Comeback falls short for No. 15 Tigers at No. 10 Vanderbilt
10/25/2025 6:35:00 PM | Football
Freshman Matt Zollers rallies Mizzou late, but Vandy holds off Tigers' final surge.
Mizzou's Kevin Coleman Jr. caught a 36-yard pass from Matt Zollers on the game's final play but he was inches short of the end zone as time expired Saturday and No. 10 Vanderbilt held on for a 17-10 victory over the No. 15 Tigers at FirstBank Stadium in Nashville.
"It's disappointing," Mizzou coach Eliah Drinkwitz said after the Tigers fell to 6-2 and 2-2 in Southeastern Conference play. "You work so hard but fall short. But that's part of life in this league. And we'll bounce back."
The Missouri defense kept Vandy quarterback Diego Pavia bottled up for most of the game, limiting him to 149 yards of total offense, but he ran 1 yard over right tackle for a touchdown with 1:52 to play to provide the winning points for the Commodores (7-1, 3-1).
Mizzou had one last chance and Zollers, in the game for injured starter Beau Pribula, got the Tigers into position before the final completion to Coleman, who caught seven passes for 109 yards and had 162 all-purpose yards, came up just short.
With the score tied 10-10, Missouri had the ball at midfield early in the fourth quarter when Vanderbilt safety CJ Heard stole the ball from Tiger running back Jamal Roberts on a botched exchange at the MU 44-yard line. A roughing the passer penalty aided Vanderbilt as Pavia completed a third-down pass to tight end Eli Stowers before the Tigers were flagged for pass interference on a pass that appeared uncatchable. On another third-down, Pavia ran 5 yards for a first down at the 1, before Sedrick Alexander plunged into the line and fumbled with Mizzou's Sterling Webb recovering. But on review, the call was overturned and Pavia scored on the next play.
With the score tied 3-3 at halftime, on the third play of the second half, Chris McClellan tipped a Pavia pass over the middle that was intercepted by Damon Wilson II at the 23 and returned to the 20. Missouri moved to the 2-yard line, and facing fourth-and-goal, the Tigers went for the touchdown, but Pribula was stopped at the Vandy 1. Tangled up at the bottom of the pile, Pribula suffered what Drinkwitz called an "ankle dislocation" on the play. He was carted off the field and watched the second half on crutches with his left foot in a boot.
From there, the Mizzou defense forced a three-and-out, and Zollers came in at quarterback. Mizzou's possession reached the Vanderbilt 15, but Robert Meyer's 29-yard field goal attempt hit the left upright and the score remained 3-3.
On the next play, Vandy running back Makhilyn Young swept right, broke free and went 80 yards down the right sideline for a touchdown that gave the Commodores a 10-7 lead with 3:51 left in the third period.
The Tigers, though, were not fazed. Zollers led a 12-play, 75-yard drive and on a fourth-and-2 at the Vandy 6-yard line, he found tight end Jude James for a game-tying touchdown with 12:49 remaining. It was the second time this season that the duo had hooked up on a TD pass. On the drive, Ahmad Hardy carried seven times for 43 yards, including a pair of 15-yard gains. For the game, Hardy rushed 20 times for 97 yards.
Missouri forced another three-and-out, but that's when Heard stripped the ball and set up the Commodores for their game-winning possession.
Penalties hurt both teams in the first half. Vanderbilt got to the Missouri 24-yard line early in the second quarter before the 'Dores were pushed back by delay-of-game and unnecessary roughness penalties that forced them to punt.
Missouri opened the scoring with 5:11 to play before halftime, with a 39-yard Meyer field goal that capped a 13-play, 69-yard drive that lasted nearly eight minutes. On the drive, Pribula was 6 for 6 passing for 59 yards. But on the drive, Pribula ran 20 yards to the Vandy 1-yard line but the run was negated by a tripping penalty.
Vanderbilt responded with a field goal drive of its own, with Pavia marching the Commodores 55 yards in eight plays – most of it through the air. On the drive's first play, he hit Tre Richardson with a 37-yard pass down the right sideline, and later he found Stowers for 19 yards to the MU seven. Two plays later, Pavia scrambled for a 9-yard touchdown run, but it came back on a holding penalty, and Vandy eventually settled for a 38-yard field goal by Brock Taylor that tied the score at 3-3 2:00 before halftime.
In relief of Pribula, Zollers completed 14 of 23 passes for 138 yards and a touchdown.
"Really proud of him," Drinkwitz said. "I thought he did an excellent job. Obviously, one turnover on a mesh read. But other than that, I mean, I thought he played really big."
Mizzou outgained Vanderbilt 376-265 in total yardage and had a 36:12 to 23:48 advantage in time of possession. The Mizzou defense, led by linebacker Josiah Trotter's nine tackles, limited Vanderbilt to just 45 total plays and 3 of 10 on third down.
"Really, really proud of the fight," Drinkwitz said. "That's what this game is. They're one-play games. We're going to be disappointed in three or four plays that we had opportunities to win and we didn't get it done. … There's still a lot of football left, a lot of opportunities left. The reality of it is, like I told (the team), we're probably not playing for the conference championship now with two losses, but we're darn sure playing for the playoffs. It becomes a one-game season week in, week out. We've already accomplished one of our goals, which was to qualify for a bowl game. So now it's free football to see what kind of opportunity we have next. That's what we'll do. We'll take it one play, one game, one day at a time, and we'll see what happens."
UP NEXT
The Tigers have a bye next week before they welcome the Texas A&M Aggies to Columbia on Saturday, Nov. 8. Game time at Memorial Stadium will either be 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. or 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. CT, with television coverage to be announced.
FOLLOW THE TIGERS
For all the latest information on Mizzou Athletics, please visit MUTigers.com. For up-to-the-minute updates, follow Mizzou football (@MizzouFootball) and Coach Drinkwitz (@CoachDrinkwitz) on X. You can also find the Tigers on Instagram and Facebook.
