Mizzou snapped its three-game losing streak with a narrow 17-14 win over Vanderbilt (3-5). Mizzou moved to 3-4 on the season and it can largely thank its secondary for that.

Entering the game, Vandy's go-to wide receiver Will Shephard ranked in the top 10 in the Southeastern Conference in receiving yards, receptions and receiving touchdowns. Vandy’s other go-to wide receiver Jayden McGowen was in the top 11 of the SEC in receptions and receiving. Today, Shepherd recorded three receptions for 28 yards on 15 targets and McGowen recorded three catches for four yards.

Vandy quarterback AJ Swann had completed 81 of 133 passes (60.9) for 953 yards, eight touchdowns and no interception entering Saturday’s contest. He finished the game by completing 13 of 30 passes (43%) for 113 yards and an interception before exiting the game early in the third quarter.

“I like the interception by Jaylon Carlies," Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz said. "I thought they (the secondary) did a really nice job of limiting Shephard. He had 15 targets and only had three catches on the night. That’s unbelievable because he’s a great player, so those guys did a heck of a job.”

Entering the season, there was perhaps one Mizzou defensive back who is almost certain to play on Sundays in the future in Carlies, but now cornerback Kris Abrams-Draine has proven that he is a near-lock to play in the NFL one day too.

Abrams-Draine missed week six against Florida but showed out in his return with five tackles and three pass deflections.

“It was great seeing him (Abrams-Draine) back out there,” Carlies said. “We missed him for the Florida game, but seeing him play to his full potential is always great to see.”

Mizzou’s secondary recorded 23 of the teams' 35 tackles, had eight pass deflections and an interception. It seemed like almost every secondary player made a highlight play.

Carlies had two tackles and the aforementioned interception. Abrams-Draine had a day, cornerback Ennis Rakestraw followed his best game of the season against Florida with a game that almost rivals that performance with three tackles and two pass deflections. Safety Martez Manuel was second on the team in tackles with seven behind a returning Chad Bailey, who had eight. And safety Joseph Charleston probably had one of the plays of the day when he made a Madden-esque hit stick tackle on Shephard forcing him to drop the ball for what would’ve been a first down.

The secondary did allow an 80-yard touchdown late in the fourth quarter to narrow Vandy’s deficit to 17-14 after the PAT. So, it wasn’t a perfect game by the secondary, but it came close.

What better way to get the offense going than to play the 129th-ranked defense and 130th ranked scoring defense?

Coming into week eight, Vanderbilt was giving up nearly 500 yards of total offense and 333 yards through the air. This would’ve been a great day for Mizzou to take advantage of that and get the offense going since it hasn’t scored over 23 points or more since week three versus FCS opponent Abilene Christian.

Unfortunately for the Tigers, it couldn’t even get to 20 points versus the Commodores at home. Mizzou had three really solid drives that led to 17 points, but all of those points came in the first half. Mizzou had 232 yards of total offense and a 17-0 lead entering halftime.

Heck, Drinkwitz was going to actually put four-star true freshman quarterback Sam Horn in the game if the first series or two in the third quarter went well. Obviously, that didn’t happen.

In the second half, Mizzou put up no points and had just 76 yards of total offense.

“We didn’t run the ball consistently, we had a sack-fumble returned for a touchdown, we had a fumble in the red zone, we miss a field goal,” Drinkwitz said. “That’s really bad stuff. You have a fake punt and then a kickoff when the wind knocks it up and our returner doesn’t catch it. I think the turnover battle ended up being four to one (in favor of Vandy). That’s awful.”

“I thought at the 17-0 mark we were going to potentially get a couple of scores in the third quarter and have a chance to play him (Horn),” Drinkwitz said. “But I didn’t feel comfortable at any point in the third quarter playing him.”

Mizzou Quarterback Brady Cook completed 17 of 25 passes for 211 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. Running back Nathaniel Peat, coming off of a career-high 117 rushing yards against Florida, had 11 rushes for eight yards. Wide receiver Dominic Lovett, who entered the game in the top 10 in the SEC in receptions and receiving yards, had four catches on five targets for 12 yards.

Looking forward, Mizzou’s next opponent, South Carolina entered week seven as the 61st-ranked defense, Tennessee, who the Tigers face in week eight, ranked 104th and Kentucky, who the Tigers face in week 10, ranked 15th.

If it’s not one thing it’s another for Mizzou’s offensive line. Mizzou’s offensive line had committed 23 of the Tigers' 47 penalties this season and on Saturday it recorded zero for the first time all season. The problem is the offensive line may have been better off committing some penalties if it meant protecting Cook.

“The way Brady is getting hit right now, we aren’t going to survive at quarterback allowing free shots like that," Drinkwitz said. "We got to fix it in protection and scheme because that crap is unfair.”

The free shot Drinkwitz was implying was the one when Cook was sacked and fumbled the ball in the third quarter allowing Vanderbilt to score making the game 17-7.

Overall, Cook was sacked three times but Vandy also recorded 11 tackles for loss.

Before Saturday, the Commodores were averaging five tackles for loss a game and their season-high in a game was seven against Hawaii in week zero.

This offensive line seems to not be able to play well and be disciplined at the same time. It's either committing a lot of penalties, playing well but committing costly penalties, committing little to no penalties but playing poorly or some combination of playing poorly with a number of penalties.

Drinkwitz did say the decision to pass on the play Cook fumbled is on him though.

"Everything is fixable this season," Drinkwitz said. "I got to call a better play there. I should've handed the ball off and let our punter punt it and put our defense on the field, so (Vandy) does have an opportunity to make that play. So, put that one on me and move on."

Luther Burden III turned back the clock to what he did in week one versus Louisiana Tech with his four receptions on five targets for 66 yards and two touchdowns versus Vanderbilt on Saturday.

In what was easily Burden’s best game of football he helped Mizzou get its first opening-drive touchdown of the season when he took a screen pass 35 yards.

“It felt really good touching the end zone,” Burden said. “I haven’t touched it in a minute. There was definitely emphasis (on scoring a touchdown on the first drive. Going into the game we hadn’t had an opening-drive touchdown all season. So, we are trying to do that going forward.”

Burden would score again from 10 yards out on a reverse in the second half, and then he would not see another target the rest of the game.

“There were plays designed that was supposed to go his way,” Drinkwitz said. “Sometimes the ball doesn’t get thrown.”

So, it wasn't intentional for Burden to have a quiet half, but it happened. It was also not like Vanderbilt did anything different to stop Burden from getting the ball.

Luckily for Mizzou, it won, so this is likely water under the bridge, but going forward if Burden isn’t getting targets naturally Missouri has to find a way to get him targets. Whether if it’s Burden playing quarterback in the wildcat formation, screen passes or even lining him up as a running back to catch passes out of the flat. Burden can't be shut out for an entire half, especially when he has a half like he had in the first half on Saturday.

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