Missouri falls to Vanderbilt, marking their second loss of the season
It was slow.
It was sluggish.
It was chippy.
It was a game that left multiple players injured or hurting.
And alongside the 17-10 loss to Vanderbilt, fans will stay up thinking about their injured quarterback. In a fourth-and-two scenario, Beau Pribula rushed it up the middle and was tackled from all directions by the Vanderbilt defense, resulting in the QB being carted off the field with an air cast around his left ankle.
After the game Head Coach Eli Drinkwitz said, “He didn’t break any bones, we think. We’ll get an MRI tomorrow and see what the results are.”
Until five minutes left in the first half, neither team could find a find a way to score. Before the 13 minute mark, Pribula only had four yards in the air and Mizzou had collected only two first downs.
While the offense felt stagnant, the defense continued to hold the Tigers in the game. Santana Banner had three solo tackles, including one for loss, while Damon Wilson II, Zion Young and Sterling Webb were all over Diego Pavia.
On the second drive of the second quarter, the Tigers finally managed a field goal. It came after an… interesting tripping call on Dominick Giudice that prevented Mizzou from a potential touchdown. The penalty happened behind and away from the play and erased Pribula’s run to the 1-yard line. It was just that kind of game.
We were on the wrong end of, and I’m not saying they were good or bad calls, we were just on the wrong end of the flags most of the day” said Drinkwitz. “We scored an early touchdown, they call it tripping, right wrong or whatever …. and that’s stuff we’re gonna have to in these close games we’re gonna have to fix.”
On Vanderbilt’s next possession, they answered. Tre Richardson demonstrated why football is a game of inches as he dragged his toe on the turf to secure a 37-yard throw. Pavia then continued his Heisman campaign season with a couple more darts before the ‘Dores compromised themselves with penalties and settled for a field goal.
The hecticness continued into the second half, with an interception from Pavia that led to Mizzou reaching the Vandy two-yard line. It was Wilson’s first pick of the year as he showcased his talents in multiple facets of the game.
Then on fourth down, Pribula was injured and you could hear a pin drop inside FirstBank Stadium.
A ‘Dores three-and-out later, all eyes were on freshman quarterback Matt Zollers.
He showed off both his arm and legs and brought Mizzou up the field before redshirt freshman kicker Robert Meyer dinked the left upright from 29-yards out and the field goal was no good.
On the subsequent punt, things got tricky for the Tigers as Makhilyn Young rushed 80 yards to the house to regain the Vandy lead.
But Mizzou didn’t stop fighting.
“We could have laid our heads and lost by 25,” said Connor Tollison. “We stuck around to be an inch away from tying the ballgame, so you know, there’s a lot of fight in these Tigers and I’m excited for what the next four games will hold.”
Zollers showed off again on the next possession, converting on multiple third downs to knot it up at 10-10 with nearly 13 minutes left in the game.
“It’s not really a surprise to me,” said Daylan Carnell about Zoller’s performance.
He added, “All through camp we’ve seen his arm talent and what he could do … I know he probably thinks he could have did better, but he did pretty good for his first action against a top-ten team.”
After a half of basically nothing happening, the action just wouldn’t stop. Zollers found freshman tight end Jude James in the endzone for his second career TD. On his next drive, a handoff went awry and Vanderbilt took possession, killing valuable time off the clock, which eventually led to a touchdown with under two minutes remaining.
The Tigers had no answer this time, and a Hail Mary caught inches short of the goal line by Kevin Coleman Jr. as time expired sealed the Vanderbilt victory.
It’s a game that will leave a sour taste, full of what-ifs and self-inflicted wounds.
Mizzou will have a bye week and return to action at home on November 8th against Texas A&M.
“We’ll take it one play, one game, one day at a time and we’ll see what happens,” said Drinkwitz. “You know they’re going to be hurt, disappointed, we’re all going to be because we put a lot into these games, but they’ve got a lot to be proud of.”
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