Here are some quick thoughts on Vanderbilt's loss to Missouri.

Things I liked:

Ken Seals

The senior (or is it sophomore?) went 20-of-31 for 259 yards and two passing touchdowns, adding another rushing. Were there some things that could use improvement? Sure; the end-zone interception to Kris Abrams-Draine wasn’t close to a receiver (I don’t know if that was on Seals or someone else) and the Commodores didn’t move the ball for most of the first half.

But the offensive problems (as usual) extend far beyond the quarterback and there was at least a spark with Seals to where, at least for a portion of the fourth quarter, it felt like Vanderbilt had a shot to go down to the wire with a break somewhere. The outing also came against what I think is one of the Southeastern Conference’s better defenses.

And with Seals mostly cutting out the team’s biggest issue (Vandy had one turnover today after nine the previous three games), he did his part to move the team in a better direction.

The rush defense was a bit better

Missouri came in averaging 4.9 yards per rushing play (after sacks) and averaged 4.0 per play Saturday. When Missouri tried to run clock later in the game and salt away a win, Vanderbilt forced some punts.

Marlen Sewell made the biggest play against the run. With Missouri nursing a 10-point lead with 7 1/2 minutes left, the Tigers had a third-and-3 at the Tiger 45 Missouri’s Brady Cook faked a handoff and fooled just about the entire Vanderbilt defense, except for Sewell, who read the play and then wrapped up the bigger Cook two yards short of a first down. That forced a Missouri punt and gave Vandy the ball back with a chance to make it interesting.

Some freshmen got experience

Running back Sedrick Alexander had 77 yards on 12 touches and looks like the team’s best running-back option. Linebacker Brian Longwell played most of the game at linebacker and had six tackles. Receiver Junior Sherrill had a 45-yard touchdown catch. It wasn’t pretty but freshmen Martel Hight and Truedell Berry started at corner; the Commodores are going to struggle there no matter who’s playing so it makes sense to get young guys a lot of reps.

At the halfway point of what already feels like a long season, playing the young guys where you can justify it makes sense, and we saw plenty of that today.

The bad

It’s a line-of scrimmage league and they’re not good enough there.

The offensive line struggled again, and not just with blocking but with procedure penalties. The defensive line didn’t get a sack and didn’t create enough of a threat to Cook with collapsing the pocket or forcing premature throws.

At least on defense, you can blitz and make stuff happen from time to time but eventually you leave young defensive backs on their own to cover and that’s not going to end well if the rush doesn’t get home.

On offense, I’ve got no answers here; the Commodores started in a two-tight-end set and that didn’t much seem to help.

Vanderbilt just isn't close to having enough Southeastern Conference-level bodies in the trenches and until that changes, it's not going to get a ton better.

Vanderbilt starting linebacker Kane Patterson went down in the second quarter favoring his knee.

After being helped off the field, Patterson was carted to the locker room at half with ice on that knee. Clark Lea said he’d give us an update Monday but the optics weren’t encouraging. I think Kane’s brother, Langston, didn’t play today with injury, either.

Lack of urgency in play-calling.

Down 17-7 with 55 seconds left in the half (and with Missouri getting the ball to start the third quarter), Vanderbilt threw a pair of 4-yard dump-off passes to Alexander, ran Seals on a keeper for a yard and then punted with 12 seconds left.

I’m sure some of that is due to offensive line troubles. But Missouri was getting the ball out of the half (and wound up scoring) a touchdown that pushed the lead to 17 on that possession. You’ve got to take your shots and that spot, and Vanderbilt just didn’t.

To that, should Vanderbilt have considered a quick-tempo offense more?

With Seals having just thrown a first down to Quincy Skinner at the Missouri 47, Seals hurried the team to the line, got off a play quickly and then hit Skinner for 22 more to the Tiger 15. Two plays later, Seals executed a great play-fake on a handoff, stepped left and dashed in for an easy 6-yard score.

I get that you want to keep the defense off the field and shorten the game, but it was literally the only signs of life the offense showed in the first three quarters.

With nothing else working, wasn’t it at least worth a consideration?