10/23/2022 football Edit

Mizzou Report Card: Week 8 vs. Vanderbilt

Jarod Hamilton • PowerMizzou

Staff Writer

Every week PowerMizzou.com will hand out a position-by-position report card from Missouri’s most recent game. Here are the grades for Missouri from Saturday’s 17-14 win over Vanderbilt.

Quarterbacks: Brady Cook played alright. It was another game of him not putting the team in a position to win, but also not putting them in a position to lose. He finished the game by completing 17 of 25 passes for 211 yards and a touchdown. He also had a fumble returned for a touchdown but that is more on the offensive line. His interception was pretty bad because it seemed like it was a defender who was right in front of his face and he didn't see them. Luther Burden III did 60% of the work on the 35-yard screen pass for a touchdown while his blockers did 35% and Cook threw him the ball. He did have an impressive 11-play 59-yard drive to end the half and add another three points on the board heading into halftime up 17-0. He completed 14 of 19 for 195 yards a touchdown and an interception in the first half, but only managed to complete3 of 6 passes for 16 yards in the second half. GRADE: C

Running backs: If Cody Schrader was getting graded alone he would get a B+ after rushing for 84 yards on 14 carries. Nathaniel Peat is why this position group has the grade it has. After a career-high 117 rushing yards and a touchdown on 20 carries in week six against Florida, Peat followed that performance up with a dud in week eight. He had 11 carries for eight yards. Part of that is on the offensive line and playcalling, but there is no way that Schrader played with the same offensive line and had 76 more yards than Peat. GRADE: C-

Wide Receivers: The wide receiver group had one of its better games of the season. Five different receivers caught a pass and for once someone other than Dominic Lovett was making plays. It was actually his East St. Louis teammate Burden who had the big day. Burden caught four passes for 66 yards and a receiving touchdown. He also took a reverse 10 yards for a rushing touchdown. Tauskie Dove had a reception for 46 yards and Barrett Banister had a couple of reception for 37 yards. GRADE: B+

Tight Ends: Tyler Stephens caught a pass for six yards and that was it for the tight ends. The tight end group has been under the radar all season and part of that is scheme but a lot of it is the group isn't dynamic enough in the passing game. In most games, tight ends don't get targeted in this offense, so the position can't keep getting graded on little to no work. There was a Shawn Hendershot and Ryan Hoerstkamp sighting on one that help Missouri gain some rushing yards. GRADE: Incomplete

Offensive line: This position group is nearing rock bottom it feels. Vandy entered the game averaging five tackles for loss per game and had a team-high of seven tackles for loss against Hawaii. The Commodores had 11 tackles for loss and three sacks versus Mizzou. The aforementioned fumble on Cook wasn't his fault and even Mizzou head coach Eli Drinkwitz said that. He also said that Cook won't survive at quarterback if the line keeps letting teams get free shots on him as it did during that sack fumble. The only reason the grade isn't lower is because Mizzou won and for the first time all season the offensive line didn't commit a penalty. GRADE: D

Defensive line: The defensive line helped hold Vandy to 299 total yards. It had three of the team's eight tackles for loss and DJ Coleman had the team's only sack. It was the second game in a row Coleman forced a strip sack. Seven defensive linemen recorded a tackle and Isaiah McGuire led the way with five tackles and one tackle for loss. GRADE: A

Linebackers: After missing the last two and half games with an arm injury, MIKE linebacker Chad Bailey led the team in tackles with eight and also had a tackle for loss. Ty'Ron Hopper had seven tackles, a tackle for loss and a quarterback hit. This is Hopper's seventh straight game with at least five tackles. Devin Nicholson chipped in with a pair of tackles. This group was part of the reason why the Tigers held the Commodores to 57 yards on 28 rushes. GRADE: A

Secondary: This position group used this game ti make a highlight tape. It seemed like play after play a defensive back was doing something impactful. Safety Martez Manuel had the second most tackles on the team with seven and also had a tackle for loss. In his return from injury, cornerback Kris Abrams-Draine had five tackles and three pass deflections. Cornerback Ennis Rakestraw had three tackles and two pass deflections of his own. Safety Daylan Carnell had three tackles and a pass deflection. Jaylon Carlies had a pair of tackles and an interception. Cornerback Dreyden Norwood had a tackle and a pass deflection, and safety Joseph Charleston had a tackle and a couple of pass deflections. Although, one of his pass breakups wasn't because he played the ball but because he ran through Vandy wide receiver Will Shephard and forced him to drop the ball.

This group did allow a late 80-yard touchdown on a simple hitch route in the fourth quarter, but considering it had 23 of Mizzou's 35 tackles, eight pass deflections and an interception this group won't receive a reduction in grading. GRADE: A

Special teams: Kicker Harrison Mevis missed his fourth field goal of the season this time for 36 yards out. He did make one from 38 yards away though. Punter Jack Stonehouse punted the ball four times for an average off 44 yards per punt but only one landed inside Vandy's 20-yard line. Sean Koetting punted once for a net of 35 yards.

On the ensuing kickoff after Vandy recovered the Cook fumble and scored a touchdown, it recovered its own kickoff. Since Vandy was kicking into the wind it popped the ball up in the air and allowed Vandy to recover the football inside Mizzou's red zone. This isn't completely Missouri's fault since the wind got involved but any time the ball is kicked in your vicinity and you have multiple people around the ball you have to recover it. GRADE: C

Coaching: This seemed like the first time all season when there weren't too many questionable play calls. Sure, up three points with four minutes to go and Vandy surging Drinkwitz decided to run a quarterback draw on the first play of the drive just like it did against Florida even though we saw that it didn't work. This time it went for four yards, so that's better.

But honestly, this game was close because of the lack of execution by the players. Allowing 11 tackles for loss to the second-worst defense in the nation is on the offensive line. That interception that Cook threw was on him. Peat having more carries than yards is on him and the offensive line. The secondary letting an eight-yard pass go for an 80-yard touchdown is on that group. A lot of times this season there's been times to point the finger at the coaching 一 this isn't one of them. GRADE: A