COLUMBIA, Mo. — Vanderbilt made college football history Saturday, while the Missouri Tigers kept chugging along under Eli Drinkwitz with another impressive victory, beating the Commodores, 41-0, at Memorial Stadium to secure their first winning record under Drinkwitz.
With another defensive masterpiece, the Tigers improved to 4-3 heading into next week's visit from Arkansas and former head coach Barry Odom, now the Razorbacks' defensive coordinator.
MU's defense is doing just fine these days and played spoiler Saturday, keeping the Commodores out of field-goal range all day long. Fans tuning into the SEC Network broadcast to watch Sarah Fuller score points as the first female participant in a Power Five game had to settle for the halftime kickoff. Fuller, borrowed from the Vandy women's soccer team, joined Derek Mason's football team this week to shore up a position group decimated by COVID-19. She squib kicked the kickoff to open the third quarter, becoming the first woman to play in a game for a team from the five power conferences. Vandy's offense, though, never got deeper than MU's 33-yard line for Fuller to attempt a field goal, let alone an extra point.
In front of 11,053 fans, the Tigers outgained Vandy in total yardage 603-196.
After a power outage last week at South Carolina, there was no second-half letdown from Missouri's offense Saturday. The Tigers maintained their shutout of Vanderbilt through the third quarter and opened the fourth quarter with Larry Rountree's third rushing touchdown, pushing their lead to 34-0. Rountree's TD put him at 160 rushing yards on the day. On the same drive, running back Tyler Badie went over 10 receiving yards on his seventh catch, becoming the first MU player with 100 receiving yards in a game since last season. Connor Bazelak put together a strong day, completing 30 of 37 passes for 318 yards. As the Tigers emptied the bench in the fourth quarter freshman quarterback Brady Cook made his college debut and threw his first touchdown pass, a 25-yarder to Damon Hazelton.
With Mizzou in charge 21-0 to start the third quarter, Fuller handled the kickoff duties for Vanderbilt. She used a holder for the first kickoff of the second half and pushed a squib kick 30 yards where it was smothered by MU's Mason Pack.
Mizzou opened the second half with a Harrison Mevis field goal, good for a 24-0 lead.
The Vandy offense continued to spoil any chances for Fuller to attempt a field goal. After crossing midfield for just the second time in the game, the Commodores gave the ball right back when Mizzou's Devin Nicholson jarred the ball loose from running back Keyon Henry-Brooks and Jarvis Ware recovered for the game's first takeaway. MU turned the turnover into another Mevis field goal, a 44-yarder for a 27-0 lead.
Badie and Rountree took turns carrying Missouri's offense to a comfortable lead in the second quarter and combined for 184 yards of offense as the Tigers took a 21-0 halftime lead on Vanderbilt.
Rountree became Mizzou's most prolific running back in team history last week. He was looking to pad his record Saturday. Rountree accounted for 41 of MU's 82 yards on the team's second touchdown drive, ending with Rountree's second TD of the day, a 7-yard dash off the left edge.
A play earlier, Rountree reversed field, broke a couple tackles and got the Tigers into the red zone with a 21-yard run.
With eight minutes left in the first half, Rountree had already had 94 rushing yards, while Tauskie Dove has been Mizzou's most productive receiver with 62 yards on eight catches. The Tigers have gone 12 consecutive games since the last time an MU player posted 100 receiving yards in a game, when Johnathon Johnson had 110 yards against Mississippi last year.
Missouri cruised to an early 7-0 lead on Vanderbilt and held that advantage heading into the second quarter.
Ryan Walters' Mizzou defense stoned Vanderbilt on consecutive short-yardage third- and fourth-down running plays on Vandy's side of the field to open Saturday's game. From there, the Tigers waltzed to their first score with little resistance from the Commodores. With their starting offensive line back together for the first time in three games, the Tigers needed only six plays to open the scoring, with Rountree bouncing up the middle untouched for a 7-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead.
Mevis knocked a 45-yard field goal attempt off the left upright on MU's next possession, but MU's defense forced punts on Vandy's next two series, giving the Tigers a 7-0 lead heading into the second quarter.
