The Day After

It was early and often for the Tennessee offense as they routed Missouri 62-24. We review the Vols’ impressive win in the show me state with The Day After.

HOT

The run game — Missouri was awful on run defense coming in so Tennessee should have run the football effectively but they put up old option wishbone numbers. Tennessee had 458 yards rushing on 59 carries averaging 7.8 yards a run. The Vols just embarrassed a bad Missouri defense from the first snap of the game. Tiyon Evans vowed to have fun earlier in the week and he did. Evans finished with 156 yards and 3 touchdowns on 15 carries. Evans thanks to a 92 yard touchdown run finished with an 10.4 yard per carry average.

Hendon Hooker —The transfer continues to separate himself as the Vols quarterback. Hooker for the second straight week didn’t turn the ball over and never put it in harms way. Hooker finished 15-19 for 225 yards and three touchdowns.

Doneiko Slaughter — With Trevon Flowers out, Theo Jackson moved to safety and Slaughter took advantage with 3 tackles including a TFL and a QB hurry.

Velus Jones — Tennessee moved the senior into the slot and Jones had his best day with 7 catches for 79 yards and a 35 yard touchdown. Jones is the Vols best receiver with the ball in his hands.

NOT

Kickoff return for a touchdown — Ok lets be honest, there’s nothing really to be negative about when you win 62-24. But Tennessee gave up a 100 yard kickoff return for a score where they clearly got out of their lanes. The rest of special teams were fine, but they need to get back on track. They were terrific against Pitt. At Florida they had 3 penalties and at Missouri they gave up the score.

Hooker to Payton for 6 — After a quick three and out to start the game thanks to a Jeremy Banks sack, Hooker found Javonta Payton for a 35 yard touchdown to jump out to a quick 7-0 lead.

Evans takes it to the house — Up 14-3, Tennessee put the hammer down as Tiyon Evans went 92 yards for a touchdown. Ollie Lane got a great kick out block and when Evans hit the clear he wasn’t to be caught.

Banks INT — Tennessee didn’t force a turnover the first two weeks of the season. The Vols had four interceptions against Tennessee Tech and got two more on Saturday at Missouri the most impressive being Jeremy Banks interception in zone coverage that he returned 32 yards to the one second of Tiyon Evans for a score to make it 28-3 and the rout was clearly on.

Hooker to Jones on third down — Tennessee only had 3 third down plays in the first half. The one they converted was a beauty in a 35 yard touchdown to Velus Jones where he again showed he’s the best receiver with the ball in his hands.

15 — Number of rushing touchdowns by the Vol offense in 5 games. The last time the Vols had 15 was in 2018. In 2019, they had 13 and in 2020 they had 12.

2.8 — Rushing yard average for the Missouri tailbacks. Tennessee’s defense has not given up a hundred yards to a tailback this season.

8.8 — Tennessee’s average yard per play on Saturday as the Vol offense could do anything they wanted to do.

0 — Number of punts by the Vols. Tennessee had 11 possessions, they had 8 touchdowns, 2 field goals and they left the ball on the one yard line after failing to convert fourth and goal from the one.

A lot of people played well on Saturday both offensively and defensively. But my game ball goes to Cade Mays, Javontez Spraggins, Jerome Carvin, Ollie Lane, and Darnell Wright.

I realize that Missouri’s defense isn’t very good, but when you rushed for 458 yards you are doing something right. That unit gave Hooker a clean pocket for the most part and they had no pre-snap penalties for the first time this year.

Obviously, there are much harder challenges coming. We all knew that this was a winnable game but no one saw that offensive explosion coming. Can Tennessee continue to play clean? Can they continue to not turn the ball over?

But the biggest concern for me continues to be this team’s lack of depth. Tennessee just can’t get anyone hurt which is why I didn’t understand the reasoning for running Hooker in the second half when the game was completely in hand. Just an unnecessary risk.