Missouri will continue its quest for bowl eligibility when it hosts New Mexico State on Saturday night in a non-conference game in Columbia, Mo.

The Tigers (4-6) will try to rebound from last week’s 66-24 loss at No. 5 Tennessee when they play the Aggies (4-5).

A victory would allow Missouri to bid for a 6-6 finish when its faces Arkansas in its regular-season finale next week.

Missouri’s previously strong defense gave up 724 total yards to the Volunteers.

“Obviously, Tennessee is really good and [quarterback] Hendon Hooker and those guys play really well,” Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz said. “But we weren’t ourselves. We missed some tackles. Didn’t cover the way we normally cover.”

Tigers quarterback Brady Cook passed for 217 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 106 yards against the Volunteers. But the offense bogged down in the second half, and the game go out of hand.

Now Missouri is looking to bounce back on Senior Day.

“The best thing we can do right now is look ahead and come back home to Faurot Field and celebrate the seniors who fought through a lot to be here and find a way to stop the momentum from this game and try to carry it on to the next game,” Drinkwitz said. “We can do that.”

The Aggies are riding their first three-game winning streak since 2017. They have consecutive victories over New Mexico (21-9 score), UMass (23-13) and FCS opponent Lamar (51-14) under first-year coach Jerry Kill.

“I feel like it says that we are learning how to win,” Aggies defensive lineman Izaiah Reed told the Las Cruces Sun News. “It’s really easy to play down to the competition, but we have been focusing on it, and coach Kill has been expressing to us that any team on any given Saturday can beat anybody.”

Aggies quarterback Diego Pavia had a solid game against Lamar, completing 13 of 18 passes for 146 yards and two touchdowns and rushing for 81 yards on eight carries.

–Field Level Media