The last 2 seasons, November games in Columbia have not been kind to the Tennessee Volunteers. A year ago in Columbia (South Carolina), the Vols lost to the Gamecocks 63-38. That defeat wound up costing UT a spot in the College Football Playoff.

This year in Columbia (Missouri), it was a blowout loss to the Tigers that officially ended Tennessee’s SEC East hopes.

This was revenge for Eli Drinkwitz and the Missouri program. The last 2 seasons, they fell to Tennessee by a combined 128-48. But on Saturday afternoon they gave Josh Heupel the biggest loss in the nearly 3 years he’s been in charge of the Vols program. Mizzou held Tennessee to 7 points, the lowest output under Heupel for this high-powered offensive attack.

Other than the locust invasion and monsoon, how was your vacation?

The Vols have won 14 straight games in Knoxville. They have played in front of 11 straight sellout crowds. No issues there. But it is well past time to talk about how Tennessee plays football away from the friendly confines of Neyland Stadium.

This season the Vols have played 4 games on the road and won only once, a 33-27 victory at Kentucky. But Kroger Field is a place that UT has only lost twice over the last 4+ decades, so for the purposes of this conversation, wins at UK probably shouldn’t even count.

Back in September, the Vols played poorly in the 1st half at Florida, eventually losing 29-16. In October, the Vols played poorly in the 2nd half at Alabama, eventually losing 34-20. And of course, in November the Vols played poorly for most of the day at Missouri before losing 36-7.

Tennessee’s rushing attack, which had averaged 361 yards against Missouri the past 2 years, could only account for 83 rushing yards this time around. Making matters worse, UT repeated the mistakes of the Florida game. Dylan Sampson didn’t get a single opportunity against the Gators, and got only 3 carries against the Tigers. Oh, and all of those carries came on Tennessee’s final drive of the game.

Through the air, Joe Milton’s accuracy went by the wayside in the 2nd half. He also had a fumble and threw a pick-6.

Defensively, Tennessee had shown much improvement this season, but lived a nightmare in COMO. Cody Schrader got 35 carries against UT for a whopping 205 yards and a score. He also caught 5 passes for 116 yards. That made him the 1st player in the history of the SEC to rush for 200+ yards and have 100+ receiving yards in the same game.

Not Bo Jackson. Not Herschel Walker. Not Darren McFadden.

Cody Schrader.

But at least Tennessee punter Jackson Ross had a nice day, with 3 punts landing inside the 20 and 2 of those inside the Mizzou 3-yard line.

“I would say it was 4 quarters of hell for Tennessee,” said CBS color commentator Gary Danielson after the game.

Indeed.

Maybe the most embarrassing moment came with 40 seconds left in the game. Tennessee was down 36-7 and facing 4th-and-goal from the Mizzou 23. Heupel sent Charles Campbell onto the field to attempt a 41-yard FG.

What purpose that served … who knows. But the decision apparently angered the football gods, as Campbell missed the kick to the right.

Going on the road in the SEC can be a difficult experience, and it must be just that for Tennessee.

But why?

Tennessee has its best coaching staff since the Phillip Fulmer era. The Vols roster is filled with experienced players who have gotten a significant number of snaps in hostile environments.

But when UT boards an airplane, this is a much different looking team.

Tennessee is now 6-7 in their last 13 true road games, with 2 of those wins coming at Kentucky and 1 at Vandy. Both of those rivals’ stadiums are less than a 3-hour drive from the UT campus. UT’s best road win under Heupel would be at LSU in October of last year.

In those 7 road losses we discussed, Tennessee wasn’t very competitive. The tightest margin in any of those games was 13 points.

There are no easy answers to this problem. But if the Vols are going to take the next step as a program, they need to play better away from home.