Tennessee’s season-long defensive woes took a rest in the first half on Saturday before reemerging to plague the Vols down the stretch in a 51-48 overtime loss to Missouri.
Offensively, though, the Vols remained potent — like they have been all year — racking up 585 yards, marking the sixth time the Tyler Bray-led group has posted 500 or more this year.
Bray’s 404 passing yards gave him enough to surpass the 3,000 mark for the year, a threshold which only Peyton Manning — twice — and Erik Ainge have previously reached in UT history.
But he wasn’t the only Vol that got to sling the pigskin Saturday.
On UT’s first quarter scoring drive, Cordarrelle Patterson took a pitch and proceeded to toss 28 yards to tight end Mychal Rivera. The play set up a Patterson touchdown run that put UT ahead 7-0.
“Coach (Dooley) had called the play and I knew that I just had to throw it if I saw anyone open,” Patterson said. “I think I just underthrew him a little so he couldn’t score.”
The versatility wasn’t limited exclusively to Patterson. Linebacker A.J. Johnson also got in on the action offensively.
He scored his fifth touchdown of the season in the second quarter when he barreled into the end zone from three yards out to cap a drive that was started by a Prentiss Waggner interception.
Unfortunately for Johnson and the Vols, the second half and overtime told a different story, as the Vols allotted Mizzou 390 yards after holding them to 64 in the first half.
“We came out knowing our calls and running them to a ‘T,'” Johnson said. “In the second half, we came out running the same calls. They just made plays on us.”
Tennessee wasn’t without its share of plays as well.
Justin Hunter and Rivera combined for 270 receiving yards on 19 grabs, but the duo wasn’t concerned with statistics following the loss.
“It stings a lot,” said Rivera, who corralled a career high 10 receptions. “We really worked hard this week. We really wanted to win this game. Things just didn’t go our way.”
“It was really tough,” Hunter said. “We wanted to help our defense and the game as fast as we could. I guess Missouri did something really special to keep us off the field.”
On Tennessee’s final offensive possession before Andrew Baggett’s game-clinching field goal in the fourth overtime, it was a series of three consecutive pass breakups that got Bray and the offense off the field. The last play of that series stemmed from a decision by head coach Derek Dooley to attempt to convert a fourth-and-three. Bray’s pass intended for Zach Rogers was broken up just past the first down marker.
“Coach was in between, and as the offense we want the ball in our hands,” Bray said. “We begged him to let us have the ball and we just didn’t make the play.
“That last play, I’d like to have it back,” Bray continued. “I would not have taken so long to throw it. We had the guy and I thought I saw different coverage than what they were playing.
“I just held onto it too long.”
