The University of Tennessee’s football game at Missouri was officially only halfway complete Saturday afternoon when veteran SEC Network commentator Dave Neal perfectly summed up the first two quarters for the host Tigers.
Said Neal: “I don’t know if it could go any worse, really, if you’re Missouri.”
Or any better for the Volunteers, who led 45-10 at intermission on their way to a 62-24 victory.
Yes, Tennessee is now but 3-2 overall and 1-1 within the brutal Southeastern Conference. Yes, a team already at least a dozen shy of the 85 scholarship players the NCAA allows seems to be losing even more bodies to injury about as often as the Pride of the Southland Band strikes up “Rocky Top.”
And, yes, Missouri’s defense spent most of the contest against the Vols acting as if it thought this was a game of two-hand touch instead of tackle football. Rarely has an SEC football team looked more inept or uninterested on defense than the Tigers against the Vols.