COLUMBIA, Mo. — Blake Craig kicked a 37-yard field goal on the first possession of second overtime on Saturday to help lead No. 7/8 Missouri to a 30-27 victory over Vanderbilt at Faurot Field.
Craig’s score came after Brady Cook found Luther Burden III for a 25-yard touchdown to send the game to a second extra period. The Commodores (2-2, 0-1 SEC) had an opportunity to tie the contest but saw a 31-yard field-goal attempt go wide left.
Cook finished 23-of-37 passing for 226 yards and two scores, with Burden posting six receptions for a game-high 76 yards while catch both of those touchdown passes. Nate Noel ran for 199 yards on 24 carries as well as the Tigers (4-0, 1-0) finished with 442 yards of total offense.
Diego Pavia countered with 178 yards and a pair of touchdown throws for the Dores, hitting 14-of-23 attempts, and he led Vandy after finishing with 84 yards on 17 rushes as well. Eli Stowers was his top target after catching seven balls for 57 yards, while Sedrick Alexander chipped in with 52 yards on 11 carries.
Bryan Longwell and Langston Patterson paced the Vanderbilt defense with 12 and 11 tackles, respectively, with Longwell credited with 2½ stops behind the line of scrimmage. Randon Fontenette supplied eight tackles and Martel Hight finished with seven also.
Marvin Burks has 12 tackles to pace the Tigers and share game-high honors with Longwell as the Tigers limited the Commodores to 324 total yards.
Missouri scored on its first two possessions of the second half, with Craig hitting a field goal from 54 yards out and Marcus Carroll adding a three-yard touchdown run less than three minutes later to give the Tigers their first lead, 20-13. The Commodores would even the score late in the third quarter when AJ Newberry reached the end zone from four yards out to cap an eight-play, 80-yard march by Vandy that took over five minutes off the clock.
Pavia gave the Dores an early 7-0 with a 65-yard touchdown pass to Joseph McVay less than six minutes into the contest, but when Mizzou answered on its ensuing possession with a 20-yard scoring pass from Cook to Burden the score was tied at the end of the opening period. Brock Taylor put Vandy back in front in the first 90 seconds of the second quarter after connecting on a 27-yard field goal, and following a 23-yard Craig field goal with just over a minute remaining in the half Taylor responded with a school-record 57-yard field goal as time expired to give the Commodores a 13-10 lead at the break.
Vanderbilt is off next weekend, and will return home to play host to No. 4/4 Alabama in the afternoon on Oct. 5 at FirstBank Stadium.
