Tennessee football fell to 4-6 after a 50-17 loss to the Missouri Tigers. Here are three takeaways from the Volunteers’ loss.
Things continue to get worse for Butch Jones and Tennessee football. The Vols fell to 4-6 on the year and 0-6 in the SEC after an embarrassing blowout loss to the Missouri Tigers in Columbia.
Despite being a program in complete disarray a month ago, Mizzou proved it has more stability than the Vols by moving to 5-5 and 2-4 in the SEC with the real prospect of a bowl game in Barry Odom’s second year. Nobody saw that coming.
In this game, the Vols tied the game at 17 in the second quarter. They wouldn’t score again. It turned into all-out embarrassment after a 24-17 halftime deficit, one Butch Jones should have a hard time recovering from.
So let’s break down exactly how everything went. Here are three takeaways from Tennessee football’s blowout loss to the Missouri Tigers.
1. The rush defense remains awful.
Tennessee football had a top five pass defense heading into the game. And honestly, while they could have played better, the pass defense was decent for the most part. It was the rush defense, as it has all year, that failed this team.
The Vols gave up over 400 yards on the ground, including over 200 yards from Ish Witter and over 150 yards from Larry Rountree III. It was embarrassing. The pass defense did what it could against Drew Lock, including Nigel Warrior getting a pick-six. But with such a terrible rush defense, they were significantly limited.
2. Will McBride did all he could.
One bright spot for the Tennessee football offense was Will McBride at quarterback. He’s not Jarrett Guarantano in terms of talent. However, he’s actually better when it comes to guts. McBride wasn’t afraid to run the ball and take a hit.
Sure, he struggled overall. But he’s a true freshman. What would you expect? Overall, though, he showed a lot of heart. And thanks to no help from the coaching, he led the team in rushing as well as passing. That leads to our final point.
3. Offensive play-calling continues its abysmal season.
The predictability and ridiculous decision from the Tennessee football offensive coaching has done the Vols in all year. It happened again against the Missouri Tigers. The Vols could not run the ball efficiently with Ty Chandler and John Kelly, and it’s mostly because there was no trouble sniffing out every play.
This is what will do Butch Jones in more than anything. Larry Scott has been horrible at mixing things up the right way, and it cost the Vols again Saturday night. As a result, a true freshman in Will McBride had no help at quarterback. And it played a huge role in this loss.