In a season plagued by slow starts, today was no different for the No. 7 Missouri Tigers as a big play sparked by a coverage error silenced Faurot Field for the second straight week. The Tigers would survive in a double-overtime thriller, 30-27.

Missouri’s coaching staff hinted at a different approach to dealing with a mobile quarterback when it was assigned Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia this week. The plan was to pressure Pavia and see how he responded, and Pavia took that personally as he weaved through the pressure and fired a 60-yard touchdown pass to Joseph McVay — no relation to Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay — for a stunning 7-0 Vanderbilt lead.

Later in the game, Pavia missed a wide-open Quincy Skinner, which would have compounded the Tigers’ coverage bust fiasco. Instead, the play ended a short-lived drive for the Commodores.

Pavia followed the big play-fueled drive with a 36-yard run that saw him dress like a ballet dancer, tiptoeing along the sideline for most of the run to set up a Vanderbilt field goal. Pavia finished the first half with 137 total yards and a touchdown to his name. Unlike last week’s opponent, Pavia’s positive performance didn’t stop after the halftime whistle.

In a situation where most underdogs would have fallen flat after a quick four-play scoring drive for the Tigers, Pavia buckled down and led his team on a crucial eight-play, 80-yard drive that tied the score at 20-20 with 21 seconds left in the third quarter. The New Mexico State transfer appeared to have it again when he got the Commodores moving and ran out the clock late in the fourth quarter, but a pass breakup by Chris McLellan led to a missed 49-yard field goal by Vanderbilt’s Brock Taylor.

Offensively, the Tigers came up with a quick three-and-out, but responded to the Commodores’ big play with a sharp 10-play, 76-yard touchdown drive that ended with a 20-yard catch and run score by Luther Burden III to tie the game. The reliance on the run game has been noticeable this season and today was no different as Nate Noel was a major play provider throughout the first half. Noel finished the first half with 12 carries for 92 yards.

Noel continued his big day in the second half with a 64-yard dash for a touchdown, proving his worth as the most consistent player in this offense. The consistency proved crucial in the latter stages of the fourth quarter

A catalyst for Mizzou’s ability to get a result in this game was their prowess on third down in the game, picking up key drives that extended plays regardless of distance. The Tigers finished the game

Wasted opportunities defined the Tigers throughout the game, as a missed field goal by Blake Craig capped a 13-play, 91-yard first-half drive and a nine-play, 39-yard second-half drive that took six points off the board. As if the board couldn’t get any higher, Craig missed a 47-yarder with 7:06 left to bring that total to nine, just a week after being named SEC Special Teams Player of the Week for his performance against Boston College.

Head coach Eli Drinkwitz has always emphasized the problems in the red zone. Today’s game was a reminder of why the Tigers scored two of their four touchdowns in the red zone.

To make matters worse, the “swing eight” — the final four minutes of the second half and the first four minutes of the second half — came to a rude conclusion when Burden dropped a deep ball from Brady Cook that would have set the Tigers up for a field goal. Two plays later, Cook was sacked on a confusing 4th-and-3 from inside Tiger territory, setting the Commodores up for a field goal that cemented their 13-10 lead at the break.

One constant in college football is that coaches are looking for improvement, and there was little to no improvement in all aspects for the Tigers. Red zone struggles, massive coverage busts, dual threat quarterback having his way, you could essentially copy and paste last week’s report card and seamlessly fit it into this week’s.

Then came the boos. An errant throw by Cook on third down that ended another promising drive provoked a flurry of nasty reactions from the Tiger faithful. It was a situation that brought back a sense of déjà vu from last season, as Cook was booed before the game against Kansas State and responded magnificently. Blake Craig immediately followed up with a 55-yard field goal and (once again) all eyes were on Cook to see how he responded to the unpleasantness.

Cook threw 8-14 for 89 yards after the boos, and the offense got 20 points in a game that saw the crowd grow restless as the clock ticked down. That restlessness was quelled and quickly remedied when Cook hit Wease for a big gain and then was sacked right after setting up Craig’s aforementioned missed field goal.

Drinkwitz’s team had a chance to turn its glut of misery into learning, winning the ball back with 3:06 left in the game and a chance to leave Faurot Field with a win. After a few plays, the Tigers found themselves in a game-swinging fourth-and-one situation at the Vanderbilt 47-yard line with just under a minute left in the game.

After trying to bait the Commodores into an offsides play with a hard count, the Tigers decided to go for a punt, avoiding a similar situation that had seen Vanderbilt take the lead at halftime. Drinkwitz’s safe play proved to be safe, as the Commodores ran the rest of the way, sending the game into overtime. It was the Tigers’ first overtime since Week 4 of 2022, when Nathaniel Peat dropped the ball for a touchback against visiting Auburn.

Missouri won the overtime coin toss, and elected to defend first, so their offense knew what they needed to win the game. A questionable roughing the passer call was followed by a showstopping run up the middle by Pavia, putting the Commodores in prime scoring position. Pavia connected with fullback Gabe Fisher for a two-yard score, meaning the Tigers needed a touchdown to stay in the game.

Cook found LB3 for a 25-yard touchdown on the first play of Missouri’s possession, rousing the crowd and putting the ball back in the hands of the Tiger offense for the second overtime. An ambitious deep shot to double coverage was incomplete for Cook, resulting in a Craig field goal that would give the Commodores a chance to win the game by touchdown.

With a chance to win, Pavia was thwarted on a first down play and then Toriano Pride Jr. drew an offensive pass interference to set up second-and-28 from the 30-yard line for Vanderbilt. After a 17-yard pickup hijacked by Pavia, the Tigers knocked down Pavia’s pass on third-and-11, forcing Taylor to attempt a 30-yard field goal.

Taylor missed the field goal on the left side, allowing the Tigers to pull off a huge upset, but there’s still work to be done before the off week.

Missouri had 442 yards of total offense, but 188 of those yards came on non-scoring drives. Vanderbilt had 324 yards of total offense, but had a 60% red zone success rate according to GameonPaper compared to the Tigers’ 31%. Success rate nearly made all the difference in this game, but the Tigers prevailed thanks to some luck and big defensive stops.

The Tigers then head into the always challenging bye week, followed by their first road trip of the season. They head to College Station on October 5 to take on the Texas A&M Aggies in what should be a rowdy atmosphere at Kyle Field.