As the Missouri Tigers have prepared for Wednesday night’s Texas Bowl in Houston, they haven’t exactly had much good news.

Talented offensive coordinator Josh Heupel and offensive line coach Glen Elarbee left for UCF this month and questions are swirling about whether star quarterback Drew Lock will return for his senior season or declare for the 2018 NFL Draft.

However, that uncertainty aside, the Tigers enter their bowl game in much better shape than their opponent, as perhaps no team has had a worse December than the Texas Longhorns.

Yes, Texas has the nation’s No. 3-ranked 2018 recruiting class after the early signing period, but not much has gone right for the 2017 Longhorns.

Therefore, the Tigers are in a great position to extend their six-game winning streak and end the season on a high note. Still, they can’t overlook their former Big 12 foe, as Texas has plenty of weapons.

Here are five things the Tigers must do to leave Houston with a bowl trophy to add to their collection:

Test the Longhorns’ depth

A whopping 15 Longhorns are out of Wednesday’s game — either injured, suspended or sitting out ahead of the 2018 NFL Draft.

And six additional Texas players are either questionable or probable for the game, according to Sports-Reference.com.

That means the Longhorns will be working with a skeleton crew and Mizzou should take advantage by trying to run as many offensive plays as possible (within reason) to make Texas’s short-handed defense work even harder.

Take advantage of a depleted secondary

Texas, which ranked 108th in pass defense in the FBS, will miss All-American DeShon Elliott and starter Holton Hill against Missouri.

Four of the Longhorns who will miss the game are in the secondary, including stars DeShon Elliott and Holton Hill, who combined for 89 tackles and eight interceptions this season.

That’s terrible news for the Texas defense against Lock, as the Mizzou quarterback led the nation with 43 touchdown passes this season. Lock sometimes throws some questionable passes, but if the Longhorns don’t have any playmakers in the secondary to take advantage of his rare mistakes, it could be a long day.

Stop Sam Ehlinger from running

The Texas quarterback led the team in both passing and rushing this year, but he’s still far from a finished product with his arm.

Therefore, if the much-improved Mizzou defense can make Ehlinger one-dimensional, they’ll have a much better chance to stop him.

This will come down to defensive line play. Star defensive tackle Terry Beckner Jr. must make sure Ehlinger doesn’t have room to step up in the pocket and defensive end Marcell Frazier and others have to keep him contained on the outside.

Keep hitting long passes

Even with all the players absent for various reasons, the Longhorns still have a solid defense. So Mizzou will need to dial up some big plays.

Lock has had success finding wide receiver Emanuel Hall down the right side of the field this year, and he has beaten defenses like Georgia’s with the long ball already in 2017.

Lock will need to pick up some big plays like that against the Longhorns to put the Tigers ahead and keep the pressure on Ehlinger and the Texas offense.

Feed it to the freshman

Redshirt freshman tight end Albert Okwuegbunam has only 25 catches this season, but an impressive 11 of them have gone for touchdowns.

Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Albert O has become one of the best red-zone threats in the nation, and Lock has developed quite the chemistry with the 6-foot-5 target. Since a good portion of Texas’s top defenders will miss Wednesday’s game for various reasons, Albert O should have plenty of room to work near the goal line.