COLUMBIA - The 2016 season did not go as planned for first-year head coach Barry Odom.
Missouri (3-8, 1-6 Southeastern Conference) will finish its season with a losing record for the second straight year and will not play for a bowl. Yet the Tigers can still send their senior class out on a high note at 1:30 p.m. today against Arkansas at Faurot Field.
Sixteen seniors will be recognized today. It is a group who was part of two SEC East division champion teams. The fifth-year redshirt seniors joined the program the same year Missouri joined the SEC. From their trips to Atlanta, to the team's boycott last November and the ensuing retirement of former coach Gary Pinkel, it has been an eventful tenure for the group.
"I'm very thankful for those 16 guys," Odom said. "We don't have the results in the win/loss column as anyone would like on the year and I'm sorry for that and them that they won't be able to experience a bowl game their senior year."
Instead of a bowl game, Missouri finishes with the third annual Battle Line Rivalry game with Arkansas (7-4, 3-4 SEC). The Razorbacks won last season's game 21-3 in Fayetteville, Ark., and is coming off a 58-42 win against Mississippi State last Saturday.
Austin Allen, a junior, starts under center for Arkansas and has gone 203-of-331 for 2,804 passing yards with 22 touchdowns and 10 interceptions this season. Unlike Tennessee quarterback Josh Dobbs, who rushed for 190 yards and two scores against Missouri last week, Allen has not registered a rush all year.
Senior wide receiver Drew Morgan is Allen's top target, catching 55 passes for 610 yards and three touchdowns. Fellow senior wide receiver Keon Hatcher has 35 catches for 532 yards and seven touchdowns.
Sophomore running back Rawleigh Williams is the SEC's leading rusher with 1,209 yards and 11 touchdowns. Freshman Devwah Whaley has 547 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Senior Kody Walker (Jefferson City High School) had 110 yards and a score before his season ended with an injury.
Missouri has given up 2,639 rushing yards this season, the most in the SEC and 12th most nationally. Defensive coordinator DeMontie Cross expects Arkansas to give Missouri a heavy dose if its ground game.
"I wouldn't doubt if those guys come in here and try to run 70 times," Cross said. "You're playing a defense that's struggling to stop the run and a really good offensive line and two really good running backs. If they're doing anything other than running the ball they're playing into our hands, in my opinion.
"So we've got to find a way to load the box up, be physical at the point of attack and tackle well. These running backs are really, really good running backs. We've got a two-headed monster back there but we've only got to deal with one at a time."
Freshman defensive tackle and Arkansas native Markell Utsey was ruled out for this game. Missouri already lost sophomore defensive tackle Terry Beckner Jr. for the season. That leaves A.J. Logan, Ricky Hatley and Josh Augusta as the three rotational defensive tackles, which could be a concern for Cross.
"Really thin," Cross said of the group. "It's hard to play three guys against a running-style offense. We got our four-defensive end front, but we're not going to use that against these guys at all.
"We've got to figure out if we can have our three-man rotation. Cut down some reps, three-and-outs and manageable drives where they don't have long drives helps that. If not, we've got the opportunity to play a Josh Moore."
Defensively, the Razorbacks are 49th in yards allowed. Missouri had a school-record 740 yards and 41 first downs against Tennessee. Still, turnovers and drops hampered the Tigers offense at times and they could not take control of the game because of the mistakes.
Worse yet, the Tigers will be without freshman running back Damarea Crockett, who had 220 rushing yards last week, after Crockett was arrested and then suspended a game for his early Sunday morning arrest for marijuana possession. Crockett finishes the season with a Missouri freshman-record of 1,062 rushing yards with 11 touchdowns.
With Crockett out, junior Ish Witter will start at running back and freshman Nate Strong will be the backup. Strong has 85 yards on 15 rushes, while Witter has 738 yards and six touchdowns this season. Witter had 163 rushing yards and two touchdowns against the Volunteers.
"Just knowing the confidence in Ish he has in himself, he'll be ready to step up and carry the workload," redshirt sophomore guard Kevin Pendleton said. "If it's more, if it means just another guy is going to step up to be in the rotation whatever it is he's ready to do it."
Junior wide receiver J'Mon Moore will attempt to be Missouri's first 1,000-yard receiver since Bud Sasser in 2014. Moore has 877 yards on 56 catches, but has admitted he needs to be more consistent with not dropping the football.
Redshirt junior defensive end Charles Harris will not participate in Senior Day festivities, even though Odom invited him to with Harris possibly declaring for the NFL Draft after the season. Harris said he likely won't make a final decision until after his finals are finished, with not wanting to leave his teammates being a big reason for why he might stay.
After the game, Missouri's seniors will continue the tradition of grabbing a rock from the stadium's Rock M. Sophomore quarterback Drew Lock joked it would be one of his biggest honors to carry senior tight end Sean Culken's rock for him. Redshirt senior Ricky Hatley, meanwhile, already knows what he wants to do after the game.
"I'm trying to look for the biggest boulder I can carry off the field," Hatley said with a laugh. "It's a door-stop."