1. Let's start with the positive: Missouri has a bona fide star in Damarea Crockett. Tennessee's run defense is awful, but Crockett got more than 20 carries and averaged nearly ten yards a carry. He set the single-game and single-season freshman rushing records and now has 1061 for the season. The kid is a gem. He's the guy Odom has to build this rebuild around.
2. Let's review the keys to the game: Run the ball, play clean football, don't let Dobbs beat you with his legs. Missouri was 1/3. They made a ton of mistakes and Dobbs ran for 150 yards, including 70 on a single play with 13:20 to go that seemed to end any realistic hope.
3. I've never seen a team whose mistakes hurt them worse. 12 men on the field on fourth down results in a TD. Missed tackle in the backfield results in a third down conversion and a TD. Interception, TD. It's not just that Missouri makes mistakes. It's that they're simply not good enough to overcome them.
4. Tackling. I don't even need to expand on it.
5. You can nitpick when they kicked and when they didn't. I won't. I'd never have kicked if you want the truth. I know people will destroy Odom and Heupel because that's what happens when teams lose. But when you can't rely on kicking a field goal at any point in time, you don't have much choice. I don't fault them going for all the fourth downs. I'd have done the same thing. Not being able to rely on even an extra point, it changes your approach to every single play. They'd better find a kicker next year.
2. Let's review the keys to the game: Run the ball, play clean football, don't let Dobbs beat you with his legs. Missouri was 1/3. They made a ton of mistakes and Dobbs ran for 150 yards, including 70 on a single play with 13:20 to go that seemed to end any realistic hope.
3. I've never seen a team whose mistakes hurt them worse. 12 men on the field on fourth down results in a TD. Missed tackle in the backfield results in a third down conversion and a TD. Interception, TD. It's not just that Missouri makes mistakes. It's that they're simply not good enough to overcome them.
4. Tackling. I don't even need to expand on it.
5. You can nitpick when they kicked and when they didn't. I won't. I'd never have kicked if you want the truth. I know people will destroy Odom and Heupel because that's what happens when teams lose. But when you can't rely on kicking a field goal at any point in time, you don't have much choice. I don't fault them going for all the fourth downs. I'd have done the same thing. Not being able to rely on even an extra point, it changes your approach to every single play. They'd better find a kicker next year.
