Missouri humbles UT’s defense
KNOXVILLE — Against Charlotte and Kentucky, Tennessee’s defense looked like it had started to turn a corner in terms of execution and results.
Missouri reminded the Volunteers on Saturday that they still have a long way to go.
The Tigers rang up 484 yards, and their offense scored 43 of the points in a 50-17 win over the Vols. The 227 rushing yards that Missouri had were behind only Georgia for the most the Vols have allowed in a game this season; only West Virginia, Auburn and Alabama had more passing yards than the Tigers’ 257.
Only the Crimson Tide had more yards of total offense than Missouri’s 484.
“If you go back and look at the games that we didn’t tackle the best, it’s probably who we’re playing against,” Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt said. “I’ve said all along, Missouri was 6-4 and they’ve had two games that they would have liked to have back. And they played Alabama and Georgia as close as anybody in our league.
“They have a good football team. They have a good quarterback. They’re big up front, have good tight ends, good runners, play well on defense — they do a good job. We didn’t execute well enough today to give ourselves a chance to win. We needed to execute at a high level. We couldn’t turn the ball over (and) we did, and didn’t get but one turnover.
“We left some plays out there on both sides of the ball. I think maybe the speed that we’ve played with offensively probably affected our guys defensively a bit, whether it was fatigue, poise, adjustments or making calls, because we haven’t really played anyone that goes fast in a while.”
It was the pace that ultimately led to the lack of execution of the Vols’ defense. They were able to hold up early, limiting Missouri to a pair of first-quarter field goals and holding a 7-6 lead in the second quarter. But while the Vols offense struggled, the Tigers started putting plays together. They averaged 5.7 yards on 21 first-quarter plays, followed by 6.2 yards on 24 second-quarter plays. The fatigue really started to show statistically in the third quarter, when Missouri gained 153 yards on 17 plays, averaging 9 yards per play, with missed tackles leading to big gains.
By then Missouri had stretched what was once a 13-10 lead to 40-17 after three quarters with the Tigers driving.
“It was very frustrating, especially when I miss a tackle in the open field,” defensive back Micah Abernathy said. “I’m hard on myself and we’re all hard on ourselves, but like we say, you have to get over it and get on to the next play and keep playing the game.”
The defense that allowed a combined 169 rushing yards and an average of 254.5 yards per game took a hit Saturday night. For the Vols’ season to continue beyond this week’s game at Vanderbilt — a must-win for bowl chances — they’ll have to be more like the unit that stepped on the field the two weeks prior than the unit that played against the Tigers.
“Our goal was to be undefeated in November, and we did not do that,” defensive lineman Kyle Phillips said. “We just have to make the most out of our opportunities. We have one more opportunity, and we have to take advantage of it. This week we have to start over and watch the film, see the mistakes we made so we can correct it, so it won’t happen again next Saturday.
“For me, I just have to do a better job getting my teammates right again so we can perform at our best.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress. com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.