The Tennessee Volunteers entered Saturday’s game against Mizzou at Neyland Stadium fresh off a blowout win over Kentucky.

The Vols needed just one more win to clinch a bowl berth, but that wasn’t to be on Saturday afternoon against Mizzou OC Derek Dooley and the Tigers. The Tigers overcame a somewhat sluggish start to blow out the Vols 50-17 (the same score as last year’s Mizzou victory).

Both the rushing attack and the passing game were on fire for Mizzou, and the Tigers picked up win No. 7 on the season.

Here are a few quick takeaways from the Tigers’ big victory in Knoxville:

Derek Dooley gets his revenge

Dooley’s tenure as Tennessee’s head coach didn’t end very well, as he was unceremoniously fired in 2012. Saturday marked his first trip back, and it went pretty well for the Mizzou offensive coordinator.

The Tigers used a balanced attack to pick up win No. 7 and improve to 5-2 against the Vols since joining the SEC. Dooley will be happy with the way this game turned out.

Red-zone struggles

Mizzou started the game off by settling for a pair of field goals deep in Tennessee territory. Though the Tigers eventually got it together on offense, they need to start games better when it comes to the red zone.

However, Drew Lock and the offense picked things up after that, and even the defense got in on the scoring (see more on that below). It was a great balanced effort from the Tigers and one of their most complete games of the year.

Jarrett Guarantano down, Keller Chryst delivers mixed results

The Vols lost Guarantano early in the game after taking a pair of hard sacks. However, Chryst stepped into the game flawlessly, showing off some nice touch on deep passes against Mizzou’s awful secondary.

However, a late second half interception led to a Mizzou touchdown, sending the Tigers into the intermission up 26-10.

What is targeting?

No one knows what targeting is, and the people who are tasked with enforcing it may be the ones most confused by the rule. As you can see below, Mizzou LB Tavon Ross goes low, but Tennessee PR Marquez Callaway ducks his head:

That call was upheld on review, which seems a bit ridiculous. What was Ross supposed to do?

Tyler Badie showing some power

On two straight carries in the second quarter, freshman RB Tyler Badie appeared to be stopped. However, on the first carry, he was pushed forward for a first down. Then, on the next carry, he kept his legs churning all the way into the end zone.

With Damarea Crockett and Larry Rountree III as the stars in the backfield, Badie has still managed to carve out a nice role for himself.

He also broke several tackles, even though he nearly lost his pants on one attempted tackle in the fourth quarter. He looks like he’ll be getting a much bigger role next year.

Dropped touchdowns

Mizzou had one certain touchdown dropped by Emanuel Hall in the second quarter. Earlier in the quarter, Richaud Floyd dropped what would have been a huge play, if not another touchdown.

As Gary Danielson said during the broadcast, NFL scouts won’t care about the drops as it pertains to Drew Lock, but Mizzou fans certainly care that their receivers cost the team a couple of easy scores with drops.

Johnathon Johnson also put the ball on the ground during the third quarter, leading to a turnover after a catch.

Heads up play by Josh Bledsoe

There are a million lightning-quick decisions that must be made in every football game, and sophomore S Josh Bledsoe made an incredible one in the third quarter. As you can see below, he was about to recover a fumble, but made sure to get to his feet first before picking the ball up:

That decision led to a touchdown instead of just a change of possession, and it was a big one in the grand scheme of things.

Big day for DeMarkus Acy

The Mizzou secondary has struggled all year, but Acy made a couple of big plays on Saturday. He snagged a momentum-shifting interception just before halftime and also grabbed a pick off of J.T. Shrout later in the fourth quarter to seal the win.

Acy is clearly feeling good, and we’ll see if that continues moving forward.

What’s next?

The Vols have a chance to clinch a bowl berth at Vanderbilt next weekend. Meanwhile, the Tigers close out their regular season on Friday afternoon with a shot at win No. 8 against Arkansas in Columbia.