Missouri defense comes up big to stop Vanderbilt: 5 takeaways from MU’s 17-14 victory
Missouri can’t play a football game without drama.
The Tigers held off Vanderbilt 17-14 after leading 17-0. Mizzou’s defense, terrific all day except for one lapse, came up with a fourth-and-1 stop with 1:18 remaining from the Tigers’ 44.
The outcome ends a five-game Missouri losing streak against power five programs, dating to last season.
Mizzou got a pair of touchdowns from freshman wide receiver Luther Burden and improved to 1-3 in SEC play, 3-4 overall.
Here are five takeaways from Saturday’s game at Faurot Field, a homecoming showdown that attracted 60,618 fans.
How good was the Mizzou defense?
The only teams to hold Vanderbilt to single-digit points were Georgia and Alabama, which were ranked first and second when playing the Commodores.
This game was headed that way until Mike Wright, who didn’t start the game, completed a short sideline pass to Garmarion Carter. What looked like a short gain turned into an 80-yard touchdown when Carter split a pair of defenders. Until then, Vandy had 206 total yards.
Take away the Georgia and Alabama games, and Vandy had averaged 39.2 points per outing.
Missouri got the job done. In the first half. The Commodores had drives that started at the Mizzou 33 and Vandy 47. They missed a field goal on the first and punted away the second.
No points and 119 total yards in the first half for Vanderbilt. Another missed field goal in the second half, this one from 27 yards moments after the Commodores had scored, killed Vandy’s momentum.
Still, Missouri needed a final stand from its defense to clinch the victory.
Mizzou’s biggest play
The Commodores’ best drive of the first half came late in the second quarter, when they reached the 10.
With D.J. Coleman bearing down, Vandy quarterback A.J. Swann rushed his throw to top target Will Sheppard. But MU cornerback Jaylon Carlies stepped in front of Sheppard in the end zone for the pick.
Swann had been intercepted for the first time this season, and the Tigers used the final 72 seconds to drive into field-goal range, where Harrison Mevis booted a 38-yarder with 1 second remaining in the half.
Defensive play of the day
As good as Missouri’s defense was all day, Vanderbilt turned in the game’s top defensive play.
The Tigers faced a third-and-9 from their 11 and Vandy brought a blitz, with safety C.J. Taylor charging.. Cody Shrader was there for the block, but Taylor jumped over the Mizzou running back and got to Cook along with linebacker Anfernee Orji. The ball was jarred loose and Taylor got the scoop-and-score to make it 17-7.
Luther Burden finds the end zone, twice
Luther Burden turned in his first multi-touchdown game since the opener, and in true Burden fashion, there was a touch of flair with both.
From the Vandy 35, Burden took a sideways pass, got great blocks from Barrett Banister and Mekhi Miller, split a couple of defenders and sprinted into the end zone to open the scoring on Mizzou’s first possession.
In the second quarter, from the 10, Burden took a handoff from Missouri quarterback Brady Cook on an end-around and ran through traffic at the goal line to score.
Enough Missouri mistakes to keep it close
In the second half, Vanderbilt got a first down on a fake punt, recovered what amounted to an onside kick when the Tigers lost the ball because of the wind, and lost its shutout on the sack-scoop-score.
Running back Nathan Peat lost a fumble as the Tigers were reaching the red zone.
Joseph Charleston dropped a sure interception.
Finally, Harrison Mevis pushed a 36-yard field goal attempt late in the fourth quarter.
All of these issues kept Missouri from possibly pulling away from Vandy in the second half.
This story was originally published October 22, 2022 at 6:31 PM.