Mizzou falls to Vanderbilt in a rock fight
Not much about the battle between No. 15 Missouri and No. 10 Vanderbilt was pretty.
In a battle between two offenses in the top 15 in the country in points per game and top 25 in yards per game, neither ever found a rhythm on the way to a 17-10 Vanderbilt win at FirstBank Stadium in Nashville on Saturday.
“We played our butt off, we fought, we knew we would,” Missouri coach Eliah Drinkwitz said.
Missouri, which came in averaging 486.6 yards and 39 points per game, reached 376 yards and 10 points. Vanderbilt, which averaged 457.7 yards and 41.43 points per game, reached just 265 yards and 17 points.
Instead, it was a battle of defenses.
The teams traded six punts to start the game before Missouri finally began to put a drive together.
The Tigers started on their own 10 and drove 69 yards on 14 plays, highlighted by a 21-yard pass from Beau Pribula to Kevin Coleman midway through the drive.
Pribula looked to have a 20-yard run to set up Mizzou at the 1, but it was brought back for a tripping penalty. The first of two tripping penalties Missouri was called for Saturday.
“I’m not saying there were good or bad calls, we were just on the wrong end of the flags most of the day,” Drinkwitz said. “We scored an early touched, they call it tripping. Right, wrong or whatever, I don’t know. But it just seemed like every time we got something.”
Instead, the Tigers settled for a field goal and the initial lead with 5:11 left in the second quarter.
It didn’t take long for Vanderbilt to respond as the Commodores drive 55 yards on the next 11 plays before kicking a 38-yard field goal of their own to tie the game going into halftime.
Disaster strikes
Early in the second half, it looked like the Tigers had the moment to gain momentum.
Chris McClellan tipped a pass at the line of scrimmage and Damon Wilson came down with first career interception. That set the Tigers up at Vanderbilt’s 20 with the chance to take the lead.
Mizzou quickly got in a goal-to-go situation, but the first-down run was stopped at the 3. Then the second-down run was stuffed at the 2. On third down, the Tigers tried a rollout pass to the flat, but it fell incomplete. Then on fourth, the Tigers went for their fake-pitch quarterback run.
And as Pribula tried to push his way into the end zone, disaster struck.
“He was on the bottom of the pile and somebody grabbed his leg and kind of fell on him,” Drinkwitz said. “It was unfortunate, unfortunate injury right there.”
Pribula was in obvious pain immediately and had to have an inflatable cast put on his leg before being taken off the field on a cart.
Drinkwitz said after the game Pribula has no broken bones, but did need to have his ankle popped into place. Drinkwitz did not give a timetable, Pribula is set for an MRI on Sunday. But early expectations are he could miss the rest of the regular season.
Restarting the game
The game resumed with Vanderbilt taking over at its own 1.
And as it had all day, the Mizzou defense held. The Tigers forced a punt and in came true freshman Matt Zollers for his first drive in a non-blowout.
The drive started on the Vanderbilt 48 and Zollers converted two fourth downs to get the Tigers in the red zone, including a 15-yard pass to Joshua Manning on fourth-and-4.
The Tigers got to fourth-and-6 and this time decided to send out Robert Meyer for a 29-yard field goal.
The kick hit off the left upright and the game remained tied.
One play later, Vanderbilt’s Makhilyn Young broke free down the visiting sideline for an 80-yard touchdown, the lone explosive play allowed by the Mizzou defense.
“I think the morale and energy got kind of taken from us on the gut punch on the missed field goal,” Drinkwitz said. “We had the ball down there twice and came away with zero points.”
Zollers time to shine
Trailing by a score in a game where one touchdown seemed insurmountable, Zollers came back out looking to lead a comeback.
He got some help from Ahmad Hardy, who rushed 20 times for 97 yards. Hardy took the first three plays of the drive for a combined 21 yards, then a pass interference moved the Tigers to midfield.
Zollers then hit Jude James on a 9-yard pass and connected with James again on a 6-yard play to send the teams into the fourth quarter with Mizzou at Vanderbilt’s 29. James played in place for starting tight end Brett Norfleet, who left midway through the game with an injury Drinkwitz did not disclose.
The drive continued with Hardy running up the middle for 15 yards, then on fourth-and-2 at the Vanderbilt 6, Zollers rolled to his left and found James again for a touchdown to tie the game with 12:49 left to play.
“I thought he did an excellent job,” Drinkwitz said. “… I thought he played really big. Fourth down conversions to give us a chance. And then when they took the lead, to drive down and score, I thought, was really impressive.”
James ended with four catches for 29 yards and a touchdown.
Losing momentum
The Tiger defense forced another punt and Mizzou began to drive again. Zollers converted two third downs to the get the Tigers to midfield, but on a mesh read, the handoff was stolen by Vanderbilt’s CJ Heard, giving the Commodores the ball at the Tiger 44 with 7:02 left.
The turnover set up a long Vanderbilt drive as the Commodores ate up more than 5 minutes of clock, ending with Diego Pavia diving into the end zone for a 1-yard touchdown.
The Tigers had one final drive with 1:52 left and 75 yards to go.
Zollers helped draw a pass interference on a deep attempt on third and long, then hit James for a first down.
On fourth-and-10, he connected with Coleman for a first down, then on third-and-17 with 6 seconds left, Zollers heaved a Hail Mary to the end zone.
Coleman caught the pass, but after review, was a yard short of the end zone as the game ended.
“We’ll figure it out, starting as soon as I get on the plane,” Drinkwitz said. “We’ll come up with a plan, we’ll attack it and Mizzou will be proud. You got a bunch of fighters in that room. Those guys are fighting their butt off. Played really hard.
“They got a fumble on the 1-inch line, it got overturned, but they’re doing everything they can to give us a chance. And then the ball gets thrown to the 1-inch line. We’re giving ourselves opportunities.”
Stats
- Pribula was 9-of-14 passing for 68 yards before exiting. He also ran four times for 10 yards.
- Zollers was 14-of-23 for 138 yards and a touchdown in relief. He added four yards rushing on four carries.
- Hardy led the Tigers on the ground at 20 carries for 97 yards.
- Coleman was next with two carries for 44 yards, highlighted by a wildcat fake reverse keeper he took for 34 yards.
- Coleman was the leading receiver as well with seven catches for 109 yards.
- Mizzou outgained Vanderbilt 376-265 overall, 206-129 in the air and 170-136 on the ground.
- The Tigers had 22 first downs to Vanderbilt’s 13.
- Mizzou converted 4-of-5 fourth downs and 5-of-16 third downs.
- The Tigers had 78 total plays to Vanderbilt’s 45 and led time of possession 36:12-23:48.
Up next
The Tigers will use a bye week to prepare to face Texas A&M at Faurot Field on Nov. 8.
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