Dobbs has huge home finale as Vols beat Missouri 63-37

Dobbs has huge home finale as Vols beat Missouri 63-37

Published Nov. 19, 2016 11:14 p.m. ET

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) Joshua Dobbs threw three touchdown passes and ran for two more scores - including a career-long 70-yarder - in his final home game Saturday as Tennessee won a 63-37 shootout with Missouri.

Dobbs was 15 of 22 for 223 yards with two touchdown passes to Jauan Jennings and one to Josh Malone. He rushed for a career-high 190 yards on just 10 carries.

''You can just see the confidence he has in himself and everybody around him,'' Tennessee coach Butch Jones said.

Tennessee (8-3, 4-3 SEC) has won three straight games and has scored over 40 points in all of them. This marks the first time since 1995 that the Volunteers have scored 40-plus points in three consecutive games.

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The Vols won despite allowing 740 yards in total offense, the highest single-game total ever by a Tennessee opponent. Troy gained 721 yards in a 55-48 loss to Tennessee in 2012.

Damarea Crockett rushed for 225 yards and Ish Witter gained 163 yards to lead a 420-yard rushing attack for Missouri (3-8, 1-6). The Tigers gained 600-plus total yards for the fourth time this season.

''Offensively that's a pretty good day,'' Missouri coach Barry Odom said. ''I didn't have enough answers defensively to put us there to win it.''

Crockett had the second-highest single-game rushing total ever by a Tennessee opponent. Mississippi's Dexter McCluster rushed for 282 yards against Tennessee in 2009.

Tennessee's John Kelly rushed for 101 yards and a touchdown. Alvin Kamara ran for 55 yards and two scores.

The Vols were clinging to a 35-30 lead when Dobbs made a move around Missouri's Thomas Wilson at the line of scrimmage and raced for a 70-yard touchdown with 13:20 remaining. Tennessee took command from there.

Although Tennessee won the game, the Vols were knocked out of contention for the SEC Eastern Division title when No. 21 Florida upset No. 16 LSU 16-10 earlier in the day to clinch a spot in the Dec. 3 SEC championship game against No. 1 Alabama.

''We didn't know about it,'' Tennessee cornerback Cam Sutton said. ''I just heard about it after the game. That's something we weren't worried about throughout the course of the game.''

THE TAKEAWAY

Missouri: The Tigers' season-long kicking woes hurt them again Saturday.

Missouri missed an extra-point attempt for the fifth time this season at the end of the Tigers' first series. Missouri also had gone 5 of 12 on field-goal attempts this season before Saturday.

The Tigers' kicking game has struggled so much that they decided to go for it rather than attempting a field goal while facing fourth-and-12 from the Tennessee 20 early in the second quarter. After Missouri was penalized for a false start, the Tigers still kept their offense on the field to try converting the first down on fourth-and-17 from the 25. The drive ended with an incomplete pass.

Tennessee: The Vols' defense remains extremely vulnerable, particularly against the run. Missouri put up huge numbers against Tennessee one week after the Vols allowed 443 yards rushing in a 49-36 victory over Kentucky. Tennessee also gave up 353 yards rushing to Texas A&M and 409 to Alabama this season.

UP NEXT

Missouri hosts Arkansas on Friday.

Tennessee is at Vanderbilt on Saturday.

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Follow Steve Megargee at www.twitter.com/stevemegargee

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