranking 9th in the nation in opposing passing touchdowns at 0.88 per game, but don’t count Missouri out.
If the Tigers are able to stop the run, they could have the recipe to keep it close on Saturday or even pull out a win, like South Carolina did on October 12th.
4. It’s A ‘Trap Game’
We know, Georgia already suffered a hiccup to the Gamecocks a month ago in an under the radar noon game, but this contest could have the makings of another trap if the Dawgs are not careful.
After such a disappointing loss last month, we fully expect Georgia to come out strong from the start, but don’t be shocked if Missouri hangs around a bit.
The Bulldogs are in the middle of a sandwich, where No. 11 Florida and No. 12 Auburn bookend this week’s game, which cannot be overlooked at all.
However, it would not surprise us in the slightest if Missouri were able to take advantage of a Georgia team looking ahead to next week.
5. Coming Off A Bye, Missouri Is Due
The Tigers may have fallen early to unranked Wyoming on the road, but they quickly turned things around at 5-1 heading into the Vanderbilt game.
Since then, things have gone downhill, with a shocking loss to the Commodores and a blowout at the hands of Kentucky in Lexington.
After a much-needed bye week, Missouri will look to right the ship on Saturday and what better time to re-ignite a lost season than with an upset of the No. 6 Bulldogs in prime time.
Though the Tigers may not win, they will be playing with nothing to lose, eager to show the nation they are not as bad as they’ve looked the last two games.
We could be wrong, but we think Missouri will give Georgia its best shot on Saturday, after back to back poor showing and two weeks to correct mistakes.
