NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Vanderbilt football team begins the second half of the season at 3 p.m. Saturday against No. 22 Missouri with a dire sense of urgency looking to make noise toward another postseason berth.
Odds are certainly stacked against the Commodores, of course, but that has rarely stopped a Derek Mason-coached team before. In two of the previous three seasons the Dores (1-5, 0-3 SEC) looked a 4-6 record in the face and rallied to make a bowl game.
This year’s uphill climb is a little steeper.
“We just got to keep working. At the end of the day that’s what it comes down to, working, making sure that every day it’s intentional in what you want it to be to get out of it,” redshirt junior defensive lineman Drew Birchmeier said. “(Last week’s result is) not necessarily what we wanted or what we prepared for, but it’s what happened. We got to take the necessary steps from there to get better and prepare for this week.”
Vandy (1-5, 0-3 SEC) went back to work this week after a 34-10 loss to UNLV on Saturday. Good vibes from an opening-drive touchdown were quickly erased as the visiting Rebels went on a 34-3 run to end the game.
Mason played both senior Riley Neal and redshirt junior Deuce Wallace at quarterback, but the offense found consistency hard to come by. Wide receiver Kalija Lipscomb was also limited due to injury and 140 rushing yards from Ke’Shawn Vaughn was of little solace.
The Commodores have to figure out a way this week to devise a gameplan to score against on the SEC’s top defenses.
“Practice is the classroom. Those guys are working hard in the classroom,” Mason said. “There’s time where you look at it – how can we every week come out as an offense and go down and score? First series? Are we doing something magical? No. It’s practice. It’s how hard those guys have worked. It’s what they’ve put into it.
“But stagnation, I don’t have a quick answer for that. If I had it, we’d be on the other side of it by now. I don’t have that answer. I’m searching for that answer right now.”
Defensively, Vandy is still going through serious growing pains. The team’s top three tacklers through six games – and five of the team’s top six – are all underclassmen.
Any sort of positive momentum for that side of the ball would be a welcome change for a unit still trying to piece together a full 60 minutes of football.
“Our football team understands where we are today and where we are today is to get ready for Missouri,” Mason said. “Moving our minds forward, looking at where we are. We’re looking at everything in our program to try to make sure that we do the things that we need to do to make sure that our young men can function, that they can play good football. That’s what they want, that’s what they need. That’s what we want. It all needs to match up.
“These young men have really done a solid job of just trying to keep their minds focused on where we are.”
After starting the year with a 37-31 loss at Wyoming, Missouri (5-1, 2-0 SEC) has been on quite a roll. The Tigers have beaten West Virginia, Southeast Missouri State, South Carolina, Troy and Mississippi, respectively, by an average score of 40.4-14.5.
Senior quarterback Kelly Bryant, a Clemson transfer, is completing 65 percent of his throws and totaling 262.5 passing yards per game. Seven different Mizzou receivers have at least 10 catches this season and junior running back Larry Rountree totes a 5.4 yards per carry average.
Missouri also leads the nation with five defensive touchdowns and is among the top 10 nationally in total defense, passing efficiency defense, red zone defense, first downs allowed and passing defense.
“They’ve got four DBs who can run, hunt, they capture the football, they know how to play top-down, they cap it, they play fast to the ball,” Mason said. “And what they do up front is what they’ve always done. They’re tenacious. They run hard. They’re physical at the point of contact.
“We’re going to give ourselves a chance with strong schemes that put guys in the proper position to make plays. And now, from our effort to our eye discipline to our focus to our ability to use our skills to play this game, that’s what they got to do.”
After Saturday’s game, Vanderbilt will take the final weekend of October off before traveling to South Carolina on Nov. 2.
• With a win Saturday, Mason would move past George MacIntyre for the fifth-most coaching wins in Vandy history. Bobby Johnson and Ray Morrison are fourth with 29 each.
• Vaughn needs 171 yards to pass Rodney Williams (2,021) for ninth on Vanderbilt’s career rushing yards list.
• Vaughn is currently tied for fifth in Vanderbilt history with 17 career rushing touchdowns. Cassen Jackson-Garrison is fourth with 18 and Jerry Seymour is third with 19.
• Lipscomb needs seven receptions to pass Boo Mitchell (188) for the fourth-most career receptions in a Vanderbilt career. Lipscomb also needs one touchdown reception to move past Dan Stricker (21) for second on the program’s all-time TD catches in a single career.
• Lipscomb also needs 32 receiving yards to pass Chuck Scott (sixth; 2,219) and 88 receiving yards to pass Martin Cox (fifth; 2,275) for receiving yards in a Vanderbilt career.
• Vanderbilt and Missouri will be meeting for just the 12th time in a series dating back to 1895 (the last seven contests have come since 2012). The Tigers are 7-3-1 against the Commodores and have won three straight.
• The Commodores’ first six opponents are a combined 20-17 while their remaining six opponents are a combined 21-16.
• Vandy is 29-40-3 in its last 72 homecoming contests.
