Nashville, TENN – Vanderbilt traveled to Columbia and fought until the end with Missouri, but ultimately came up short after Brock Taylor missed a 31-yard field goal in double overtime.
Clark Lea’s defense gave up 442 total yards and struggled with penalties for the second straight week, but did come up with some key stops that kept Vanderbilt in the game. Here’s how the graded out:
What went right:
The Commodores held the Tigers to 7-17 on 3rd downs, with most of those stops coming in the 2nd half, particularly the 4th quarter. The total yardage isn’t encouraging, but that’s expected to a degree when you’re playing an elite offense on the road. In addition, Clark Lea’s defense finished with three sacks, courtesy of Bryan Longwell, Randon Fontenette, and Khordae Sydnor. Fontenette’s was a huge play in the game that forced a 3rd and long for the Tigers, while Sydnor’s came right before the half that led to Brock Taylor’s 57-yard FG.
What went wrong:
The front seven played one of it’s better games of the season, but their effort was overshadowed by penalties and breakdowns that led to big plays. Nate Noel had a 64-yard run early in the 3rd quarter that led to a touchdown, giving the Tigers a 20-13 lead. On that play, CJ Taylor, who had just checked in after sitting out the first half, lost Noel on a blitz that left a lot of green grass in front of him. That was the biggest gain of the day for the Tigers’ but Brady Cook did just enough in the passing game to give the Tigers’ offense confidence. Luther Burden finished with 6 catches for 76 yards and 2 TD, which is a decent defensive performance on one of the best receivers in the country. He scored the first and last touchdown of the game for Missouri with the first coming off of a play-action stretch play that had Vanderbilt lost. In overtime, he made it look easy after beating Tyson Russell down the sideline to tie the game. Overall, the big plays, mental breakdowns, and penalties were what cost this defense in Columbia.
Penalties (yet again):
Once again, penalties were an issue for this team. The Commodores committed eight penalties for 93 yards. Whether it was unnecessary roughness, late hits out of bounds, or illegal formations, this team failed to play a clean game on offense or defense regarding penalties. To hear Coach Lea talk all week about playing disciplined, clean football and see another game that was the opposite of that has to be discouraging. Despite that, those are fixable mistakes that the Commodores will have time to correct in the next two weeks.
Grade: C -
Defensive MVP: Bryan Longwell
For the second straight week, Longwell stepped up for this defense. He finished with 12 tackles, 1 sack, and 2.5 TFLs in a performance that shouldn’t go unnoticed.
