COLUMBIA, Mo. (WATE) – While Tennessee’s three-headed monster of Dylan Sampson, Jabari Small, and Jaylen Wright were held to 51 yards rushing, Mizzou running back Cody Shrader not only led the Tigers on the ground with 205 yards, but also in the air with 116 yards for his first 300-yard performance with Missouri.
With the 36-7 loss, Tennessee has officially been eliminated from the SEC East title race.
The Vols won the coin toss and deferred to the second half. However, Tennessee would end up getting the ball right back as Missouri quarterback Brady Cook sent a pass right into the hands of Jaylen McCullough. The Vols weren’t able to capitalize though, thanks to a quick three-and-out forced by the Tigers’ defense.
Mizzou had the ball for the rest of the first quarter as a 22-play drive ended with a Harrison Mevis 31-yard field goal to put the Tigers up 3-0. Missouri had to settle for three points as Omarr Norman-Lott sacked Cook to force the field goal after converting on five third-downs on that drive.
After that long Tigers’ drive, the Vols quickly took the lead thanks to a 46-yard touchdown pass from Joe Milton to Dont’e Thornton. It marked the Oregon transfer’s first touchdown in a Tennessee uniform. However, the wide receiver was injured on the touchdown catch and did not return for the rest of the game.
The Tigers answered right back thanks to running back Cody Shrader. Shrader started the drive with a 43-yard catch from Cook to enter Tennessee territory and then finished it off with a seven-yard touchdown run up the middle to give Missouri a 10-7 lead.
After stops on both sides, Tennessee got the ball back with 4:11 left in the first half. After a few passes to Chas Nimrod, Ramel Keyton, and Squirrel White, it looked like Jaylen Wright would finish off the drive with a score, but instead, the ball was knocked out of his hands by Triston Newson and recovered by the Tigers.
What was a missed opportunity by the Vols, turned into a field goal for Mizzou. Shrader added 40 yards on the ground to put the Tigers in Tennessee territory, and Mevis booted in a 46-yarder to give his team a 13-7 lead heading into the break.
Tennessee had a chance to take the lead on the first drive of the second half, but instead another three-and-out gave the ball right back to Mizzou.
The Tigers were able to capitalize as Brady Cook ran it into the endzone himself to make it a two-score game. Missouri went for the two-point conversion but did not succeed, and so the Vols trailed 19-7.
Missouri made it a 22-7 lead late in the third quarter with another field goal from Harrison Mevis, this time from 23 yards out.
While the Vols offense struggled, the Tigers continued to pour it on as Shrader once again led Missouri into scoring range in the fourth quarter. The drive ended with a Brady Cook touchdown pass to Luther Burden III to extend the Tigers’ lead to 29-7.
Things went from bad to worse as Joe Milton was then picked off by Missouri’s Daylan Carnell, who returned it 38 yards for yet another Tiger touchdown.
The Vols lost with the fewest points scored under coach Josh Heupel during his time at Tennessee.
The Vols are back at home next Saturday, hosting No. 1 Georgia inside Neyland Stadium at 3:30.
