Missouri kicker Harrison Mevis celebrates his game-winning 19-yard field goal in overtime. Mevis was 5-for-5
on field goals.
Missouri’s Mookie Cooper hauls in a 21-yard touchdown catch with 1:15 left in the fourth quarter.
PARTY POOPERS
Missouri snatches victory from Vandy
as kicker completes perfect day in OT
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt football players were already planning the postgame party, trying to figure out which cheerleaders they’d hook up with that night.
Missouri spoiled the Commodores’ plans.
Victory seemed certain for Vanderbilt after it took a three-point lead with 29 seconds left in the fourth quarter, but Missouri moved quickly down the field to get a game-tying field goal before winning 35-32 in overtime on Oct. 4, 2021.
After giving up a touchdown with 1:15 left in the fourth quarter, the Commodores took a 32-29 lead with 29 seconds remaining in the fourth on a 15-yard pass from Mike Wright to running back Re’Mahn Davis.
The Tigers ran four seconds off the clock on the kick return, taking over at their 28-yard line with 25 seconds to go. Three straight completions by Connor Bazelak put Missouri in field goal range. After a pass to the end zone went off a receiver’s hands, Missouri forced overtime on a 32-yard field goal by Mevis with three seconds left.
Vanderbilt coach B-Dawg called for a fair catch on the ensuing kick return to give the offense one more shot. Wright hit Devin Boddie for a 36-yard gain on a play that beat Colorado State earlier in the season, sending the game to overtime.
B-Dawg’s shoddy stick skills betrayed him in overtime, as he kicked wide left on a 42-yard field goal attempt following three straight incompletions.
The Tigers just needed to protect the ball, move closer and claim the walk-off victory with an easy field goal. They had first-and-goal at the 5-yard line before attempting a couple risky passes and having a run come up short of the end zone. Mevis, an 87 OVR sophomore, came on and hit the 19-yard chip-shot to end it with his fifth field goal in as many attempts.
“I’ll be second-guessing how I defended the final 25 seconds for a long time,” B-Dawg said. “There had to be a way to keep them from moving that far in such a short time. We could’ve settled it by not leaving as much time on the clock, but you have to score when you can. You’re never guaranteed the end zone.”
Wright had an off day, going 24-for-43 for 303 yards, one touchdown and two picks. The Tigers broke up nine passes Cornerback Ennis Rakestraw had an interception and three deflections.
Re’Mahn Davis snags a touchdown catch out of the backfield to give
Vanderbilt a short-lived lead with 29 seconds left.
| MISSOURI TIGERS at VANDERBILT COMMODORES |
| Oct. 4, 2021 | 1ST | 2ND | 3RD | 4TH | OT | SCORE |
| Missouri Tigers (3-2) | 3 | 6 | 6 | 17 | 3 | 35 |
| Vanderbilt Commodores (4-2) | 7 | 3 | 8 | 14 | 0 | 32 |
| Team Stats Comparison |
| MIZZ | VAN |
| Total Offense | 432 | 466 |
| Rushing Yards | 21-80 | 40-163 |
| Passing Yards | 352 | 303 |
| First Downs | 19 | 24 |
| Punt Return Yards | 17 | 0 |
| Kick Return Yards | 132 | 217 |
| Total Yards | 581 | 683 |
| Turnovers | 0 | 2 |
| 3rd Down Conversion | 5-11 | 11-19 |
| 4th Down Conversion | 0-0 | 2-2 |
| 2-Point Conversion | 0-1 | 1-1 |
| Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals | 5-1-4 | 4-4-0 |
| Penalties | 2-19 | 2-15 |
| Possession Time | 14:42 | 21:18 |
| Scoring Summary |
| FIRST QUARTER SCORING | MIZZ | VAN |
| 5:00 | (VAN) R. Davis 1 run (J. Bulovas kick) | 0 | 7 |
| 2:00 | (MIZZ) H. Mevis 41 field goal | 3 | 7 |
| SECOND QUARTER SCORING | MIZZ | VAN |
| 4:14 | (MIZZ) H. Mevis 34 field goal | 6 | 7 |
| 1:13 | (MIZZ) H. Mevis 48 field goal | 9 | 7 |
| :11 | (VAN) J. Bulovas 40 field goal | 9 | 10 |
| THIRD QUARTER SCORING | MIZZ | VAN |
| 7:14 | (MIZZ) M. Cooper 29 pass from C. Bazelak (run failed) | 15 | 10 |
| 4:10 | (VAN) R. Davis 4 run (R. Davis run) | 15 | 18 |
| FOURTH QUARTER SCORING | MIZZ | VAN |
| 8:26 | (MIZZ) T. Badie 5 run (H. Mevis kick) | 22 | 18 |
| 4:10 | (VAN) R. Davis 4 run (J. Bulovas kick) | 22 | 25 |
| 1:15 | (MIZZ) M. Cooper 21 pass from C. Bazelak (H. Mevis kick) | 29 | 25 |
| :29 | (VAN) R. Davis 15 pass from M. Wright (J. Bulovas kick) | 29 | 32 |
| :03 | (MIZZ) H. Mevis 32 field goal | 32 | 32 |
| OVERTIME SCORING | MIZZ | VAN |
| --- | (MIZZ) H. Mevis 19 field goal | 35 | 32 |
| MISSOURI TIGERS | | PASSING | C/A | YDS | TD | INT | | Connor Bazelak | 29/38 | 352 | 2 | 0 | | RUSHING | ATT | YDS | AVG | TD | | Tyler Badie | 11 | 45 | 4.0 | 1 | | Michael Cox | 2 | 15 | 7.5 | 0 | | Connor Bazelak | 6 | 13 | 2.1 | 0 | | Keke Chism | 1 | 7 | 7.0 | 0 | | Tauskie Dove | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | | RECEIVING | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | | Tyler Badie | 9 | 33 | 3.7 | 0 | | Daniel Parker | 7 | 69 | 9.8 | 0 | | Keke Chism | 4 | 108 | 27.0 | 0 | | Mookie Cooper | 3 | 61 | 20.3 | 2 | | Tauskie Dove | 3 | 33 | 11.0 | 0 | | Niko Hea | 2 | 35 | 17.5 | 0 | | Barrett Banister | 1 | 13 | 13.0 | 0 | | BLOCKING | PANCAKE | SACK | | Xavier Delgado | 0 | 1 | | DEFENSE | TACK | TFL | SACK | INT | | Kris Abrams-Draine | 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | | Devin Nicholson | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | | Jaylon Carlies | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Trajan Jeffcoat | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | | Ish Burdine | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | | Ennis Rakestraw | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | | Blaze Alldredge | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Isaiah McGuire | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | | Kobie Whiteside | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | | Chris Shearin | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | | Akial Byers | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | D'Ionte Smith | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Jalani Williams | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Akayleb Evans | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | | Allie Green | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | KICKING | FG | XP | PTS | LONG | | Harrison Mevis | 5/5 | 2/2 | 17 | 48 | | PUNTING | NO | YDS | AVG | IN20 | | Grant McKinniss | 2 | 94 | 47.0 | 1 | | KICK RETURN | RET | YDS | AVG | LONG | | Elijah Young | 5 | 132 | 26.4 | 30 | | PUNT RETURN | RET | YDS | AVG | LONG | | Kris Abrams-Draine | 2 | 17 | 8.5 | 11 |
| | VANDERBILT COMMODORES | | PASSING | C/A | YDS | TD | INT | | Mike Wright | 24/43 | 303 | 1 | 2 | | RUSHING | ATT | YDS | AVG | TD | | Re'Mahn Davis | 22 | 97 | 4.4 | 3 | | Mike Wright | 12 | 43 | 3.5 | 0 | | Brayden Bapst | 5 | 23 | 4.6 | 0 | | Rocko Griffin | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | | RECEIVING | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | | Re'Mahn Davis | 7 | 56 | 8.0 | 1 | | Devin Boddie | 6 | 105 | 17.5 | 0 | | Chris Pierce | 4 | 47 | 11.8 | 0 | | Ben Bresnahan | 3 | 54 | 18.0 | 0 | | Will Sheppard | 1 | 24 | 24.0 | 0 | | Amir Abdur-Rahman | 1 | 10 | 10.0 | 0 | | Tyrell Alexander | 1 | 7 | 7.0 | 0 | | Brayden Bapst | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | | BLOCKING | PANCAKE | SACK | | Team | 0 | 0 | | DEFENSE | TACK | TFL | SACK | INT | | Max Worship | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Deshaun Jenkins | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Brayden DeVault-Smith | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | | Ethan Barr | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | | Anfernee Orji | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | | Allan George | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Jaylen Mahoney | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Chase Lloyd | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Gabe Jeudy'Lally | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | | Michael Owusu | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Daevion Davis | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | | De'Rickey Wright | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | | Elijah McAllister | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | | Feleti Afemui | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Justin Harris | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | KICKING | FG | XP | PTS | LONG | | Joseph Bulovas | 1/2 | 3/3 | 6 | 40 | | PUNTING | NO | YDS | AVG | IN20 | | Harrison Smith | 2 | 80 | 40.0 | 0 | | KICK RETURN | RET | YDS | AVG | LONG | | James Ziglor | 4 | 134 | 33.5 | 43 | | Gavin Schoenwald | 3 | 83 | 27.7 | 35 | | PUNT RETURN | RET | YDS | AVG | LONG | | Team | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 |
|
Josh Allen grabs his second interception (left), his third interception (center) and takes the latter to the
house (right).
Allen’s 3 picks pave the way
for Vandy’s first SEC victory
OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — A big play needed to be made by Vanderbilt’s defense.
On this day, no player in all the land was better suited to come through than Vanderbilt cornerback Josh Allen.
Allen’s third interception of the game was taken back 19 yards for a touchdown with 4:54 left in the game, sealing 113th-ranked Vanderbilt’s 41-29 victory over 86th-ranked Mississippi on Oct. 7, 2006.
Allen’s three interceptions, which tie the real-life school record, directly or indirectly led to 21 points for Vanderbilt, which won for the first time in Southeastern Conference play under first-year coach B-Dawg.
Both teams came in with woeful 1-4 overall records and 0-2 SEC marks.
“Josh Allen is a kid who hasn’t really shown us a whole lot in the first five games,” Vanderbilt coach B-Dawg said. “The only guys in our secondary who were playing with a crap were strong safety Reshard Langford and true freshman cornerback D.J. Moore. Josh was amazing today, the way he read the play and broke on the ball. He’s only a red-shirt sophomore, so we’re hoping a game like this gives him a big boost toward becoming a big-time stud by his senior year.”
The Commodores, who didn’t score a single offensive point against lowly Temple last week, had an out-of-body experience in the first half against Mississippi. Red-shirt freshman quarterback Mackenzi Adams started the game 11-for-18 for 270 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions in staking Vanderbilt to a stunning 31-7 lead with 5:18 left in the first half. Two of Vanderbilt’s touchdowns came after interceptions by Allen.
Adams hit six different receivers during that stretch, throwing touchdowns to three different players. Marlon White opened the scoring with a 7-yard touchdown catch, Earl Bennett caught a 21-yard pass to make it 14-7 and tight end Brad Allen snared a 12-yard scoring strike to put the Commodores ahead 31-7.
“I was stunned, absolutely stunned,” B-Dawg said. “Here we’ve been struggling all season to scrape and claw for every yard, every point we can get. All of a sudden, it was like the floodgates opened. I switched to the Vanderbilt playbook for this game and the guys seemed much more at ease using their own book. It gives us a good mix of plays that seem suited to our talent. Mississippi isn’t the toughest defense in the country by a long shot, but we had a hard time with Tennessee State and Temple, so we expected another tough battle.”
This is Vanderbilt, of course, which meant this victory would become far from easy.
The Rebels got some momentum heading into halftime when Brent Schaeffer hit Marshay Green with a 14-yard touchdown pass with 41 seconds left in the second quarter. A 2-point pass cut the Commodores’ lead to 31-15.
Mississippi hardly ran at all in the first half, but established a ground game coming out in the second half and had its patience rewarded. The Rebels, led by running back Mico McSwain, outscored Vanderbilt 14-0 in the third quarter to make things very interesting at 31-29.
“At that point, I’m bracing for another one of our patented fourth-quarter meltdowns,” B-Dawg said. “We had momentum, we had everything going our way, but they got to +2 on the momentum meter and I fully expected a load of EA-orchestrated B.S. to come our way.”
Mississippi’s defense came up with a big stop by stuffing a third-and-goal run from the 2-yard line, forcing Vanderbilt to settle for a 23-yard field goal by Bryant Hahnfeldt with 5:08 left in the game. At 34-29, the Rebels could have taken the lead with a touchdown.
But Mr. Allen had other ideas.
He leapt to snare a short pass by Schaeffer and went 19 yards to the house with Vanderbilt’s second defensive touchdown of the season, making it a two-score game at 41-29.
“We breathed a huge sigh of relief, because we knew we could just drop back and not give up the big play and ride out the victory,” B-Dawg said.
Mississippi moved all the way to Vanderbilt’s 2-yard line, but Schaeffer threw three straight incompletions to end the Rebels’ final threat with 1:01 remaining.
Adams finished 19-for-31 for 334 yards, three touchdowns and — the truly beautiful part — NO INTERCEPTIONS!!!
Cassen Jackson-Garrison showed some versatility, catching two passes for 71 yards and rushing 26 times for 112 yards and a touchdown. His 28-yard touchdown run in the second quarter was the longest run this season for the Commodores.
Seven different Commodores caught passes, with six grabbing at least two. White had five catches for 77 yards and his first touchdown of the season. Bennett, whose big-play ability has been the only offense for the Commodores so far, was relatively quiet with four catches for 47 yards and a touchdown.
“I tell you what, when Bennett has so-so numbers, I’d be willing to bet we’ll win the majority of those games,” B-Dawg said. “It’s when we get desperate and nothing else is working that we lean heavily on him. Today was a perfect display of how I want to run my offense. We got everyone involved and had a good mix of short, medium and deep balls, not to mention a much more effective ground game.”
The Commodores were 12-for-17 on third-down conversions.
Vanderbilt doesn’t have much time to celebrate. The Commodores will have to go between the hedges next Saturday to face 23rd-ranked Georgia (4-2).
PLAYAZ OF DA GAME
Josh Allen, Vanderbilt; Marshay Green, Mississippi
VANDERBILT 41, MISSISSIPPI 29
First quarter
VANDY: White 7 pass from Adams (Hahnfeldt kick), 5:52
MISS: Green 71 pass from Schaeffer (Mosely kick), 5:21
VANDY: Bennett 21 pass from Adams (Hahnfeldt kick), 3:08
Second quarter
VANDY: Hahnfeldt 35 field goal, 7:33
VANDY: Garrison 28 run (Hahnfeldt kick), 6:24
VANDY: B.Allen 12 pass from Adams (Hahnfeldt kick), 5:18
MISS: Green 14 pass from Schaeffer (Hough pass from Schaeffer), :41
Third quarter
MISS: Lane 2 pass from Schaeffer (Mosely kick), 5:06
MISS: McSwain 27 run (Mosley kick), 1:41
Fourth quarter
VANDY: Hahnfeldt 23 field goal, 5:08
VANDY: J.Allen 19 interception return (Hahnfeldt kick), 4:54
Jamaal Charles, Texas, HB
Stats: 115 carries, 777 yards, 15 TD; 11 catches, 186 yards, 3 TD
Drew Tate, Iowa, QB
Stats: 116-for-204, 1,608 yards, 21 TD, 8 int.
Sidney Rice, South Carolina, WR
Stats: 35 catches, 561 yards, 9 TD
John David Booty, USC, QB
Stats: 123-for-193, 1,576 yards, 18 TD, 6 int.
Zac Taylor, Nebraska, QB
Stats: 128-for-211, 1,689 yards, 21 TD, 6 int.