NASHVILLE, Tenn. 一 It's becoming more and more evident as to which side of the ball will lead Missouri. In 2021, it was the offense. Last season, it was clearly the defense, and now the pendulum has swung back in favor of the offense, as it led the Tigers to a 38-21 win in its Southeastern Conference opener over Vanderbilt at FirstBank Stadium on Saturday.

For the fourth time in five games, Mizzou has eclipsed 30 points. For the second straight game, it has eclipsed 530 total yards, and it all begins and ends with quarterback Brady Cook, who completed 33-of-41 passes for 395 yards and four touchdowns.

Around this time last month, Cook had just played a really good half of football in the Tigers' season-opener win over South Dakota but fans were still clamoring for four-star backup quarterback Sam Horn to get more of an opportunity as the two were in the midst of a position battle.

Now, it's more evident than ever that not only does he deserve to be the starting quarterback, but he's the best quarterback in the Eli Drinkwitz era and it may not be close.

"Yeah, I think I'm becoming a lot more confident. I know the receivers are. I know the offensive line is. I know Cody (Schrader) and Nate (Peat) are, so the offense as a whole, I think is confident," Cook said. "And if we can just get over that hump of getting stopped about halfway through the game where we can make that next leap and just put the game away ... I think we're going to be in a really good spot."

Two things.

Confidence seems like an understatement at this point.

This season, Cook has completed 74% of his passes for 1,468 yards and 11 touchdowns. He's also got three rushing touchdowns. And on top of all of that, he's setting conference records.

On Saturday, he broke the record for the most pass attempts without an interception formerly held by Kentucky quarterback Andre Woodson with 325 attempts. Cook has extended the record to 347 passing attempts.

"Yeah, we talked about being a smart disciplined decision maker. I mean, that's really the hallmark of a good quarterback. He's playing smart, not conservative," Drinkwitz said. "When the ball needs to go deep he's been able to hit those deep balls. When he needs to take some check-downs, he's done that. He just hasn't put the ball in jeopardy very much."

Drinkwitz and Cook acknowledged at some point he will throw an interception because that's just how the game works, but it's been 10 games since his last. That's almost a full season, so he's bought some cache if and probably when his streak ends.

Secondly, this is the version of Cook that he alluded to telling his defense about last year. Heading into the bye week last season, Mizzou was 2-4 and had lost three straight one-score games to Auburn, Georgia and Florida. He had told his defense, which was balling out at the time, that he would be better for them.

It got off to a bit of a rocky start when Cook ironically had his last turnover. He actually had two turnovers versus Vandy in a 17-14 win in the first game after said bye, but then Cook led the Tigers to a 23-10 win over No. 25 South Carolina the next week.

He had a terrible first half versus Kentucky but helped the Tigers take the lead in the final period before the team ultimately lost 21-17. Then, he helped the team go 2-1 in their last three games to clinch bowl eligibility and he was arguably the best offensive player during that stretch.

So, there were glimpses of Cook playing some good ball, but he doubled down and told his defense before the start of this season he'd play better again and he's doing that and then some.

"Yeah, I just feel like we're (the offense) following through," Cook said. "I told the defense all offseason I'm going to have you guys' back this year. And I feel like we're doing it. So, it's special."

Plus, you can see Cook and this offense making progress finishing games better. Last season, Mizzou was 2-4 in one-score games.

Its last three games were one-score wins, and two of them probably should've been double-digit wins.

It started to feel like this was another game that Mizzou had well in hand through three quarters with the Tigers up 24-7 entering the fourth quarter, and then Vandy scored a touchdown to make the game a little more competitive.

Mizzou would score a touchdown and then Vandy would score a touchdown and by the midway point of the final period, it looked like the Tigers were in for another one-score game.

Not this time.

Up 31-21, Mizzou's defense would force a turnover on downs after a sack by Austin Firestone and Cook would lead the Tigers on a three-play, 19-yard drive that ended with Cook finding Luther Burden III on a 17-yard corner route to essentially put the icing on the cake.

Over the last year and change, the offense has gone from completely melting in the clutch and being super conservative in the clutch to showing signs of being able to put the nail in the coffin.

"Yeah, it (Cook confidence in his decision-making) just allows the offensive coordinator to be aggressive in his play calling," Drinkwitz said. "I mean, there was no fear of 'Can we put it in his (Cook's) hands up 10 (points)?' When they (the Commodores) scored, it was just keep calling your game because your quarterback is going to execute it the way you see it. I think that the biggest thing is when a coordinator and a quarterback see the game the same way."

When you look at what Cook has been through over the past 13-14 months, you can really say he started from the bottom.

From being named the starter a week into fall camp last season to the torn labrum he suffered in Week 2. Then, his poor play was a story for most of the season and he took that into the offseason when it was announced he was injured and had to have surgery.

Then he missed all of spring ball and had to reclaim his starting spot against two four-star quarterbacks, and then as recently as two weeks ago, he had some of his home fans booing him during the starting lineup introduction before the Week 3 game versus Kansas State.

To steal a quote from WWE announcer Corey Graves, "He's gone from undesirable to undeniable."

"Yeah, it's (the fan support) has been a big change, I'd say," Cook said. "I mean, it's awesome. It's very cool. I feel supported and it gives me confidence. And I think it gives the offense confidence. So, I think overall, it's a positive thing."

Slowly but surely, Burden is changing the narrative from just being an All-SEC receiver to being the best receiver in the nation after he recorded 11 receptions for 140 yards and two touchdowns, and he was a half-yard short of making it three touchdowns.

Through five games he's got 43 receptions for 644 yards and five touchdowns. He had 45 receptions for 375 yards and nine total touchdowns a season ago.

Burden didn't have any 100-yard receiving games as a freshman, and now he's racked up four straight 100-yard receiving games and he was four yards short in Week 1 of making it five straight games. He didn't have 10 catches in a game until last week and now he has two straight games with at least 10 receptions.

It's almost as if the game is in slow motion for one of St. Louis' finest.

"Yes, it's (the game) is definitely just slower for me," Burden said. "My coaches put me in the right position at the right time. The offensive line is doing a great job protecting Brady (and he's) trusting me and giving me great footballs."

The Cook to Burden connection has been well documented and Burden's numbers obviously reflect that, but Cook's connection with Theo Wease on Saturday rivaled his connection with Cook.

Wease had his best game as a Tiger with 10 receptions for 118 yards and a touchdown, and he had eight receptions for 94 yards and the touchdown in the first half.

This marked the first time that Mizzou had two players with 100 receiving yards or more in the same game since Jalen Knox and Albert Okwuegbunam did it in Week 8 of the 2018 season versus Memphis.

"He's got a maturity level to him, the way he practices, the way he conducts himself, the way he holds the wide receiver room (accountable). I think he's a glue guy, but he's an elite player too," Drinkwitz said. "And we like Theo's matchup every game. I mean, he's going to be a tough cover."

It wasn't just Burden and Wease, though.

Marquis "Speedy" Johnson had three receptions for 64 yards, including a 44-yard touchdown. He's had at least a reception of 42 or more yards in the last three games.

After a couple of years of waiting and seeing, Mookie Cooper has shown up consistently in the last couple of weeks, and he recorded five receptions for 56 yards.

Burden said the receivers feel like the offense goes through them and when a number of receivers are playing well it opens things up for everyone.

"It's (the energy and confidence among receivers) definitely high. We feel like the team is going to go through us. So, we've just got to come on our A-game every game and set the tone," Burden said. "It's much easier when everyone gets involved. So, you can't just focus on me."

Also, it wasn't just the receivers doing their job in the passing game. They were actually blocking on the perimeter.

Around six or seven weeks ago, Drinkwitz was utterly disgusted by how the receivers were blocking during fall camp, and now he's seeing the unit turn the corner on that issue.

"We had some really good perimeter blocking today (and then) we had some that weren't as good," Drinkwitz said. "It's just about being consistent, but I thought Mookie made a really big play on the first drive. ... But for the most part, yeah, I thought it was pretty good."

Overall, the wide receiver room is trending upward and the connection Cook has with them is only getting better week after week.

There was a lot of good but there was some bad. The Tigers did have a few struggles, notably with penalties.

Missouri had nine penalties and most of them were avoidable.

The offense had seven with the offensive line having five of them (three false starts and two holding penalties).

"I'll have to go back and watch the tape to try to pinpoint what we got to do. But obviously, nine penalties are too many and they're all on the offensive line."

Drinkwitz would later correct himself and admit all the penalties weren't on the offensive line but his point still stands. Five penalties are too many for the team let alone one position group.

Right guard Cam'Ron Johnson had a false start and a holding call. He's already got six on the season, and he was one of the most penalized players in the American Athletic Conference a season ago with 11.

Also, after a great 23 minutes and 48 seconds in the first half, leading 17-7, Mizzou almost had one of its signature unforeseen moments. The Tigers got the ball back with 12 seconds to go in the second quarter inside their own 40-yard line.

Peat ran for 19 yards on the first play, but the Tigers were still well out of field goal range. Missouri called a timeout with six seconds left instead of kneeling.

Cook took a hit as he got rid of the ball to Wease on what was like a three-yard gain that turned into a three-yard loss and a fumble recovered by Vandy.

Fortunately for Mizzou, Vandy didn't get far after it recovered the ball, but it could've gone into the half up 17-14 instead of 17-7 because it was trying to do too much.

It also had a fourth down attempt go awry after center Connor Tollison snapped the ball without a snap count. Cook caught the snap from the shotgun, but it disoriented him a bit and he ended up throwing the ball into the ground for an incomplete pass and turnover on downs.

Defensively, the Tigers had three penalties (only two accepted) but all of them were bad.

Defensive tackle Realus George had a roughing the passer penalty that was added to the end of an eight-yard reception that moved Vandy from its own one-yard line to its nine-yard line and then the 24-yard line once George's 15-yard penalty was accepted.

Safety Daylan Carnell, who had a pretty good game and actually led the team in tackles with seven and had a pass deflection, had a holding call that was declined because Vandy completed an 11-yard pass, but it was inside its own 15-yard line when Carnell committed the penalty. The game was 31-21 and Vandy was surging, so it just added to the list of safety mistakes on the day.

Safety Joseph Charleston had a game to forget. He had a pass interference in the first quarter, he was taking some poor tackling angles and he gave up a touchdown as the deep third on a Cover 3. He let a post route just run right by him and that's what brought the game to 31-21.

On the touchdown before that, Vandy receiver Will Sheppard split the safeties when they were playing Cover 2 and that led to a 31-yard touchdown to bring the score to 24-14 early in the fourth quarter.

Entering the fourth quarter, Sheppard had one reception for eight yards and he finished with five receptions for 98 yards. Most of that damage was him taking advantage of the safeties.

The defense as a whole played a pretty good game for three quarters. Vandy had 156 total yards and seven points through three quarters and it wasn't until the seven-minute mark in the third quarter that it eclipsed 100 total yards.

In the fourth quarter, the Commodores put up 14 points, had 144 total yards and averaged 11.1 yards per game.

Again, Mizzou had a good game on both sides of the ball for three quarters, but the blown coverages and penalties by the offense are things it must clean up as it dives deeper into this SEC slate.

But at least it hits the hard stretch of its season undefeated.

PowerMizzou.com is a proud game day partner of Yuengling Traditional Lager the taste of game-time @yuenlingbeer #LagerUp.

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