COLUMBIA, Mo. 一 Players and coaches from No. 7 Missouri rushed Faurot Field and fans roared when Vanderbilt kicker Brock Taylor pushed a 31-yard field goal wide left in double overtime to help No. 7 Missouri secure a 30-27 win on Saturday.
It was a wild game for Mizzou (4-0), especially for kicker Blake Craig.
Last week, he went 4-of-4 with a long field goal of 56 yards and was named the Southeastern Conference's Special Teams Player of the Week. In Week 4 Craig struggled mightily, going 3-of-6 on field goals but made a go-ahead 37-yard attempt in double overtime to give Mizzou a 30-27 lead, which ended up being the game-winning score.
"You just keep putting it back up. At the end of the day, we were going to trust him (Craig)," Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz said. "It's a learning lesson. Can't get too high and can't get too low. Last week, SEC Player of the Week. This week, we're not. So, we're somewhere in the middle and just like the rest of us starting with me, we've got to get better this week."
It wasn't just a rough day for Craig. It was a rough day for almost everyone, including the coaches. The only player who really had a great game was running back Nate Noel. who is quickly establishing himself as one of the team's best players.
Had it not been for Noel, Missouri may be looking at its undefeated season going up in flames and its College Football Playoff hopes damaged.
The former Appalachian State running back had a career game, recording 24 carries for a career-high 199 yards.
"Nate Noel balled out. Without him we don't win that game," Missouri quarterback Brady Cook said. ... He's breaking off big runs on simple tempo plays that we're calling and he's executing. He's breaking them. He's explosive. The guy is so fast. I'm just super happy for him."
This was Noel's second straight 100-yard rushing game and something that's becoming apparent is that the Tigers should continue to run the offense through him.
Missouri has undoubtedly struggled with creating explosive plays in the passing game. For the second week in a row, when the offense couldn't get anything started through the air it was Noel who got the chains moving.
"It's a great thing because we all lean on each other. We're all one team," Noel said. "So, if one part (of the offense) isn't doing as well as the other part, we just know we've got to pick up the slack and just do more, like we've got each other's back."
Missouri had 12 explosive plays (gains of 10 or more rushing yards or gains of 15 or more passing yards) in Week 4. Seven were rushes and six were by Noel for gains of 10, 32, 17, 16, 64 and 14 yards.
Drinkwitz commended Noel on his performance and said the offense has to do a better job capitalizing on the field position Noel is helping it get in.
"He's a special player," Drinkwitz said. "I think we've all noticed that and known that. We've just got to continue to finish drives for him. That's the unfortunate thing right now, is we're just not able, in the red zone, to finish drives."
"When I first came here, everyone knew they had a role and I just knew my role," Noel said. "I'm just here to do the best I can."
Reviewing several mistakes that almost cost Missouri the game
The details matter, and eventually, Missouri will figure out what happens to teams who don't handle the details.
They lose.
If Mizzou wants to keep its zero in the loss column it can't have the performance it had in Week 4, which is unquestionably its worst of the season.
It started with cornerback Toriano Pride letting a receiver get behind him for a 65-yard touchdown on the second possession of the game. Vandy quarterback Diego Pavia looked like he was going to scramble and at the last minute threw it to receiver Joseph McVay for the touchdown and the receiver's first career reception.
Last week, Pride allowed the game's first touchdown on a blown coverage assignment, and the secondary as a unit, had blown coverages on all three Boston College touchdowns.
Drinkwitz said those touchdowns happened because the defensive backs had their eyes in the backfield and he alluded to that being the case this week, too.
"Yup," Drinkwitz said frustratingly in regards to the defenders having their eyes in the backfield. "It was just a really poor play. So, we've got to get a lot better."
Then, on Vandy's next offensive possession, it gets a field goal and on the ensuing kickoff, Missouri safety and kick returner Marvin Burks can't field the dribbler and lets the ball go about 10 yards behind him before he picks it up and goes backward laterally and almost gets called for a safety, setting the offense up at its two-yard line.
However, Missouri's offense looked like it had figured something out, but looks are deceiving.
The offense went 91 yards in 13 plays before Craig missed his first field goal from 24 yards away. So, the score remained 10-7 Vandy.
Mizzou's defense forced a quick three-and-out and on the punt return, Luther Burden returned it 16 yards, but a blocking in the back penalty on Phillip Roche brought it back.
That was the beginning of a disastrous final 4:23 of the first half for Missouri.
On the fifth play of the drive, Cook would find running back Marcus Carroll for a gain of 19 yards. On the next play, Missouri had first and goal at the Vandy seven-yard line and decided to run a play before the two-minute timeout, which ended with Noel getting tackled for a loss of one yard.
The Commodores, who had three timeouts, would've had to use their timeouts after the two-minute timeout to save some clock for their final possession. Since Missouri ran a play before the two-minute timeout it saved Vandy a timeout.
Craig would make a 23-yarder to tie the score at 10 before the Mizzou defense would force another three-and-out and get the offense the ball back with 57 seconds left in the half.
On second and 10, Burden, credited with a team-high six receptions for 76 yards, two touchdowns and "no drops," actually dropped a deep ball in the middle of the field that would've been a touchdown. It was one of the best footballs Cook threw on the day and Burden didn't catch it. It was one of two drops for him on the day.
On third and 10, with 25 seconds left, Cook completed a pass to receiver Theo Wease for a gain of seven yards. Missouri had two timeouts and could've let the game go into halftime since Vandy didn't have any timeouts. Instead, the Tigers decided to run a play and Cook got sacked and Vandy got the ball at Mizzou's 42-yard line.
The first problem is if the Tigers wanted to go for it, they should've called timeout after the completion to Wease. The second problem was running the play.
Drinkwitz knows he made some mistakes at the end of the first half and had no problem owning up to it in his postgame presser.
"Totally my fault," Drinkwitz said. "That was really a haphazard decision by me and the team bailed me out. Bottom line. I've got to be much better, and I should've never done that."
Going into the fourth quarter tied at 20, Mizzou had a chance to regain the lead but Craig missed a field goal from 40 yards before missing another kick from 46 yards on the next possession.
Vandy missed a field goal from 50 yards following Craig's last miss, and then Drinkwitz mishandled the final two minutes of regulation.
Missouri had third and one from Vandy's 47-yard line with one minute and 14 seconds left in regulation. The Tigers didn't convert. They acted like they were running another play when they were really trying to draw Vanderbilt offsides. Then, they called a timeout when they should've taken a delay of game penalty.
That timeout allowed Vandy to make sure it had the final possession of regulation because after Mizzou punted the ball, the Commodores ran one run play. Missouri called a timeout and then Pavia kneeled. Mizzou called a timeout again and then Pavia kneeled again to bring on overtime.
Had Mizzou not called a timeout before the punt, it could've forced Vandy to punt the ball from inside its 10-yard line.
That's over 10 mistakes that could've led to a loss at home to a team that just lost to Georgia State a week ago, and those were just the ones that stood out the most.
Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good, and Missouri proved that Saturday.
Fortunately for the Tigers, they have a bye week before they face Texas A&M in Week 6, but Drinkwitz knows they must have a reality check before they start thinking about the Aggies.
"We've got to take a hard look at the Missouri Tigers," Drinkwitz said. "We've got to figure out why we're not executing on the third downs, in the red area. Why we're not kicking field goals, why we're missing tackles, why we're busting assignments. So, I'm not even kind of worried about Texas A&M.
"What I'm concerned about is being 4-0, which is as good as we can be, record-wise, but we're not as good as we can be play-wise and we're going to have to settle in on that and figure out what we've got to do improve."
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