How Missouri's Cody Schrader gashed Tennessee's top-ranked SEC run defense, according to Josh Heupel
First, there were Missouri players chanting Cody Schrader's name Saturday. Then there were Missouri players hoisting Schrader onto their shoulders as the chants carried on louder yet.
The Tennessee football team was nowhere to be seen, a fitting finish in the aftermath of Schrader's blistering performance obliterating the Vols.
"The difference in the performance is the line of scrimmage," Vols coach Josh Heupel said.
The No. 13 Vols (7-3, 3-3 SEC) lost the line of scrimmage and lost the game 36-7 No. 14 Missouri (8-2, 4-2) in Columbia, Missouri, as Schrader gashed the Vols for four quarters of misery.
How Cody Schrader dominated Tennessee football
Schrader became the 10th player in FBS history with at least 200 rushing yards and 100 receiving yards in a game, according to ESPN Stats and Info. He is the third player to do so against a ranked team.
“They created seams," Heupel said. "He was able to make us miss, ran through some things, too. At times, just gap integrity. They breached us and we didn’t have anybody in the frontside gap. Combination of that."
Schrader, who transferred from Division II Truman State before last season, rushed for 205 yards on 35 attempts with a touchdown. He caught five passes for 116 yards with 86 yards after the catch. He led Missouri in both rushing yards and receiving yards, totaling 321 total yards.
Tennessee finished with 350 total yards.
Tennessee had the top-ranked run defense in the SEC entering Missouri
The Vols were allowing 97.3 rushing yards per game entering Saturday to rank as the SEC's best run defense. It looked nothing like that against the Tigers.
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"You look at (Missouri quarterback) Brady Cook, he made a bunch of plays with his feet, too," Heupel said. "Extended a bunch of drives on third down."
Cook rushed 12 times for 55 yards with a long of 24 yards on a third down in the second half deep in Missouri territory.
Schrader was the main problem. He caught a 38-yard pass on Missouri's first plan then rushed for six yards on back-to-back attempts. He was the SEC's leading rusher coming into Saturday, averaging 102.1 yards per game. He doubled it against the Vols, who tumbled to a humiliating defeat at Farout Field.
Mike Wilson covers University of Tennessee athletics. Email him at michael.wilson@knoxnews.com and follow him on Twitter @ByMikeWilson. If you enjoy Mike’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that will allow you access to all of it
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee football: Josh Heupel on Mizzou, Cody Schrader gashing Vols
