Mizzou Improved in Struggle Areas Against Vanderbilt

The Tigers showed signs of growth in a few impactful areas despite sufferering their second loss of the season.

Oct 25, 2025; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Vanderbilt Commodores wide receiver Tre Richardson (6) makes a catch over Missouri Tigers cornerback Stephen Hall (0) during the first half at FirstBank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images | Steve Roberts-Imagn Images

The Missouri Tigers' Week 9 road trip didn't go as they had wanted to.

The Tigers took a flight out of Nashville with a 17-10 loss against Vanderbilt to their name. Missouri dropped to 6-2 after the loss and now has muddied College Football Playoff aspirations, but that doesn't mean there aren't positives to take away from the loss.

For starters, Missouri's offensive line looked far better than it had in recent games. The group allowed running back Ahmad Hardy to rush for 97 yards on 20 carries, which is his largest rushing total since Missouri's win over UMass.

The holes Hardy had to hit were much wider compared to the last two weeks against Alabama and Auburn. He averaged 4.9 yards per carry against the Commodores, compared to 4.3 against Alabama and 2.4 against Auburn.

Not only that, but the two quarterbacks that Missouri was forced to field also had time to spare in the pocket, especially freshman Matt Zollers. Whether that says more about Zollers as a quarterback is to be determined, but the offensive front did a better job giving whichever quarterback space and Hardy and Jamal Roberts holes to run.

READ: Final Review of Mizzou's Gut Punch of a Loss at Vanderbilt

The Missouri secondary also looked better. They only allowed opposing quarterback Diego Pavia to throw for 129 yards on 10-for-19 passing and the group itself looked improved in man coverage. Toriano Pride Jr. was the main catalyst of that, defending Junior Sherrill.

Sherrill is the second-leading receiving target on Vanderbilt's roster behind Eli Stowers and both of those guys were locked up all night. Stowers only finished with three receptions for 42 yards, all on five targets. He was never consistently productive and the Missouri defense as a whole did a good job of limiting him.

Pride's man-to-man coverage against Vanderbilt was arguably the best it's been all year. Outside of that, a single pass interference call against Stephen Hall really tarnished how good the secondary was. The safeties also contributed and held up their end of the bargain, making for a collectively impressive performance from the back end.

Even if Beau Pribula was injured, the fact that Missouri's offense was consistently able to push the ball up the field with Zollers was impressive. Maybe the Commodores just didn't have enough film on Zollers, but he brought an interesting passing element to the game down the stretch.

Before Pribula went down, he was able to find looks and get the ball down the field. He was steady and found the open receivers that he needed to find, while also avoiding pressure, for the most part.

There's no denying that what Zollers was able to do in the passing game down the stretch for Missouri was impressive. He'll face a whole different beast of a defense two weeks from now against Texas A&M, but there's a chance that he can elevate Missouri's passing game.

This is a perfect time for a Missouri bye week. It did play a good game, but the Tigers still lost. There's no better time than now to recooperate and be ready to go against a top-five-ranked Texas A&M squad on Nov. 8.