The drive wouldn’t have been as successful as it was if Vanderbilt had not been called for defensive interference on fourth-and-24, setting up a first-and-10 on the 30 yard line.
Advertisement
With Vanderbilt’s propensity to play tough against the run, Missouri will have to manufacture yards on the ground in a variety of ways, whether that includes reverses, jet sweeps, or even zone-read looks with Lock. However, he followed that up with four straight incompletions, two of which were way off the mark.
The theme of overthrown receivers pops up again and again throughout the night, and while I might have ragged on Drew Lock a bit, it wasn’t entirely his fault.
On fourth down, Lock threw an incomplete pass intended for Nate Brown. Most guilty of these faults are Wesley Leftwich and Emmanuel Hall. They also bring in the league’s best passing defense with defenders who have picked off eight passes. It also dropped Mizzou to 4-4 on the season.
“0 for 14 on third downs – who would have thunk it?”
The Tigers were prepared to take advantage of it. A 16-yard completion presaged a 33-yard Drew Lock scramble that moved the ball into Commodore territory. The offensive line was not without fault either. When you account for the fact that 24 of those 36 points came in one game – their only win in the month and their only victory in their last five games, against South Carolina – it makes their performance over the last three weeks positively pitiful. In this aspect, Missouri’s special teams failed spectacularly. It would take until the final minutes of the second quarter for Mizzou to score, as Charles Harris strip-sacked freshman Kyle Shurmur that resulted in an Andrew Baggett field goal.
But the biggest special teams screw up belongs yet again to kick returner Cam Hilton. He was replaced briefly by Johnny McCrary for a Vanderbilt three-and-out (net yards: -9), but returned to the game to lead the ‘Dores to a 72-yard touchdown drive that broke that early 0-0 tie. Unlike the Georgia game last week, the Tigers got lucky.
Down 10-3 with just over two minutes remaining, Vanderbilt kicker Tommy Openshaw missed a field goal giving final hope to Mizzou.
The one bright spot this week, as is tradition, was the defense.
Vanderbilt quarterback Kyle Shurmur (14) passes against Missouri in the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, October 24, 2015, in Nashville, Tenn.
Vanderbilt’s Ralph Webb rushed for 99 yards and scored the game’s only touchdown.
Advertisement
The defense can only do so much, however.
