Missouri football’s 17-10 loss at the hands of the Vanderbilt Commodores showcased some of the same issues as its earlier loss to Alabama, such as unsteady offense and questionable play calling. It also featured brand-new heartbreaks like a season-ending injury to starting graduate quarterback Beau Pribula and an end-of-game Hail Mary which came up inches short.
With the loss, the Tigers fell to 6-2 on the season and are staring at an uphill battle to the College Football Playoff, which would likely require them to win the remainder of their games. The upcoming bye week gives Missouri time to review the major takeaways from this loss.
Matt Zollers steady despite uncertainty
True freshman quarterback Matt Zollers was not supposed to play meaningful snaps in this game — or, if you had asked at the beginning of the season, in any game this year. But as injuries dictate, first to Sam Horn against Central Arkansas and then to Pribula against the Commodores, the next man sometimes has to step up.
In the face of a difficult scenario for any quarterback, much less a 19-year-old playing his first serious game time, Zollers performed well. Unlike in his prior appearances against Central Arkansas, Louisiana and Massachusetts where he threw only six passes in a noticeably limited playbook, Zollers was operating the offense against Vanderbilt without much constraint. He completed 14 of 23 attempts for 138 yards and one touchdown, a fourth down conversion to redshirt freshman tight end Jude James.
Zollers is not a quarterback who operates with his legs like Pribula, and he makes up for that with his pocket presence, which was a noticeable improvement over Pribula’s in the first half. While Zollers was not quite the Tom Brady to Pribula’s Drew Bledsoe, he showed a strong performance leading the offense.
Mistakes were present — a handoff-turned-fumble and a near-interception that resulted in a backbreaking intentional grounding penalty — but on the road against the country’s No. 10 opponent, his performance was nearly enough to lead Missouri to victory.
Play calling holds offense back once more
The scene, one of the most simple in football, was set. Two chances to go two yards for a touchdown, the Southeastern Conference’s leading rusher in the backfield. A nine-year-old playing Madden or a ninety-year-old squinting to see the field would come to the same conclusion: run the ball. Get into a jumbo formation, play hardheaded football and run the ball in for a touchdown.
The Tigers did not. On the first play of the back-to-back sequence, third-and-goal from two yards out, the Tigers did the opposite. The play-action they ran was unsuccessful and Pribula was barely able to throw the ball away from a potential sack. They followed it up with a keeper to Pribula, who was stuffed at the line and subsequently incurred a season-ending injury.
Going for it on fourth down was a good idea. Running it on fourth down was a good idea. Taking the ball out of the hands of your potential Doak Walker Award-winning running back was not. Even worse, offensive coordinator and play caller Kirby Moore has an obligation to keep his quarterbacks safe. After Horn was injured on a run into the teeth of the defense, it would have been in the best interest of anyone involved in play calling to keep Pribula out of plays which involve large groups of defenders all in one spot. Instead, it was Pribula and not Hardy with the ball on the goal line, and it was Pribula who was carted off of the field after the ball was turned over on downs.
Football is a complicated game. Anyone who thinks they could do Moore’s job, most of the time, is dead wrong. The nuances of navigating a collegiate defense go beyond the scope of any beat writer or tenured Madden player. There are very few cases when this is untrue.
This was one of those cases. If Moore gives the ball to Hardy, who averaged 4.9 yards per carry during the game, it’s more than likely that Missouri takes a 10-3 lead. Instead, it resulted in no points and a dull thud where there should have been an explosion.
The offense has been struggling enough as is due to player mistakes. It doesn’t need its own coordinator to hurt its efficacy at the easiest junctures.
Missouri now has a bye week to gameplan for a future that revolves around Zollers and a difficult — but not insurmountable — climb to the top. Its next opportunity will be a big one, a home matchup against the No. 3 Texas A&M Aggies on Nov. 8.