Missouri Tigers football grades: Analysis from Mizzou’s close loss at Vanderbilt

A top-15 matchup in Nashville ended in Mizzou’s second loss of the season at the hands of No. 10 Vanderbilt.

It was a defensive struggle for most of the game, but Commodores QB Diego Pavia showed why he’s in Heisman talks on Vanderbilt’s last offensive drive, scoring a go-ahead touchdown with just under two minutes to play.

One of the bigger storylines, however, was the other quarterback: Mizzou QB Beau Pribula will miss time after an injury in the third quarter.

Freshman Matt Zollers got his first taste of being the guy for Mizzou, going 14-for-23 for 138 yards despite entering late in the game. The Tigers ended the game on the 1-yard line, inches away from a game-tying score.

“Really proud of the fight. That’s what this game is,” coach Eli Drinkwitz said. “They’re one-play games. We’re going to be disappointed in three or four plays that we had opportunities to win, and we didn’t get it done.”

Here are our grades from Saturday’s showdown in Nashville:

Missouri offense: D

This week’s offensive grade is complicated.

It was primarily a defensive slugfest in Nashville. With the Tigers losing their starting QB, it’s harder to come up with the right grade.

But here’s the overall picture: Mizzou controlled time of possession at 36:12 to 23:48. It put up 376 total yards, which isn’t necessarily a number to scoff at. The Tigers had more passing yards, rushing yards and converted a better percentage of third downs than Vanderbilt.

The question, though: Were the Tigers efficient with that? Not exactly.

Mizzou only found the end zone once, a touchdown pass from Zollers to Jude James. The Tigers went 5-for-16 on third down and 1-for-3 in the red zone.

One positive was running back Ahmad Hardy, who looked back to his old self with 97 rushing yards — his most since the UMass game. And Kevin Coleman Jr. finished with 109 receiving yards, including the 36-yard Hail Mary catch that put Mizzou a yard from tying the score.

But time expired after that catch, which seemed to sum up the offense in this one.

Grade: D

Missouri defense: B

Defense was the deciding factor in this one, and Mizzou’s defense certainly did its job.

Vanderbilt didn’t score a touchdown until late in the third quarter, and Mizzou’s defense limited Vanderbilt’s trips to the red zone. The Commodores only reached inside the 20 twice.

But that first touchdown was a big one in the way Mizzou has had its struggles with explosive plays this season. The Tigers allowed Makhilyn Young to race 80 yards for a touchdown in the most explosive play of the day.

Still, Mizzou’s defense was undeniably solid. It held Vanderbilt to just 265 yards, and the Commodores went 3-for-10 on third down.

Grade: B

Missouri special teams: D

Robert Meyer made one from 39 yards, and then doinked a field goal from 29 yards.

At this point in the season, what else can really be said about Meyer? The consistency and accuracy just aren’t there.

Grade: D

Area for improvement

Does this sound like a broken record?

Penalties, once again, hit the Tigers hard. Mizzou had eight penalties for 88 yards, including five penalties in the fourth quarter totalling 48 yards.

Those issues were especially notable as Mizzou attempted to mount a late drive to send the game to overtime. Tripping and false start calls stacked up, and the biggest was Zollers’ intentional grounding that included a 10-second runoff.

Player of the game: Matt Zollers

All things considered, Zollers deserves the player of the game honor for this week.

He entered the season as a true freshman expected to be the third-string passer. A crazy turn of events now has him in the starting position for the Tigers.

In his first real showing, he kept Mizzou close in a top-15 matchup.

“Really proud of him. I thought he did an excellent job,” Drinkwitz said. “The moment wasn’t too big for him.”

Maddie Hartley

The Kansas City Star

Maddie Hartley is a former journalist for the Kansas City Star, The Star, KC Star