Vanderbilt defensive tackle Barron Dixon (44) celebrates with teammates after they defeated Missouri 19-15, Saturday, Oct. 6, 2012, in Columbia, Mo. (AP Photo/L.G. Patterson)
Both Vanderbilt and Mizzou were looking for their first SEC win of the season coming into this weekend’s match up and it was the visiting team that went home with a victory. With an 0-2 SEC record you could sense the desperation from the Tiger’s leading up to their game with the Commodores who are just 121-382-18 since joining the SEC:
Missouri targets Vandy for first SEC win | STL Today
If MU can’t win at home against a Vandy team averaging fewer than 10 points a game in FBS play, the Tigers will be making a dramatic statement about just how far they have to go be significant in the SEC.
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“It’s about time we get one,” MU defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson said. “We need one right now.”
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The Tigers’ first-team unit has produced just two touchdowns in the last nine quarters.
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he (Pinkel) expressed concern that a certain “anxiety” arises when an offense struggles as players are “almost waiting for somebody to drop the football or miss a block.”
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But unless it creates some breakthroughs to produce its first SEC win today, MU will start being seen as less “a player” in the league than as a distant wannabe.
The must win game apparently did not move Tiger fans to support their team by actually attending the home game at Faurot Field as ticket sales were well short of a sell out in one the SEC smallest stadiums:
Weak fan support for Tigers is embarrassing | KMOV Channel 4
We hear for months how fan support is going to increase so that we can hopefully fit in the SEC picture. Unless some large spike in support happens in between now and Saturday’s game against Vanderbilt, Mizzou will fail to sellout its second-ever SEC home game.
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Mizzou could face some harsh ridicule from other SEC school fans. It should also be noted that Faurot Field is the tenth largest-capacity stadium in the SEC. So from where I’m sitting, we have our second-ever SEC home game, in an already undersized SEC-stadium, and will most likely not sellout the game.
Here’s a taste of what the media thinks of the SEC’s new pinata team:
Vandy hands Mizzou demoralizing defeat | STL Today
Challenging any lingering optimism about its debut season in the Southeastern Conference and calling into doubt its ability to reach an eighth straight bowl game, Mizzou tumbled to perennial SEC also-ran Vanderbilt 19-15 Saturday night at Faurot Field.
With the demoralizing defeat to one of the few SEC foes MU figured to beat, the Tigers fell to 3-3 overall and 0-3 in SEC play in its much-anticipated first season in the league as top-ranked Alabama comes calling next.
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Even the touchdown by Sasser had a sour aftertaste as MU botched the point after to remain behind 16-15 and alter the complexion of Mizzou’s last drive, which otherwise likely would have featured a 42-yard field-goal attempt. Instead, it ended at the Vandy 25 with Berkstresser’s 21st incompletion in 30 attempts.
It’s getting ugly at Mizzou | STL Today
A season that began with so many dreamy high hopes for Mizzou’s football program crashed and burned on Saturday night with an ugly and frustrating thud. You just can’t lose to Vanderbilt if you want to be taken seriously in the Southeastern Conference.
Losing to the Commodores at home?
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on Saturday night, the imperfect storm of failure smothered his team. He lost his starting quarterback, James Franklin, to a sprained left knee midway through the first quarter, lost his electric tailback/return man Marcus Murphy to a broken finger, watched his senior left offensive tackle Elvis Fisher valiantly limp around all game on a gimpy knee and lost starting center Mitch Morse in the third quarter to a strained MCL.
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The (Mizzou) offensive line was overwhelmed all night by a Vanderbilt defense that no one would ever mistake for a “typical SEC defense.”
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Even Berkstresser’s biggest play — an early fourth-quarter 85-yard pass-and-catch to wide receiver Bud Sasser — was filled with uncertainty. Because Berkstresser had been overthrowing his receivers so badly all night, no one was really sure if Sasser was the intended receiver or if Berkstresser actually overthrew senior wideout Gahn McGaffie — who was seen leaping high in the air about 10 yards away as if he thought he was the intended receiver on the play.
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Having already been treated rudely by the cream of the SEC in its first two conference games, Mizzou stepped way down in class against Vandy, whose only previous victory was a 58-0 rout of some organ donor named Presbyterian.
Mizzou still winless in SEC after 19-15 loss to Vanderbilt | Kansas City Star
The team dressed in white stormed the field, shouting and yelling and laughing and hugging. They had been the dregs of the Southeastern Conference for years.
As the final seconds of Vanderbilt’s 19-15 win over Missouri — the Commodores’ first SEC road win in two years — ticked away Saturday night, it was time for someone else to feel despair, to learn how hard it was to win in this conference.
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Missouri needs six wins to be bowl eligible, but it’s likely the Tigers will only be favored in two more games on the schedule, against Kentucky on Oct. 27 and Syracuse on Nov. 17. Provided they win both those games, that means the Tigers need to score an upset against either top-ranked Alabama next Saturday in Columbia, or at Florida, Tennessee or Texas A&M to reach the six-win mark.
Mizzou’s frustration builds | Kansas City Star
That’s what makes what’s happened to this point ultimately discouraging. Hopeful of making a good first impression, the Tigers instead stand 0-3 in SEC play.
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The scoreboard for Franklin shows seven missed quarters this season because of hits absorbed in two conference games, and the total is about to grow with Gary Pinkel’s postgame announcement Saturday that Franklin wouldn’t play against Alabama this week.
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Missouri offensive linesman Max Copeland sits on the Missouri bench after his team lost 19-15 to Vanderbilt, Saturday, Oct. 6, 2012, in Columbia, Mo. (AP Photo/L.G. Patterson)
Even the Mizzou fans who are normally blissfully ignorant of reality when assessing their team’s capabilities are starting to realize they should walk the walk before they talk the talk:
Vandy 19, Mizzou 15: An airing of grievances | Rock M Nation
