Tennessee football: Five major obstacles Vols overcame in win at Missouri Tigers

2. Uncharacteristic special teams mistakes by Vols

Now we get into the game. One of the advantages we all thought Tennessee football had this year was place-kicking. Brent Cimaglia single-handedly kept them in the game with the BYU Cougars, and he spotted them their comfortable lead against the UAB Blazers. Even against the Kentucky Wildcats, he had a critical field goal.

What was clear, though, was the fact that neutralizing Cimaglia as an advantage would put the Vols at a major disadvantage. Well, the Missouri Tigers were able to neutralize Cimaglia as an advantage. They blocked two field goal attempts by him on the day, bring his total number of misses on the season to just four.

The snaps were a bit of an issue, but the fact of the matter is they blocked those kicks. And one was within 40 yards. Meanwhile, Mizzou converted a fake punt despite the fact that Jeremy Pruitt saw it coming. So the Vols had issue after issue working against them on special teams, and that could have cost them. But thanks to their passing attack, they overcame it.

Had this happened earlier in the year, they would have gotten blown out. So pulling off the win despite the special teams issues shows how resilient this team is becoming and the fact that they can find other ways to win games, which is a huge deal for the program. Jarrett Guarantano and his receivers deserve credit for this one. The defensive pressure also gets a shout-out.