The Tennessee Vols couldn't have played much worse than they did against the Missouri Tigers on Saturday in Columbia. 

Tennessee's 7 points was its lowest output in the Josh Heupel era. And giving up 321 yards to a former walk-on in Cody Schrader was a low point for the defense. 

But despite the uninspiring performance against a team the Vols boat raced the previous two seasons, the sky is not falling for Tennessee football. The program is still on the right path under Heupel. Saturday was just an unfortunate setback. 

Tennessee was at its worst on Saturday while Missouri was at its best. When that happens, you tend to get a lopsided result like the one we saw on Saturday. 

Now, that doesn't mean that fans should shrug off the loss. There are definitely some valid concerns about Tennessee after that game. Why were the Tigers able to move bodies so easily? Where were the defensive adjustments? Is Tennessee's quarterback play good enough? What's up with the lackluster play calling at times? 

Those are all questions that Heupel and his staff will have to answer this week in their meetings. But they aren't the first SEC program that's faced those questions this season. And they won't be the last. Winning in the SEC is incredibly difficult unless you're Alabama or Georgia, a couple of programs that have been stockpiling the absolute best talent in the nation for the last five years (longer in Alabama's case), while programs like Tennessee have to fight other respected programs for the talent that Alabama and Georgia doesn't land. 

Tennessee's poor performances on the road can't keep happening. Heupel has to figure out why they keep happening and how to stop it. A lot of it has to do with the mentality of the program — from the players on the field to the coaches on the sideline — but just because this is an issue, doesn't mean it's time to hit the panic button. Heupel, of course, is still a young SEC coach. He's an incredibly smart guy and he undoubtedly understands that the road woes have to be fixed if the Vols are going to win a championship. 

The reality is that it takes time to build a program. And unlike in the past when that phrase has been uttered, Heupel has given fans some tangible results that show where he can take the program.

Rebuilding a program isn't always linear. There are ups and downs. And it's important to remember that less than three years ago, everyone — and I do mean everyone — wrote the obituary for Tennessee football. The program was left for dead after the disastrous end of the Jeremy Pruitt era. And two years later, Heupel led the Vols to 11 wins for the first time in two decades. 

That 11-win season gave Tennessee fans a reason to be excited. But it also cursed Heupel with unreasonably high expectations for 2023. The Vols are still fighting their way out of the hole that Pruitt dug. Tennessee saw some daylight last season, but there's still some climbing to do before they're all the way back. 

Heupel is ultra competitive, confident, and self-aware. That doesn't mean that he's always going to make the right decisions — even Nick Saban and Kirby Smart have made some poor coaching decisions in their careers — but Heupel isn't a guy that's going to refuse to evolve.

Tennessee hasn't peaked under Heupel. Not even close. But just because the program is on the right track doesn't mean that dark moments are completely in the past. The key for Tennessee is making sure those dark moments are learning moments for the entire program. Sometimes the worst losses can lead to vital lessons for coaches and players. The most important thing for the Vols after Saturday's loss to Missouri is that the program somehow turns a dark moment into a positive. 

Missouri HC Eli Drinkwitz admits it meant more to beat Tennessee

Not something that head coaches usually admit