COLUMBIA, Mo. — Josh Heupel preached gap integrity for a week. Tennessee had virtually none against Missouri.
The Vols' vaunted run defense faced its toughest test to date in the Tigers' Cody Schrader, who entered Saturday's contest as the SEC's top rusher with 919 yards and 10 touchdowns on the season.
A Tennessee defensive front that had limited opponents to 97.3 yards per game through nine games had no answers for Schrader on the ground and they had even fewer answers for what he provided in the passing game.
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The 5-foot-9, 215-pound running back put up career numbers, becoming the first player in the history of the conference to rush for more than 200 yards and receive for 100-plus yards in the same game. He ran for 207 yards and a touchdown and caught five passes for 116 yards, including 86 yards after the catch.
The result was a 36-7 drubbing suffered by the Vols (7-2, 3-3 SEC) at Memorial Stadium.
"Line of scrimmage, there was a stark difference," Heupel said. "Said it earlier in the week that it would be a pivotal part of the game. (Missouri) was able to run the football. We weren't."
WATCH ON VOLREPORT: Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel meets with media after loss to Missouri
It wasn't the first time this season that Tennessee has had to face the league's leading rusher.
The Vols centered their defensive game plan around stopping Kentucky running back Ray Davis two weeks ago and held him to a season-low 42 yards—a key factor that helped Tennessee win that game, 33-27.
It couldn't replicate that success.
"(Missouri) created seams. (Schrader) was able to make us miss," Heupel said. "He run through some things, too. At times, just gap integrity. They reached us and we didn't have anybody in the front side gap."
Missouri didn't go away from what has worked for its offense this season, but the looks contributed in putting Tennessee players out of place.
"I think (Missouri) just moved around a little bit and got us out of our gaps," defensive back Gabe Jeudy-Lally said. "We weren't fundamentally sound and when you're not fundamentally sound, the result is going to show that."
Schrader was part of an even bigger problem for Tennessee's defense, though.
The Vols' inability to get off the field in previous games was only magnified against Missouri, which converted 11-of-17 third downs. Quarterback Brady Cook extended several drives with his legs, including a third-and-11 from his own end zone in the second half.
Tennessee stayed with in striking distance for two and a half quarters, but it unraveled in the fourth as Missouri piled on offensively.
Cook finished second on the team in rushing with 55 yards and a touchdown. He averaged 4.6 yards per rush.
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"We knew (Cook) was a good athlete," Jeudy-Lally said. "You've got to commend him. He made some good plays on third down when we had it covered up pretty well. At the end of the day, we've just got to be able to get down there and tackle the quarterback before the first down. That's it."
In the days leading up to the game, Heupel emphasized Cook's ability to make plays out of the pocket as much as the coaching staff emphasized Schrader, but it was both players that accounted for much of Missouri's 530 yards of total offense.
For Tennessee, it was the reemergence of a concerning trend that was crucial in its early-season loss at Florida and against vs. Alabama last month.
It's a trend that the Vols can't afford to continue next week against No. 2 Georgia at Neyland Stadium (3:30 p.m. ET, CBS).
"You didn't want to be in straight-man free against (Missouri's) wide receiver corps," Heupel said. "There were some two-high shallow there as well. Quarterback gets out of the pocket, sometimes we lost contain. Sometimes, he's stepping up into the pocket and we're not able to tackle out in space.
"It's a combination of all those things. It changed the way the game was played early."
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