Halftime Thoughts: Tennessee-Missouri

Tennessee and Missouri are entrenched in battle in Columbia in a crucial battle for bowl eligibility, and early on, the Vols are leaving no doubt. Tiyon Evans

Tennessee and Missouri are entrenched in battle in Columbia in a crucial battle for bowl eligibility, and early on, the Vols are leaving no doubt.

Tiyon Evans

I talked about this multiple times this week. Evans told multiple folks this week. This is a game he has had checked for a while and he is making the best of it. Multiple scores here in this first half helped the Vols get out to a huge lead early, including his 92-yard scamper. My key thought about Evans is that I am not surprised because he has all of the tools to be a high NFL Draft Pick, however, he does not need to see the field anymore in this one unless absolutely necessary. Even with Jabari Small out, get Len'Neth Whitehead and several of the younger guys carries to finish this out of here.

Injuries

These continue to pile up for Tennessee. Multiple players were banged up before this one and the Vols have had several players hurt so far in this one. Nothing appears to be too serious, but Tennessee needs to get out of here without any major setbacks on this front. Jabari Small was off to a fast start but left again holding his previously injured shoulder. Theo Jackson was dinged up trying to make an interception, so the Vols need to maintain as much health as possible.

Defensive Line

Rodney Garner may be the best position coach in the country. He has completely revamped and re-tooled this defensive line. They have played extremely efficiently in the first half. The biggest thing I saw in the first half was depth. Multiple guys in the rotation made plays and the pass rush was more effective because of this. It was a nice half for this unit.

Heupel Answered a Huge Question for Me

In my opinion, a noon kick at Missouri is one of the toughest games to get up to play for in the country. Josh Heupel has a young, new team and he got them up to play in this one. Tennessee was not flat and got back up after a deflating loss in a hostile environment last week. This is something that Tennessee team's have struggled with in the past. Credit that to Josh Heupel's culture change. These players have voiced buy-in, and Heupel, made a solid showing against another highly regarded head coach in Eli Drinkwitz.