7-1 for the First Time Since 1941: Vanderbilt vs Missouri Recap
In arguably Vanderbilt’s worst played, and certainly “ugliest,” game of the year, Clark Lea’s group found a way to emerge victorious with their program record and country-leading 3rd top 15 win of the year.
The offense had arguably their worst game of the year, but the bright spots were MK Young, Tre Richardson, and Eli Stowers. Young ran for 86 yards on 4 carries and had one of the biggest plays of the game on an 80 yard touchdown run. Stowers caught 3 passes for 42 yards and Richardson caught 4 for 62 including an outstanding deep ball where he somehow managed to get his back foot in bounds despite the rest of his body being carried out of the field of play.
Defensively, though, the ‘Dores had what was certainly their best game of the year. Bryan Longwell had 13 tackles, a season high for any Commodore defender. CJ Heard and Langston Patterson also had 8 tackles. Heard got the game ball for his crucial forced turnover where he literally took the ball out of Jamal Roberts’ hands after coming around the edge unblocked. Heard, Miles Capers, Randon Fontenette, and Keanu Koht all had TFLs, too.
Game Recap
The game opened in a very fitting way for what Vandy fans were going to see for the rest of the afternoon. Mizzou went 3 and out and then Vanderbilt gave it right back after getting just 1 first down. Most had expected some offensive fireworks with the hyper-efficient Vandy offense and dominant Mizzou rush attack, but it became extremely clear early on that would not be happening today. In fact, of the 6 possessions in the first quarter, in only one of them did either team cross midfield.
Vanderbilt finally put together a good drive at the beginning of the second quarter, though. A 16 yard screen to Tre Richardson and 13 yard completion to Stowers were key plays that set Vanderbilt up at the Mizzou 23 yard line, but it was all downhill from there. A -1 yard rush followed by an incompletion, false start, and then personal foul on Jordan White moved Vanderbilt back to the Mizzou 44 and out of Brock Taylor’s range.
Mizzou’s then offense finally woke up, as they put together a long drive to open up the scoring. Beau Pribula, Ahmad Hardy, and Kevin Coleman went to work against Vandy’s defense, getting down to the 21 yard line, but Vandy’s defense held strong after that. The Tigers hit a 39 yard field goal to make it 3-0 Mizzou.
Once again Vandy’s offense showed signs of life as they responded. The first play of the next drive was a 39 yard completion to Tre Richardson which was followed by a couple short passes and a 19 yard shot down the seams to Eli Stowers who made an outstanding leaping grab at the Mizzou 7 yard line. Then a familiar tune started playing. Diego Pavia had a Heisman-worthy scramble for a touchdown where he made no less than 4 Tiger defenders look silly trying to tackle him, but it was called back for holding by both Bryce Henderson and Junior Sherrill. Eventually, Vandy had to settle for a 38 yard field goal try which Brock Taylor nailed, tying it up at 3. The score of 3-3 would hold until halftime.
Vanderbilt got the ball to start the second half, but disaster struck for the ‘Dores when a ball was batted at the line of scrimmage and intercepted at the Vandy 20. Tre Richardson did his best to strip the ball from the Mizzou defender, and it looked like he may have done so, but officials ruled that the ball carrier was down before the ball was dislodged.
Mizzou drove the ball from Vanderbilt’s 20 to the 2 yard line, but Vandy’s defense once again showed grit and fortitude not often demonstrated by Vanderbilt teams of old. They held Ahmad Hardy out of the endzone, forced an incomplete throw, and then stuffed Beau Pribula attempted a QB keeper on 4th and goal from the 2. On this play Pribula ended up getting injured and appeared to break a bone in his leg, forcing Mizzou to turn to 3rd string Matt Zollers for the rest of the game.
Vandy’s offense went 3 and out as they could not get out of their own endzone and punted it back to Mizzou. A solid return by Kevin Coleman positioned the Tigers at the Vanderbilt 48.
Once again put in a bad position, the Vanderbilt defense was challenged to hold strong. Mizzou used their strong power rush game and some short passes to get down into the red zone, but the Vandy defense once again held strong. Mizzou tried a 29 yard field goal but it was doinked off the left upright and the score miraculously held at 3-3.
Then came the play that changed the game. On the first play of their next drive, MK Young got the edge on a counter run and broke it for 80 yards to the house. Stowers, Sherrill, and Tristen Brown threw crucial blocks on that run, too. Vanderbilt took their first lead at 10-3 after the Brock Taylor extra point.
WHile scoring the touchdown was great, the speed with which it happened forced Vandy’s defense to take the field while still gassed from their last 2 defensive stands. Missouri exploited this as they finally broke some long runs in a 12 play, 75 yard drive. The Tigers ended up going for it on 4th and 2 from the Vanderbilt 6 yard line and scored a touchdown on an outstanding pass that went just beyond Langston Patterson’s fingertips in the endzone. The extra point was very nearly blocked by Martel Hight but it just got over his outstretched arms to tie the game up at 10.
Vandy then went 3 and out after both some questionable play calling and decision making by Pavia and Beck and it looked like Mizzou had all the momentum.
Once again, Vanderbilt called on their gassed defense to come up big, and they did. After giving up a 1st down to Missouri, and RPO was called and the exchange between Matt Zollers and Jamal Roberts was awkward. CJ Heard, who had timed the snap count and came flying around the edge unblocked, then quite literally took the ball out of Roberts’ hands to force the Missouri turnover and give Vanderbilt much needed momentum.
The Vandy offense finally sustained a drive against Mizzou’s front and made the most of this opportunity. Missouri didn’t do themselves any favors as they roughed Diego Pavia by hitting him in the head and committed pass interference on a throw Junior Sherill didn’t have much of a chance at, giving Vanderbilt a red zone chance. Tim Beck wisely chose to go with Vanderbilt’s bread and butter and pound the rock in the red zone. Pavia eventually carried the ball down to the 1 yard line before the 2 minute timeout and gave the ‘Dores a first and goal with a chance to seal a victory. On the first attempt from the 1 Sedrick Alexander was stuffed at the goal line. Mizzou came out of the scrum with the ball and officials ruled that Alexander had fumbled, but replay showed that Sedrick had been down for several seconds before losing possession of the football. With the ball back in his hands, Diego Pavia then took the ball and leapt over 2 Mizzou defenders for the decisive touchdown. Vanderbilt took a 17-10 lead with 1:52 remaining.
The drama of this game was not over yet, though. Vanderbilt forced Zollers and the Mizzou offense to a 3rd and 23, but Kolbey Taylor mistimed his attempt to break up a pass and committed a pass interference that extended the drive. Zollers then completed several impressive passes, including one on 4th and 10, giving Mizzou the ball in Vanderbilt territory. On the next play, though, Keanu Koht got his hands on Zoller and forced him to commit an intentional grounding that resulted in a loss of down and a 10 second runoff. This forced the Tigers to attempt a hail mary. On the final play of the game, Zollers launched a ball towards the end zone, Kevin Coleman looked like he caught it but it was called incomplete by the official nearby. Celebration ensued from the Vanderbilt players and fans, but officials put a stop to them as they reviewed the play. The replay showed that Coleman had indeed caught the ball, but was a matter of inches short of the goal line. Since time had expired on the play, the game was over and Vanderbilt won 17-10.
Wrap-Up
In the end, it was fittingly a matter of inches that determined this game. It was an ugly, ugly game and there was a lot to learn from, but Vanderbilt won and is now in the driver’s seat for a spot in the College Football Playoffs. They will have to play much cleaner football if they want to achieve this lofty goal, though.
