COLUMBIA, Mo. – The Missouri Tigers suffered their second loss of the season at the hands of the Vanderbilt Commodores Saturday, falling 17-10 in the Music City. It was the Tigers lowest scoring output of the season, but arguably an impressive performance given the circumstances.
Missouri's defense also held Diego Pavia and the Commodore offense to a season-low 17 points, shutting down one of the nation's top offenses.
Here's which Tigers get the game balls for their standout play in Week 9.
Matt Zollers
Starting quarterback Beau Pribula suffered a serious ankle injury early in the third quarter, sidelining him for the remainder of the game. Freshman backup Matt Zollers took his place in the Tigers' most important game of the season to date.
Zollers was never supposed to be there. He wasn't even supposed to be the backup. A Week 1 injury to Sam Horn ended the quarterback battle and forced Zollers to step up as the quarterback two, and now Pribula's injury pushed him under center, taking snaps from Connor Tollison at FirstBank Stadium.
Zollers rose to the occasion, throwing for 138 yards and a touchdown while completing 14 of his 23 passes. He kept the Tigers in it until the last second, connecting with Kevin Coleman Jr. on a hail mary to force overtime, but Coleman came up inches short of the goal line, ending the game.
"Courage, fearlessness," starting center Connor Tollison said. "He did everything he could when his number was called. Ultimately, that's all you can ask."
Kevin Coleman Jr.
Coleman hauled in seven receptions for 109 yards, along with 44 rushing yards on two carries. His 153 yards from scrimmage crushed his previous career-high of 126 against Kansas. His average of 15.6 yards per catch was also a season-high, helping the Tigers create big plays.
"Did a great job being big when we needed to be big," head coach Eli Drinkwitz said of Coleman's play. "He was a difference maker."
Coleman proved a reliable option for Zollers to fall back on in a big moment, establishing a connection early with the freshman quarterback. His 44 yards on the ground also helped Kirby Moore discover a new element to the rushing game not yet fully tapped in to.
Although Coleman came up inches short on the hail mary catch, he was still easily Missouri's best pass catcher today, and cemented his role as the team's top option.
Damon Wilson II
Wilson played 29 snaps – the lowest of any Power Four game he's played in this season. – but still made a major impact. He logged half a sack, half a tackle-for-loss and two quarterback hurries.
He's now up to six sacks on the season, crushing his previous career total of 3.5.
Wilson also snagged a huge interception on a tip drill early in the second half, which put the Tigers in the red zone at the start of the drive. The drive would end with Pribula's injury, but Wilson's interception gave them a valuable possession to score nonetheless.