Tennessee football Smokey Points: Top 5 Vols performers in loss to Missouri

Tennessee football had few bright spots in their 50-17 loss to the Missouri Tigers. But there were some Volunteers who showed up and performed.

Finding five players who had decent performances in Tennessee football’s blowout loss to the Missouri Tigers on Saturday may have been the hardest thing we’ve had to do all year. The display was just that bad.

To be fair, an injury to Jarrett Guarantano was obviously going to throw things for a loop, but the game was off to a bad start before that even happened. Sure, the Vols hung tough for a little while, and they may have made it close if not for a couple of bad plays.

However, overall, Mizzou beat Tennessee football in every way you could beat a team. So when that happens, who deserves credit for stepping up on the losing side? How can we acknowledge anybody on that front?

Well, as you’ll see, there were some guys who gave it their all and made some plays. Now, as we get set to hand out our Smokey Points following this loss, let’s be clear that some players are on here by default. They may have made some crucial mistakes in the game at times.

They are one of the five who belong on here, though, because of the fact that they did something to make a play. There was evidence of them fighting their guts out, and that’s something we simply can’t ignore.

Simply put, a few players are just getting an E for effort after that horrendous performance Saturday. But we still want to mention them for how they played, and they did earn helmet stickers in some way.

So let’s go ahead and take a look at those Vols who provide some positive takeaways from the team’s sixth loss of the season. These are the five best Tennessee football performers in their 50-17 loss to the Missouri Tigers.