What A Difference A Week Makes For Vanderbilt In Hard Fought Win Over # 22 Missouri 21-14
Football is a game of redemption and that's exactly what the Vanderbilt Commodores and head coach Derek Mason got on Saturday in a thrilling 21-14 upset win over the #22 Missouri Tigers.
Mo Hasan started the game at quarterback in place of RIley Neal, but it would be Neal who finished the game and threw the game winning touchdown pass.
Mason said following the game that he knew last Sunday that Hasan would be his starter, and it was Hasan who provided a different energy for the team in practice.
Though his stats for the game weren't eye popping, his play was efficient and affective as he lead the Commodores downfield for the first touchdown of the game, setting up a one-yard Ke'Shawn Vaughn touchdown run with an 18 yard scramble to the Tigers four yard line.
Hasan would carry the football 9 times for 34 yards in the game, while passing for 120 yards, completing 7 of 11 pass atempts before being knocked out of the game in the 3rd quarter by Tigers safety Tyree Gillespie, who was flagged for targeting and ejected on the play.
Enter Neal, the senior grad transfer who was benced in favor of Hasan.
On his first pass attempt of the game, Missouri linebacker Cameron WIlkins intercepted the pass and returned the football to the Vanderbilt 4-yard line.
Larry Roundtree III would take it the rest of the way for the Tigers, his four yard run tying the score at 14 all with just :05 remaining in the thrid quarter.
At that moment it seemed as though the momentum had shifted to the black & gold from Columbia, but the Commodores, and Neal weren't finished.
The teams battled back and fourth, exchanging punts before Neal took the Commodores on a 7 play, 65 yard march that culminated when Neal connected with Cam Johnsonwho jumped one defender and fought his way to the end zone for a 21 yard touchdown that gave the Commodores a lead they would not relinquish.
The Commodores, now 2-5 overall and 1-3 in the SEC kept their bowl hopes alive and will enter the bye-week on a high note as the prepare for a trip to Gainesville, Florida to face the Gators in two week.
The Tigers lost for on the the second time this season, falling to 5-2 and 3-1 in SEC play and travel to Kentucky to take on the WIldcats at COmmonwealth Stadium next Saturday afternoon, with kickoff set for 3pm.
