If one were to look at just the final score of tonight’s game, 63-37, then one would assume that head coach Butch Jones would be satisfied with the Vols effort.
However, when your team gives up a program-record 743 total yards, it’s hard to be completely satisfied.
“I think it starts with tackling,” Jones said. “We did not run our feet, there were too many missed tackles, we were lunging. We were in our gaps a bunch of times and just missed our tackles. So, a lot of it sometimes was fundamentals.”
The Vols defense especially struggled on the running game where they gave up 420 rushing yards. Missouri freshman running back Damarea Crockett racked up 225 rushing yards, topping his season and career high by 69 yards.
With those 225 rushing yards, Crockett also broke the Missouri freshman single-game rushing record and season rushing record. Junior running back Ish Witter also eclipsed the 150 mark as he totaled 163 rushing yards on the Vols defense.
The Tennessee defense has now allowed 10 players to rush over 100 yards on the season with four of them being true freshman, Crockett, Alabama’s Jalen Hurts, South Carolina’s Rico Dowdle and Texas A&M’s Treyveon Williams.
“They were having success running the ball,” Derek Barnett said. “I was very disappointed playing defense. That’s something we need to correct moving forward, especially for Vandy. I already know they have a good running back so that is something we need to correct as soon as possible.”
The Vols’ passing defense was a little better but still wasn’t sharp as they gave up 323 passing yards and two touchdowns. However, the Vols did get two big interceptions, one from Micah Abernathy and one from an unlikely source.
With 4:31 left in the game and the Vols seemingly having the game locked up, junior Jonathan Kongbo stepped in front of a Drew Lock pass, picked off the ball and took it 59 yards to the house.
For Tennessee quarterback Josh Dobbs, he might be urging the coaches to make a switch with Kongbo, putting him on the offensive side of the ball.
“He was moving,” Dobbs said laughing. “The hands were pretty good. I didn’t know if he was going to catch it. We might have to move him out to tight end and give him a few routes.”
Running Game Strong Again: The Vols running game picked up where it left off last Saturday against Kentucky, as the team eclipsed 386 rushing yards in Saturday’s win over Missouri.
The Vols ground attack was led once again by Dobbs as he totaled 190 yards on the ground and two rushing touchdowns. Both of Dobbs rushing touchdowns were long ones, one for 30 yards and one for an impressive 70 yards where. On both, Dobbs weaved and bobbed his way into the end zone.
For Dobbs’ teammates, watching him make these runs is an incredible experience.
“I’m glad he’s on our team,” Barnett said. “He did some crazy things out there. I’m just glad he’s on our team.”
“I’ll just be down the field and I’ll just be like ‘There he goes again,’” Josh Malone said. “We all know what he can do.”
In the first half, the Vols mainly relied on the passing game; however, in the second half the run game seemed to take over.
The Vols totaled just 102 yards on the ground in the first half, but in the second half the Vols ran for a larger total of 284 yards.
A lot of those yards came from Dobbs, but the two-headed running monster of John Kelly and Alvin Kamara played a factor as well. Kelly finished the game with 101 yards and a touchdown while Kamara finished with 55 yards but had two touchdowns.
“In the first half, we were able to hit some big plays in the air,” Dobbs said. “Jauan (Jennings) had a great route on the go ball and made a great double move. In the second half, we were able to take advantage of the ground game, whether is was me or Alvin or JK (John Kelly). It’s definitely been touch to stop us all season, and it was touch to stop us tonight.”
Vols focused on finishing strong: The Vols will not have a second chance at Alabama in the SEC Championship Game as the Florida Gators stunned the LSU Tigers 16-10 in Baton Rouge.
With that win, the Gators locked up the SEC East title.
For the Vols, they are focused on finishing the season strong with the possibility of winning 10 games in the season. If the Vols were to beat Vanderbilt next Saturday and win their bowl game, it would be the first 10-win season since 2007.
“We still have two more games,” Dobbs said. “There’s still a lot to play for. We’re playing for a 10-win season that hasn’t happened at Tennessee in a long, long time. Our legacy is on the line, how we want to leave Tennessee … We’ll be excited to go next week.”
The Vols will take on Vanderbilt next Saturday at 7:30 p.m. That game will air on the SEC Network.
