Tennessee football: Five takeaways from Vols’ 66-24 win vs. Missouri

5. Too many points were still left on the field.

Yes, Tennessee football won 66-24. There may be some criticism of Josh Heupel for scoring late as well. However, Mizzou is lucky the Vols didn’t score 80 points, as there were blatant times they left points out there. Two specific drives stand out that at least resulted in them leaving 10 points up on the board.

The first was the Vols’ second drive. Up 7-0, they brought up a 1st and 10 from the Mizzou 33. They were clearly driving to score again. However, they couldn’t get a first down, and a 4th and 4 came up with a very manageable field goal. Josh Heupel got greedy, though, and went for it. Hooker got sacked.

That allowed Mizzou to tie it up. Well, near the end of the half, the Vols were driving again. Up 28-14, they were trying to make it 35-14 going into the locker room. On back to back plays past midfield, though, Jalin Hyatt uncharacteristically drops two passes, costing the Vols. If he doesn’t make those drops, they almost definitely score a touchdown on that drive.

Then Tennessee football drove to midfield to open the second half, but a holding penalty pushed them back and killed the drive. The Vols probably would’ve scored there. Stalled drives at or past midfield are what cost the Vols against the Dawgs. They were dominant enough to not let them be costly in this one, but it’s still something they need to work on.