Missouri's offensive woes return in 19-8 loss to Tennessee

Missouri held Tennessee to its fewest passing yards since 2003 and limited the Vols to just 337 yards, 4.4 yards per play, and 19 points. But as has been the story throughout the 2015 season, a hapless offense held the Tigers back. Mizzou gained just 223 yards and managed just one fourth-quarter score in a 19-8 loss. It dropped the Mizzou to 5-6 on the season and gave Gary Pinkel a loss in his final home game as Missouri's head coach.

Drew Lock completed just 13 of 30 passes for 135 yards, and he made a costly error on the first series of the game. On a broken play, he tried to force the ball to Wesley Leftwich, who wasn't looking for the ball. Cameron Sutton was, and it resulted in a midfield interception.

The rest of the first half played out in similar fashion. Missouri went three-and-out for three consecutive possessions, then generated a first down and fumbled. Meanwhile, Tennessee drove more than 40 yards in a possession just twice all game but managed five scores because of an absurd field position advantage.

Lock found the end zone on fourth-and-goal from the 1 with 10 minutes left to cut Tennessee's lead to 19-8, but on Missouri's next possession, the Tigers could move the chains just once and punted on fourth-and-5 with 6 minutes left. It was a gamble on the defense, but Tennessee converted three first downs and ran out most of the clock, and that was that. The team still carried Pinkel off on their shoulders as a sign of admiration, but he went off without a victory.

Missouri will try to salvage bowl eligibility with an upset of Arkansas next Friday in the regular season finale.