Instant analysis of Vanderbilt's defense in its 38-21 loss to Missouri.

What went right

Vanderbilt's early aggressiveness on defense was admirable, the Commodores let it loose with a few early blitzes and continued to set that tone throughout the rest of the first half.

None of those blitzes resulted in sacks but gave Missouri some trouble early, particularly in the running game.

Before Vanderbilt wore down in the second half, it showed flashes of making Missouri one-dimensional by stopping the run. Heading into Saturday's contest, Missouri running back Cody Schrader led the Southeastern Conference in rushing yards by a significant margin.

In the first half of Saturday's contest he ran for just 19 yards.

Vanderbilt's run defense eventually broke down but showed flashes of positives against one of the league's top rushing attacks.

What went wrong

Vanderbilt's defense had a hard time stopping Missouri's high-powered offense, that ultimately led to its demise on Saturday.

Missouri quarterback Brady Cook threw for 395 yards and four touchdowns while completing 33 of his 41 passes and avoiding an interception.

The Tigers recorded eight "big" passing plays. That went with three "big" rushes to do Vanderbilt in.

The Commodore defense just couldn't play complementary football and wore down to give up 532 total yards of offense. 395 of those were passing and 137 were rushing.

It's gonna be difficult for Vanderbilt to win with that yardage. What's gonna make that even more difficult is when the Commodores don't force turnovers or sacks. Neither of which happened on Saturday.

Perhaps the worst news the Vanderbilt defense received on Saturday came with Kane Patterson's injury, the veteran linebacker went down and didn't return to the contest. Rather, the linebacker finished it by watching from the sideline on crutches.

Player of the game: Aenas DiCosmo

It felt like DiCosmo made the biggest impact he has on a game all season on Saturday, the Stanford transfer picked up six tackles, a TFL and a quarterback hit.

Grade: D

Vanderbilt's defense got some holds but gave up too many big plays and points to give its offense a chance in this one.

The Commodores still have most of the same issues they've proven to all season.