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Notebook: Turnaround nearly complete

Four straight dominating wins has Mizzou on the cusp of bowl eligibility. It would be the Tigers first bowl trip since the 2014 when they closed the season out with a win over Minnesota in the Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl.

It's a development that seemed extremely unlikely after a 1-4 September and two loses to start October. Since the Tigers' 58-23 loss at Georgia there has been a complete reversal to this season. Mizzou has outscored Idaho, Connecticut, Florida and Tennessee by a 149 points combined.

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Now Mizzou is 5-5 with road games at Vanderbilt and Arkansas left to close out the season. The one game at a time mantra has been fully embraced by Barry Odom, but there is no doubt that the players are excited about the opportunity to play game number 13.

"I'm personally thinking we're going to make a bowl. Everyday that we go out there I work to make it to a bowl. I want to do it for the seniors and I want to do it for myself because I haven't experienced it. I think we're getting really confident off that and I think we're really motivated. We're one game away with two games left," explained junior Emanuel Hall.

If Mizzou can complete the November sweep, the Tigers will have won six games in a row to close out the season for the third time since 2007. Before 2007 Missouri hadn't closed out a regular season with six wins since 1941. Odom would join Don Faurot and Gary Pinkel as the only coaches to accomplish the feat at Mizzou.

Big play defense

The Tiger defense had their best effort of the season tonight. Missouri recorded nine tackles-for-loss and five sacks in the game. They also intercepted two passes and recovered two fumbles. The four takeaways were the most by Mizzou this season.

In his final home game, senior Anthony Sherrils was again in the middle of the action. For the second straight game the Kansas City native had a fumble recovery and an interception. He also added a forced fumble and was tied for the team lead with six tackles.

"It's really nothing different," Sherrils said about the teams defensive improvement. "We're just gaining that chemistry that we need to make those plays. When guys are getting pressure on the quarterback it's easy to get interceptions. Get tipped balls. To make the quarterback make bad reads."

Garrett just doing his job

In only his second season at Missouri, and his first season as a full-time starter, Cale Garrett has emerged as a leader on defense. On the season the Kearney, Mo. native has 73 tackles, six tackles-for-loss, two sacks, a fumble recovery and two interceptions.

As the starting middle linebacker, Garrett makes reads, calls out plays and assists teammates with positioning. Despite all that he still doesn't consider himself the leader of the defense.

"I do what I can, but I wouldn't say I'm the leader or anything like that," Garrett explained. "There are multiple leaders. There are so many guys on the team that step up when they need to for sure. Everybody has done a good job of stepping up when they need to."

Record watch

Junior Drew Lock entered the Tigers game against Tennessee ranked number three all-time at Mizzou in career passing yards (7,526) and number two in career passing touchdowns (58). He finished the game with 217 yards, 4 touchdowns and an interception on 13-28 passing. While solid numbers, they didn't move Lock up for either record.

Senior J'Mon Moore entered the game number four all-time in career receiving touchdowns (19), number seven all-time in career receiving yards (2,135) and tied for number 11 all-time in career receptions (137). He finished the game with 3 receptions for 39 yards and 1 touchdown. Moore moved up one spot to number six all-time in career receiving yards.

Senior Ish Witter entered the game with 1,873 career rushing yards. After gaining 216 yards against the Volunteers, Witter is now number thirteen all-time with 2,089 career rushing yards. The Florida native needs 256 yards to finish his career in the top-ten all-time in career rushing yards at Missouri.

Senior Marcell Frazier entered the game tied for number twenty all-time in career sacks (13). He recorded two sacks against Tennessee and is now number eighteen all-time.

Tigers earn biggest win in SEC game

Mizzou's 33 point win over Tennessee is their biggest margin of victory in an SEC game. The previous largest margin of victory was a 31 point win over Kentucky in 2013.

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