After Poor Offensive Showing, Tennessee Looks to Get Back on Track vs Vanderbilt

In the wake of a buzz-killing 29-21 loss to Missouri, the Tennessee Volunteers were left with a once-potent offense tattered by the Tigers' dominant defense and searching for answers.

Now with a must-win situation facing them next week at Vanderbilt, UT must get that unit on track or the Vols will be home for the holidays. 

Coach Butch Jones bluntly summed up what's left of a Vols season that has been reduced to a do-or-die atmosphere in Nashville.

Another performance like Saturday night's could make a probable win against the Commodores an uncertainty. After two weeks of riding the wave of excitement quarterback Joshua Dobbs brought to the starting lineup, UT reverted to its struggles of old.

Drives stalled quickly and fruitlessly as the Vols failed to take advantage of field position all night. As was the case for most of the season, the majority of offensive issues can be traced back to the struggles of the offensive line.

The front five was awful, reverting to old form and allowing Dobbs to get pummeled throughout the game.

Most importantly, costly mistakes abounded. Trailing just 16-13, Dobbs turned the football over on consecutive possessions. The first of those was a fumble when he was trying to make something happen against Mizzou's torrid pass rush.

Then, the blunder of the game came just when it looked like the Vols were going to tie or take the lead. On a first-down play from the Tigers 29-yard line, Dobbs fired a dart to freshman receiver Josh Malone. The ball caromed off his hands and into those of Kenya Dennis.

Three plays later, Maty Mauk hit Jimmy Hunt on a 73-yard touchdown pass to break Tennessee's heart.

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That machine-gun momentum swing crushed the Vols, but that was just the culmination of a night full of frustration. 

Jalen Hurd could never get going on the ground, and a strong Mizzou defense determined not to let Dobbs freelance with his feet kept him in the pocket and put him on the ground.

An offense missing its biggest weapon in receiver Marquez North and its offensive line leader in center Mack Crowder lacked the pizzazz from previous weeks.

There was no downfield passing game, and UT's offense looked scarily like it did during the season's first seven weeks before Dobbs breathed new life into it. 

They'll have to find a way to generate yardage vertically without North. Jones dropped the bomb after the game that he's lost for the season.

The Tigers defensive front is the best the Vols have faced all season, and Vanderbilt isn't even in the same league.

But with so much riding on next week's game for UT and the Commodores wanting nothing more than to end a miserable season by ending Tennessee's, the Vols can't afford the same issues.

After all the mistakes by the offense and a pair of big ones on defense, the game ended in controversy and derailed another comeback effort by the Vols.

Mizzou's lead swelled to 29-13 when Tennessee's offense finally struck with its first touchdown of the night. Dobbs hit Jason Croom on a fade before going airborne for a two-point conversion to cut the lead to eight.

That's where things got, shall we say, interesting.

Needing an onside kick, another touchdown and two-point conversion with less than two minutes remaining, UT recovered two kicks. But on the first one, the Vols were called offside. Since Mizzou touched the ball, however, the Vols had to rekick.

The offside call was borderline, and it didn't go UT's way.

Then, when it looked like the Vols would get the football back after Coleman recovered the second one, replays clearly showed the ball traveled just nine yards. But Jones inexplicably called his second timeout to challenge the call, which was upheld, and Mizzou wound up running out the clock.

It was a frustrating finish to to a frustrating game. But the season's not finished.

Much like last year, Tennessee enters the VU game in a must-win situation. Unlike last season, the Commodores are struggling mightily, sitting at 3-8, winless in the conference and fresh off getting obliterated 51-0 by Mississippi State. 

The Vols entered Saturday's game as the heavy favorites in Vegas, carrying tons of momentum and an offense that looked capable of shredding opponents at will with Dobbs at the helm. After getting dragged down to Earth by Mizzou, only one of those things remain.

Tennessee will be big favorites next week, but the momentum is squashed, and an offense that spent much of this game searching for answers desperately needs to re-find them this week. 

Tonight, that once-excellent opportunity for a bowl game feels just a bit farther from reach.

Brad Shepard covers SEC football and is the Tennessee Lead Writer for Bleacher Report. Follow Brad on Twitter @Brad_Shepard.