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Five Takeaways from the Tennessee Vols 19-8 Victory Over the Missouri Tigers

By Caleb Calhoun

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Here are five takeaways on the Tennessee Volunteers football team after their 19-8 victory over the Tigers of Mizzou in Columbia on Saturday.

Next: Vols Win on the Road Against Missouri

What was supposed to be the toughest test for the Vols down their November stretch of this season became a relatively easy, boring victory.

Butch Jones’s squad completely controlled Gary Pinkel’s Missouri Tigers en route to an ugly, 19-8 victory.

There was really nothing to complain about in the game from Tennessee’s perspective if you know the type of team you are dealing with in Missouri.

A road game against a team one win away from a bowl game with a coach who is retiring on a campus involved in recent political turmoil was going to be difficult no matter what. All the emotion should have favored the Tigers.

So it was great for Tennessee to cover the spread and get out of there with a win. Here are the things we learned about the Vols in this game.

1. The Offensive Line is Becoming Elite

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After nearly two years of building experience, depth, and talent, Butch Jones finally has the offensive line where he wants it to be. And it showed Saturday night.

Missouri is known for an elite pass rush, a staple of them under Gary Pinkel. And they came away with no sacks on Saturday. Meanwhile, Jalen Hurd had 150 yards on the ground. This is all a testament to the new guys like Chance Hall coming along. This line is set to be one of the best in the SEC next year. But somebody else deserves credit for what happened Saturday, bringing us to our next point.

2. Joshua Dobbs Knows How to Handle a Pass Rush

He only had 89 yards, and if he is strictly throwing from the pocket, he can sometimes miss guys and be a bit erratic, as he showed last week. But when using his wheels, Joshua Dobbs is very good at picking up a pass rush.

Dobbs faced pressure from the outside plenty of times Saturday, but each time he managed to avoid it. And it was his vision that carried him into the end zone for Tennessee’s only touchdown. The junior was clearly saving himself due to being hobbled over the past two weeks, but he opened it up on Saturday, and it worked perfectly.

3. Jalen Reeves-Maybin and Darrin Kirkland Jr. Make Up an Elite Linebacker Duo 

This is almost like the defense’s version of the offensive line for the Vols. Jalen Reeves-Maybin was the veteran star going into the year at outside linebacker, and he has gotten, if at all possible, better.

Meanwhile, Butch Jones and John Jancek had struggled to settle on a middle linebacker to replace A.J. Johnson, but Darrin Kirkland Jr. has settled that debate. Together, this duo could become the best in college football, and both are back next year. They shut down Missouri’s complex spread Saturday with ease, and like the o-line, they get better each week.

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4. The Defensive Line is Only Getting Better

Derek Barnett ended his consecutive games sacks streak. But he still had five tackles, and the Vols still had two sacks on the night, one from Corey Vereen and another from Kahlil McKenzie, who is finally coming along as a freshman.

The Vols held Russell Hansbrough to under 50 yards rushing as well, and they had multiple players on the line step up. The depth of this unit is finally showing, and it bodes well for next year when everybody gets healthy again.

5. Tennessee Gets Mentally Tougher by the Week

It seemed to start after the comeback over the Georgia Bulldogs. But since that week, Butch Jones has had his team staying poised throughout games.

Two weeks ago, they needed that mental toughness to beat the South Carolina Gamecocks in a hard-fought game that never should have been that close. This week, they managed to put away Missouri in what was going to be a crucial test on the road late in the season for them.

The play of the offense in moving the ball and not turning it over and the reliability of the defense to hold the lead, a change from earlier in the year, has really shown that this team now knows how to respond to adversity. This is not the same team that lost to Florida in September.

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