Well… Glad that’s over.
The No. 7 Mizzou football team flirted with what would’ve been an unacceptable, inexplicable loss at home to Vanderbilt on Saturday afternoon. It was one of the hardest games Mizzou fans had to watch in at least a calendar year. The Tigers squandered several red zone chances. The defense got leaky in some untimely moments against a mobile quarterback. The reigning SEC special teams player of the week finally started looking like a redshirt freshman. Hearts sank to the bottom of Mizzou fans’ stomachs while watching the madness continue for two more extra periods of play.
But in the end, Mizzou won 30-27 in double-overtime following a missed game-tying field goal attempt from Vanderbilt’s kicker. It was followed by 62,621 exhales and grumbles at Faurot Field.
Let’s take a look at the Knee-Jerk Reactions at the upset that wasn’t:
Eli Drinkwitz coached to not lose
This team, for the fourth week in a row, had a talent mismatch. Mizzou had several ways to attack this Vanderbilt team. But at several points, it seemed that the head coach was wary of letting his team show it.
The first sign was a reluctance to go for a 4th-and-short situation in the first quarter. It led to a field goal miss off the upright, one of Blake Craig’s several misses on the day. I was willing to give it a pass in the moment since Mizzou had just been stuffed on 3rd-and-1, but it wasn’t a strong moment by any means.
An even more inexcusable scenario took place at the end of the half. Mizzou was stopped two yards short of the sticks on 3rd down with about 25 seconds left and counting. The offense hurried up to go for it, but it resulted in a sack and great field position for Vanderbilt to kick a last-second field goal. Drinkwitz needed to call a timeout to either get his team organized to go for fourth or punt it, or let the clock run out and put the onus on Vandy to stop the clock if they want. Instead, he allowed worst-case scenario to happen. Yes, the play could’ve been executed better on fourth down, but a timeout could’ve prevented it all from happening.
Then, at the end of regulation, Drinkwitz had an even more baffling choice. With the score tied and Mizzou near midfield with under a minute left, the Tigers tried to draw Vandy offside on fourth down, then called timeout. They then punted away, presumably to just pin the opponent deep and go to OT. But then when Vandy ran their first few plays, Drinkwitz kept calling timeouts in an effort to get the ball back. Which proved worthless since he only had two timeouts and not three.
So it wasn’t just the decisions on whether to go for fourth down or not; it was the ensuing decisions that made everyone wonder the thought process behind the decisions.
Couple that with several play-calling sequences that left a lot to be desired. The QB keeper was clearly not working, but not according to the coaching staff considering how often they dialed it up. I know that’s more on Kirby Moore, but it’s also on Drink for not putting the kibosh on it sooner before things got worse.
Bottom line: I think the way Eli Drinkwitz coached this game cost Mizzou some scoreboard margin. Vanderbilt does not have an elite defense, but Mizzou failed to stomp on the throat when they had chances to do so with the ball. Drinkwitz acknowledged several times that he needed to be better when talking to media after the game. Here’s hoping that he takes that to heart for the rest of the season.
Brady Cook had a bad day
I think a lot of the hate Cook has taken over 2.5 years has been mainly unfair. No one expects him to be the best quarterback in the SEC, and I don’t think he needs to be for Mizzou to be a good team. But he had a rough day on Saturday.
Cook was 23-of-27 for 226 yards and two touchdowns to Luther Burden. On the surface, that’s not a terrible stat line. He didn’t turn the ball over and still created some positive plays. But watching it play out, with Cook missing several targets, including on third downs, you could tell that his line should’ve been much better against this Vanderbilt defense. A particularly rough moment came on 3rd-and-5 in double-overtime, when Cook threw into double coverage to Burden in the back of the end zone. He’s not only lucky that it wasn’t picked, but also lucky that the field goal try by Vandy to tie was missed wide left, ending the game. That ball goes through the uprights, and we might be talking about a different result.
If Mizzou had lost this game, I don’t think Cook’s play would’ve been the main reason why. Play-calling was still an issue. There were some drops, including one by Burden that would’ve silenced some of Cook’s deep-ball doubters. There’s a lot of problems to look back on with the tape and address before the next game. Cook’s play was one of them. This was certainly his worst performance of the year so far.
Is the defense good enough to be the “bailout” unit?
Mizzou’s defense has had a great start to the season. But you could see some cracks on Saturday against Vanderbilt. Another coverage bust led to the first score of the game, a 65-yard bomb by Diego Pavia. They also lost contain on the running quarterback several times. Pavia’s sack-adjusted rushing line was 14 carries for 97 yards, an average of 6.9 yards per carry. That’s too much to allow for a quarterback. I do give Mizzou credit for making some key stops between the second and third quarters after a tough start. But they clearly needed to hold on for dear life at the end, and if Vanderbilt didn’t have an offensive pass interference penalty in double-overtime, I’m not sure Mizzou’s defense would’ve had enough to hold them out of the end zone and preserve the win.
We’ve seen this defense have to bail out the offense numerous times over the last couple of years, while waiting for the offense to catch up. It was enough Saturday against Vanderbilt, but I’m uncertain that it’ll be enough against the rest of Mizzou’s schedule. It’s going to be crucial for the offense to have more of an ability to build two-score, even three-score cushions in the second half to force opponents out of their game plan. That can help the defense finish games down the stretch. I think this defense was solid enough, but against a more talented team, I’m skeptical that they can keep the dam from breaking if Mizzou’s offense continue to struggle.
Nate Noel is that dude
Clearly the best aspect of this Mizzou offense is the outside zone scheme for Nate Noel. He went off for 199 yards on 24 carries, averaging 8.3 yards per attempt. He didn’t get in the end zone, but he still allowed Mizzou to get in great positions to score. Replacing Cody Schrader was going to be a tough ask this year, but Noel is on track to possibly do that all on his own. We expected closer to an even split of carries between Noel and Marcus Carroll, but it’s clear now that Noel can be more of a volume back that the Tigers can rely on.
That said, there could even be improvement in this part of Mizzou’s game too. Noel had a monster rushing total, but 96 of his 199 yards came on two carries. There were some moments that the Tigers were stuffed on some of his runs, and it put them off schedule. A better night from Cook or a better plan from the offensive staff could’ve made up for it. But because those were non-existent, those plays got highlighted as drive-stoppers. I know, it’s nit-picky. Noel had a career night yardage-wise. I just feel weird saying that any part of this Mizzou offensive performance on Saturday is immune from even a little criticism.
It’s not good, but it’s still a win
You’re probably reading this because you’re a Mizzou fan. And if you’re reading this, you shouldn’t feel too happy about this game. A *lot* of issues popped up. This was probably the worst performance Mizzou has had in a single game since 2022. They almost lost at home against the one SEC team you absolutely cannot lose to. They deserved to lose it.
But they still won
And because they won, the goals for this season are still alive. No, Mizzou cannot expect to play this way and go 10-2 and earn an at-large bid. Heck, they can’t even expect to go 8-4 if they keep playing this way. But there is still plenty of time to improve. Contrary to what you might believe, college football teams are far from a finished product by Week 4. Mizzou only beat Middle Tennessee by four last year. They needed to convert a 4th-and-17 to beat a bad Florida team at home. And they still finished 11-2. As long as this is the worst game Mizzou plays all year, everything is still on the table for them in 2024.
Luckily for Mizzou, the bye week is here. They now get an extra week to prepare for their first road test at Texas A&M. It won’t be easy. Mizzou has a lot to clean up, especially on offense. Even with Saturday’s clunker against Vanderbilt, this team is still capable of going to College Station and winning. But the ramp-up is now over. It’s time to go show they are worthy of their ranking.
