Tennessee football report card: Grading the Vols in 24-20 Missouri win

Special teams

Place-kicking: D-

Brent Cimaglia didn’t miss an extra point. Paxton Brooks was perfect on kickoffs. But Tennessee football had two of three field goals blocked. Cimaglia was not at fault for those, but we still have to blame the place-kicking team as a whole. Two blocked kicks is why the Vols didn’t have complete control of the game much earlier than they did.

Punting: C-

Paxton Brooks had one good punt that went for 45 yards. His only other punt over 40 yards went for a touchback. And he pinned no punts inside the 20-yard line, averaging 39.5 yards a punt. That made the punt game overall nearly below average. It didn’t cost the Vols in any way, which is why we just made it a C-. But similar to place-kicking, this was uncharacteristically bad.

Return game: F

He was great in receiving. And Marquez Callaway’s two punt returns for 14 yards weren’t terrible. But he called a fair-catch on a kickoff fielded after a bounce, which pinned the Vols inside the 20. Meanwhile, UT’s punt return game failed to identify a fake despite Jeremy Pruitt screaming it and as such allowed a first down. It was a horrendous day for the return game overall.

Overall special teams grade: D-

Yes, despite this being a major advantage all year for a team that wasn’t over .500 until Saturday, the Vols were able to overcome horrible special teams play at the Missouri Tigers. This is where Pruitt lamented the mistakes that his team was making, and they barely avoid a failing grade.