The Tennessee Vols (5-6, 2-5 SEC) will have to wait another week for bowl eligibility as they fell to the Missouri Tigers (9-2, 6-1 SEC) 29-21 at Neyland Stadium.
The Tigers took the opening possession and drove all the way down the field, capping off the drive with a one-yard touchdown run by Marcus Murphy.
Tennessee attempted to do the same, but were held to a 38-yard field goal by freshman Aaron Medley.
After a three-and-out early in the second quarter, the Vols lined up for a field goal, but faked. Holder Patrick Ashford hit walk-on Alex Ellis in-stride for a 31-yard touchdown strike, giving Tennessee a 10-7 lead.
“Patrick (Ashford) did a tremendous job,” Butch Jones said about the fake field goal. “Here is a young man that is a walk-on. He has done a great job and he gets an opportunity in a big-time game and delivers a strike. I can’t say enough about their execution. I love those kids. They give everything for Tennessee.”
Maty Mauk and the Missouri offense marched down the field once more, scoring on another Marcus Murphy run, this time from seven yards out. The Tigers missed the extra point, making the lead 13-7.
With 3:50 left in the first half, Medley booted a 39-yard field goal to tie the game at 13-13 going into halftime.
The third quarter’s only score came on a 43-yard Andrew Baggett field goal, giving Missouri a 16-13 advantage.
Jimmie Hunt burned senior cornerback Justin Coleman in the early minutes of the fourth quarter for a 73-yard touchdown catch.
Shortly after a Josh Dobbs fumble, Bud Sasser had a 35-yard touchdown catch of his own, giving the Tigers a strong 29-13 lead after another missed extra point.
The Vols were looking for another late-game comeback, as Josh Dobbs hit Jason Croom on a four-yard touchdown pass and ran in the two-point conversion, making the score 29-21 with 1:52 left in the game.
Dobbs finished the game completing 24 of his 37 passes for a touchdown and an interception. Saturday was Dobbs’ worst game on the ground for the year, running for only 13 yards as the sophomore was sacked six times by a dominant Missouri defensive line.
“They were a disciplined defense,” Dobbs said after the game. “We knew that coming in. They did a good job of getting some penetration up front, especially at the beginning of the game, but as the game wore on we did a good job of starting to move the ball, open up holes, offensive line picked it up, receivers picked it up and we put ourselves in a position to tie the game so that’s positive moving forward to Vanderbilt.”
Tennessee attempted to recover an onside kick towards the end of the game, but it was called back on a controversial offsides penalty. The Vols nearly recovered a second onside kick, but a Tennessee player touched the ball before it traveled the required 10 yards.
Butch Jones challenged the call, but managed only to waste one of Tennessee’s timeouts as the call was upheld. Missouri took over and eventually ran out the clock to preserve the 29-21 victory.
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