Tennessee’s offense too much for Mizzou in Tigers’ 63-37 loss

Powered by freshman running back Damarea Crockett, Missouri’s run game was unstoppable on Saturday at Neyland Stadium.

Unfortunately, the same was true for Tennessee senior quarterback Josh Dobbs, who celebrated senior day with a 63-37 victory.

Dobbs, who left to a rousing ovation with 2:24 remaining in the game, was responsible for 413 yards and five touchdowns, including the longest run of his career — a 70-yard touchdown — early in the fourth quarter as the Volunteers, 8-3 and 4-3 in the SEC, pulled away.

The Tigers, 3-8 overall and 1-6 in the SEC, set program records for total plays in a game with 110 and most first downs generated with 41. But not even 740 yards — the most Tennessee has ever allowed and 4 shy of MU’s single-game record of 744 against Western Illinois in 2011 — kept things competitive.

Not on an afternoon when Tennessee delighted an announced crowd of 101,012 by scoring 63, which is the most Mizzou has allowed since a 66-0 loss at then-No. 9 Kansas State on Nov. 20, 1999.

“Damn, offensively that’s a pretty good day,” said first-year MU coach Barry Odom, who took over the defense after a homecoming loss to Middle Tennessee. “I didn’t have enough answers defensively to put us there to win.”

The shoddy defensive performance, which was marked by poor tacking as the Vols racked up 609 yards and averaged 9.1 yards per play, spoiled Crockett’s record-setting day.

Crockett finished with 24 carries for 225 yards, which is the most rushing yards in a game by a Mizzou freshman and the eighth-most in program history overall.

Crockett, who sits at 1,062 yards on 153 carries with 10 touchdowns entering Friday’s finale against Arkansas, also erased Brad Smith’s single-season freshman record of 1,029 yards.

“When the offense comes out and plays like that, we’ve got to match their intensity,” said redshirt freshman safety Ronnell Perkins, who finished with eight tackles and a game-high 1  1/2 tackles for a loss. “There’s a lot of small things that hurt us out there … but we’ve just got to tackle better.”

Mizzou committed four costly interceptions, including two interceptions by sophomore quarterback Drew Lock.

Of course, the game remained close into the fourth quarter when MU freshman Tucker McCann’s 28-yard field goal made it 35-30 with 14:50 remaining.

The Vols — who were eliminated from the SEC East race when Florida defeated LSU — outscored the Tigers 28-7 from there, beginning with Dobbs’ back-breaking 70-yard touchdown run, when he slipped to left on a designed keeper and juked his way past safety Thomas Wilson before turning on the jets.

“The kid’s a good player … he just ran away from us,” Odom said. “That was a big one. That hurt because we were right there. We got them in third down (and) I felt like we had a pretty good call on, but it didn’t work out.”

Tennessee’s tailback tandem — junior Alvin Kamara and sophomore John Kelly — sandwiched 2- and 27-yard touchdowns around Lock’s 50-yard bomb to freshman Dimetrios Mason in the fourth quarter.

The Vols’ final blow was a 59-yard interception return by sophomore defensive end Jonathan Kongbo, who picked off Lock’s middle screen intended for senior tight end Sean Culkin and rumbled untouched to the end zone.

Missouri trailed 21-20 at halftime despite gashing Tennessee for 251 yards rushing in the first half.

That included touchdowns runs by Crockett, Lock and junior running back Ish Witter, who finished with 31 carries for 163 yards with two touchdowns.

Dobbs — who finished 15 of 22 for 223 yards passing with three touchdowns and no interceptions, while adding 190 yards rushing and two scores on 10 carries — countered with a 49-yard TD to sophomore Jauan Jennings and a 57-yard scoring strike to junior Josh Malone.

Kamara scored on a 4-yard run in the second quarter.

The difference at halftime was junior walk-on kicker Ben Tesson’s missed extra point for Missouri after Crockett’s score to open the game. McCann took over after that shank and made all four point-after tries.

Lock, who finished 21 of 43 for 320 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions, opened the second half with a costly interception.

Tennessee free safety Micah Abernathy (who finished with a game-high 12 tackles) stepped in front of Lock pass as Lock stared down senior Chris Black on a deep crossing route.

“We knew we were going to be hot on that play, leaving that end unblocked, so I went to (Culkin),” Lock said. “They covered (Culkin) well, then I hurried my throw with a guy coming at me. I went to Chris, saw him and locked onto Chris rather than seeing the whole defense.”

That set up Tennessee’s offense at the Mizzou 9-yard line, where Dobbs connected with Jennings for a 5-yard touchdown three plays later to establish some breathing room.

Witter capped a season-long 14-play drive with a 1-yard touchdown before Dobbs put the Vols in front 35-27 entering the final period with a tackle-breaking 30-yard touchdown run.

Tennessee 63

Missouri 37

First Quarter

MIZ: Crockett 22 run (kick failed), 9:07

TEN: Jennings 49 pass from Dobbs (Medley kick), 6:01

Second Quarter

TEN: Malone 57 pass from Dobbs (Medley kick), 13:50

MIZ: Lock 2 run (McCann kick), 8:00

TEN: Kamara 4 run (Medley kick), 5:00

MIZ: Witter 2 run (McCann kick), 2:23

Third Quarter

TEN: Jennings 5 pass from Dobbs (Medley kick), 13:58

MIZ: Witter 1 run (McCann kick), 8:51

TEN: Dobbs 30 run (Medley kick), 2:39

Fourth Quarter

MIZ: FG McCann 28, 14:50

TEN: Dobbs 70 run (Medley kick), 13:20

TEN: Kamara 2 run (Medley kick), 9:25

MIZ: Mason 50 pass from Lock (McCann kick), 7:57

TEN: (Medley kick)

TEN: Kongbo 59 interception return (Medley kick), 4:31

RUSHING: Missouri, Crockett 24-225, Witter 31-163, Strong 8-39, Augusta 1-0, Lock 3-(minus 7). Tennessee, Dobbs 10-190, J.Kelly 18-101, Kamara 12-55, Byrd 2-24, Fils-Aime 2-12, Jennings 1-4.

PASSING: Missouri, Lock 20-42-2-294. Tennessee, Dobbs 15-22-0-223.

RECEIVING: Missouri, J’.Moore 8-108, Mason 3-66, Jo.Johnson 2-41, Culkin 2-35, Blanton 2-21, Black 1-15, E.Hall 1-8, Crockett 1-0. Tennessee, Jennings 4-67, Malone 3-83, Kamara 3-14, Byrd 2-8, B.Johnson 1-22, Croom 1-18, Et.Wolf 1-11.

MISSED FIELD GOALS: Tennessee, Medley 47.

This story was originally published November 19, 2016 at 6:56 PM with the headline "Tennessee’s offense too much for Mizzou in Tigers’ 63-37 loss."