COLUMBIA, Mo. — Tennessee football players are blaming Josh Heupel for the Vols’ winning, coaching and poor preparation in Saturday’s 36-7 loss to Missouri.Now they want him to do something about it.UT fans are calling on Heupel to fire assistant coaches, bench quarterback Joe Milton and look in the mirror to find out why his teams are losing road games so lopsided.Frustrated UT fans asked about 200 questions in our free Vols text group after the worst loss of the Heupel era. And they want answers.Tennessee (7-3, 3-3 SEC) hosts Georgia (10-0, 7-0) at Neyland Stadium on Saturday (3:30 p.m. ET, CBS). But first, let’s dive into this week’s Vols mailbag.How did UT choke in the years when a lot was at stake?I don’t have that answer. And judging by Heupel’s postgame comments, neither did he.Last season, UT lost 63-38 to South Carolina in a game that fell out of the College Football Playoff picture.That loss to Missouri eliminated UT from the New Year’s Six bowl. And during the game, the Vols still had a shot at the SEC East title until Georgia beat Ole Miss later Saturday.Both failures were in November. And the team seemed helpless to turn the game around at every turn.Is Josh Heupel’s track record as bad as I think?Probably not. At UT, Heupel is 6-7 on the road, 17-3 at home and 2-1 on neutral courts.The contrast between home and away worsens his road record. And the lopsided nature of some of the losses — South Carolina (2022), Florida (2023) and Missouri (2023) — makes more of an impression.When the level of performance counts, it was remarkably poor. But that aside, the record is not as bad as it seems.Five of Heupel’s six road losses came against ranked teams. He also defeated ranked opponents Kentucky (2021), Pittsburgh (2022) and LSU (2022).Why does this team split in road games except at Kentucky?I think it is fair to assume that there is a void in management that was never fully filled by last season’s team. Misfortunes and injuries in road games exposed these deficiencies.Cooper Mays is the leader of the offensive line and did not play in the Florida game due to injury. Bru McCoy was the leader among wide receivers but suffered a season-ending injury against South Carolina.Keenan Pili, former BYU captain, added as head of linebacker corps. But he has been injured since the season opener.Management is only one factor. And there are still respected voices in this team. But it is fair to say that they are not enough.Does the university have disciplinary problems? I see red flags.I don’t think this team reacts well to adversity. Is it a leadership, discipline or accountability issue? They are all under the same umbrella.I don’t see any obvious examples of bad behavior. But penalties have plagued this team all season, ranking 128th out of 133 FBS teams.This is nothing new. Heupel’s teams were ranked 103rd or worse in each of his seasons as head coach at UT and UCF.Some pre-attack penalties are icing on the cake if your attack moves as fast as UT’s. But the extra penalties came at the worst times of the season.Keep Willie Martinez as secondary coach?Willie Martinez is the only Heupel coach whose contract will not be extended beyond this season. So it is possible that he will not be considered.But it is not certain. Martinez has been with Heupel for the past six seasons at UCF and UT.Heupel values the stability of the staff and has never fired an assistant coach. UT offensive coordinator Alex Golesh left to coach South Florida, and Kodi Burns will coach the New Orleans Saints’ wide receivers.At UCF, Heupel lost offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby to Ole Miss and coach Jon Cooper to Arkansas.But not renewing Martinezand#039’s contract could be an opportunity for Heupel to get rid of him without firing him. If the coach is released, he is the preferred candidate.Is Heupel Considering Changing Defensive Coordinator?I don’t think so.Heupel credits defensive coordinator Tim Banks for improving the Vols’ rush defense and passing game. Neither appeared against Missouri. But Heupel judges Banks on a season, not one terrible game.UT is still 3rd in the SEC in scoring defense and 4th in total defenseBut system or personnel adjustments absolutely must happen in pass defense. Banks coaches the safeties and Martinez the cornerbacks. However, the linebackers seemed to have just as much trouble in pass coverage as the linebackers did against Missouri.SPARKSA Another ugly loss to Tennessee makes us look at the 2023 season in a new light.Did opponents figure out Josh Heupel’s offense before November?Violation was not good. It scored seven points, the fewest of Heupel’s tenure.But I think UT’s poor defense compounded the offensive problems in the last two losses in November.In the 2022 loss to South Carolina, the Vols scored 38 points and gained 507 yards. Both scores were not far below average for their 2022 No. 1 offense in the nation.In that loss to Missouri, UT averaged 6.1 yards per play. That’s just below his 6.6-yard average through his first nine games. The offensive output looked worse as UT rarely had the ball.Did the team even practice this week? It looked completely unprepared.I asked Heupel after the game if he had any indications during the week that UT was playing poorly. He said he didn’t and thought the team practiced well in anticipation of a tough road game.Heupel is to be believed on this topic, having previously criticized his team’s lack of focus, especially ahead of the 2021 season.Is it time to send Joe Milton?Not based on his game alone.Milton passed for 267 yards, one TD and one interception despite injuries to receivers and limited offensive plays..