KNOXVILLE - Many times the past 10 seasons, the Tennessee football team has been chasing a number in November.
Three.
That's the number of wins in the final month of the regular season the Volunteers have needed to reach bowl eligibility.
A tough slate in September and October has historically given way to a final stretch considered easier by comparison. When the Vols have won three times in November, they have played in a bowl; when the November wins have numbered two or fewer, the Vols have been more likely to miss out.
The lone exception was 2006, when Tennessee went 2-2 with losses to LSU and Arkansas and wins over Vanderbilt and Kentucky to finish the regular season 8-4. More often than not, though, missing out on three November wins has meant missing out on a bowl.
This season is no different, as the Vols (5-5, 3-3 Southeastern Conference) enter Saturday's 7:30 p.m. EST game at Missouri (5-5, 2-4) with a 2-0 mark this month and needing one win for bowl eligibility.
"Before November started, you know, the coaches have that saying, 'They remember what you do in November,'" senior receiver Marquez Callaway said this week. "So we're trying to do what we can to win, and right now we've got two more teams standing in the way of that, so we're going to take it week by week and try to learn from what we've done in the past so we don't have to do it again in the future.
"I think we're all looking forward to these games. There's a lot to play for. For the seniors this is our last road game, and for everybody it's for trying to make bowl eligibility."
Should the Vols lose to Missouri, a final chance for a sixth win would come next weekend in the home finale against Vanderbilt (2-8, 1-6).
However, winning on the road against the Tigers would be a chance to slay a dragon of sorts. The Vols are 2-5 against them since Missouri joined the SEC prior to the 2012 season, with the past two games lopsided results - 50-17 wins in favor of Missouri in 2017 and 2018. The 2017 loss was followed by the ouster of Butch Jones as head coach a day later.
"Well, yes, it does (bother us)," Callaway said. "We haven't won the past two games against these guys. We lost there and we lost in our home. Now we have an opportunity to go there and do what they did to us.
"Obviously we're not trying to look in the past, but you have to learn from the past to be better in the future, so we're trying to learn from what we made mistakes on so we can get with this game plan and go out there and be victorious."
The Vols enter this meeting riding a hot streak, winners of three straight games and four of their past five. The Tigers are trending in the opposite direction, having lost four straight after five straight wins.
Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt has continued to harp on his belief the Vols have yet to put together their best performance - a point he'll continue to drive home - but there's no doubt the team has improved and moved on from the back-to-back losses to Georgia State and BYU at the start of the schedule that led to national speculation about Pruitt's job security in just his second season in Knoxville.
"If they think that, then they are walking around with blinders on," Pruitt said earlier this week when asked if the players understood they still haven't played their best yet. "I mean, we have showed them lots of ways we can improve offensively, defensively and on special teams. I am pretty sure our guys understand that. I think that is one of the things we have improved on as a football team is just self-awareness. We know our limitations, our strengths, where we are at and where we are not. If you know those things, you can fix things."
To a man, that point has been driven home. And if the Vols can either reach the level Pruitt has fought for or come close to it, they could pick up their second win in Columbia.
And that lately often-elusive third win in November.
"What we don't want to do is become complacent and be happy with where we're at," senior linebacker Daniel Bituli said. "We're still a hungry team. We want to win this next game coming up. Missouri's a great team. Each and every week, every team in the SEC's a good team, and what we can't do is overlook them because of the previous success we've had these previous games. We've just got to come in and win each and every day."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3 or at Facebook.com/VolsUpdate.