The Missouri Tigers and the Vanderbilt Commodores meet in a week 5 SEC college football matchup from FirstBank Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Mizzou Remains Unbeaten

The Missouri Tigers come into this one with a 4-0 record after a 34-27 win over Memphis last time out. Brady Cook has thrown for 1,073 yards and 7 touchdowns with a 72% completion percentage while Cody Schrader’s rushed for a team-high 403 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns and Nathaniel Peat has 186 rushing yards and 2 TDs as well. Luther Burden III leads Missouri’s receiving group with 32 catches for 504 yards and 3 touchdowns while three other Missouri receivers have 100+ receiving yards as well this season. On defense, Joseph Charleston has a team-high 23 total tackles while Kris Abrams-Draine has a pair of interceptions and Johnny Walker Jr. has a team-high 3 sacks. Daylan Carnell and Nyles Gaddy each have 2 sacks while Missouri’s defense as a whole has combined for 12 sacks and 3 interceptions this season.

Missouri Tigers Team Facts

Missouri has won each of its last 12 September games as a favorite.
Missouri has failed to cover the spread in seven of its last eight road openers.
Missouri has lost the first half in each of its last three games against conference opponents.
Eight of Missouri’s last nine games as a favorite against Vanderbilt have gone UNDER the total points line.

Vanderbilt Falls In Conference Opener

The Vanderbilt Commodores will be looking to bounce back after getting picked apart by Kentucky, losing their conference opener to the Wildcats by a final score of 45-28 for their 3rd straight loss and dropped to 2-3 on the year as a result. AJ Swann has thrown for 1,290 yards, 11 touchdowns and 7 interceptions on 53.8% passing while Patrick Smith leads Vandy in rushing with 236 rushing yards and 2 TDs and Sedrick Alexander has 168 rushing yards and 3 scores as well. Will Sheppard leads Vanderbilt’s receivers with 27 grabs for 345 yards and 6 touchdowns while London Humphreys has 299 receiving yards with 3 scores and Jayden McGowan’s added 295 receiving yards and 23 receptions this season. On defense, CJ Taylor has a team-high 37 total tackles and 3 sacks while De’Rickey Wright has a pair of interceptions. As a whole, Vanderbilt’s defense has combined for 10 sacks and 7 interceptions this season.

Vanderbilt Commodores Team Facts

Vanderbilt has lost each of its last 12 games against AP-ranked teams.
Vanderbilt has failed to cover the spread in each of its last 11 home games in September.
Vanderbilt has lost the first half in 27 of its last 30 games against conference opponents.
Each of Vanderbilt’s last six home games in September have gone OVER the total points line.

Matchup/League Facts

Vanderbilt was one of only 17 FBS teams with a better road winning percentage (.500) than home winning percentage (.333) last season (min. 8 games).
Vanderbilt ranked 17th among FBS teams for Q3 points per game last season (8.8).
Missouri ranked T21st among FBS teams for Q2 win percentage last season (.615).
Missouri ranked 26th among FBS teams for Q2 points allowed per game last season (5.8).

Chris’ Pick

I’m leaning towards Missouri here. I get why the Commodores are tempting as a home dog, as they’ve covered four of the last five in this matchup, but that’s the thing about Vandy, they were so bad for so long, they kept getting inflated point spreads that even they could cover and Missouri wasn’t spectacular in recent years. However, the Tigers are solid, and while it’s their first road game, Vandy hasn’t been special at home and this defense continues to leak left and right as teams are scoring in bunches on the Commodore defense. I think this is one of those games that’s close early, but Missouri pulls away in the second half, something like a 38-21 kind of game. Give me the Tigers laying the number on the road.