quote:
Missouri has an established coach, who seems to have changed his philosophy a bit. A weak recruiting class, and a season that hinges on everything.

Tennessee has a new coach, a new philosophy, a slightly better recruiting class, and a season that hinges on the future.

Much better OP!!

Simple answer :
Both will struggle and both need to get to 8 win seasons to survive.

Less simple answer :
Right now the players in the east are South Carolina (with an aging coach and renewed hype for Clemson) + Florida (new coach still not golden fighting with Florida State and Miami off to good seasons) + Georgia (solid coach with dominance of Georgia Tech) in a battle at the top, The other 4 schools are just fighting for space to get to the middle so they can aim for the top.

Tennessee = first year coach inheriting problems
Vanderbilt = newer coach building new thinking
Missouri = older coach adjusting to new environment
Kentucky = first year coach offering promise and recruiting inroads

The 3 on top are in the catbird seats and would have to fall to lose spot. The bottom 4 are all fighting for a niche that gives them and edge over the other 3 so they can separate from the Pack. The big issue is with all the new changes for these 4 teams it makes it much harder to know with a high degree of certainty which of the 4 will spin straw to gold. The Mizzou program has the hottest seat just because they will not have a grace period of 2 or 3 more years to get to 8 wins before they will have change forced on them. Viewed this way :

Mizzou must win now
Tennessee must win a year from now
Vanderbilt must win 8+ games a season
Kentucky has about 3 years to win