NASHVILLE — The Vanderbilt Commodores are too busy building their football present and future to worry about the past.
Diego Pavia dove across the goal line for a 1-yard touchdown with 1:52 left as No. 10 Vanderbilt beat 15th-ranked Missouri 17-10 Saturday to extend the Commodores’ best start in more than 80 years.
Vanderbilt improved to 7-1 overall — including 3-1 in the Southeastern Conference — putting the Commodores a win away from matching the program’s 1941 squad that started 8-1. It’s also the first time Vanderbilt has won seven games before November since 1915, a year that produced one of the program’s four nine-win seasons.
Better yet, three wins have come against AP Top 25 teams, a first in Vanderbilt history.
“We’re not getting where we want to go if we don’t find ways to win games like this tonight,” Vanderbilt fifth-year head coach Clark Lea said. “I thought (it was) a great moment for us to step up. And we did.”
Vanderbilt safety CJ Heard set up the winning drive by recovering a fumble by Jamal Roberts with 7:02 left, but the finish didn’t come without plenty of drama.
Sedrick Alexander initially was ruled by officials to have fumbled at the 1-yard line only for that call to be overturned upon video review with 1:49 left. Pavia finished the drive on the next play.
“Championship teams, you know, go through games like this,” Pavia said. “It’s just how you prevail.”
No. 15 Missouri (6-2, 2-2) lost quarterback Beau Pribula early in the third quarter when he hurt his left ankle on fourth-and-goal. Trainers placed his ankle in an air cast and carted him off the field.
Tigers freshman Matt Zollers, who threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Jude James early in the fourth to tie it at 10, tried to tie it once more. He threw to Kevin Coleman Jr. as time expired, and it was ruled an incompletion. After review, officials said Coleman caught the ball short of the goal line.
“We could’ve had a cleaner finish to this game, but we finished,” Lea said.
Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz said it was disappointing to work so hard and come up short. He also said Pribula needed his dislocated ankle popped back into joint with the quarterback out for a while.
“We’re probably not playing for the conference championship now with two losses,” Drinkwitz said. “But we’re darn sure playing for the playoffs. … We’ve already accomplished one of our goals, which was to qualify for a bowl game. And so now it’s free football to see what kind of opportunity we have next.”
Makhilyn Young put the Commodores up 10-3 lead late in the third with an 80-yard touchdown run.
Despite having two of top scoring offenses in the country, the teams had scrapped to a 3-3 halftime tie. Vanderbilt came in eighth with its average of 41.4 points a game, with Missouri 12th at 39 per game.
A kicking penalty on Missouri left guard Dominick Giudice erased a 20-yard run by Pribula down to the Vanderbilt 1. Robert Meyer put Missouri up 3-0 with 5:11 left in the first half. Meyer missed a 29-yard field-goal attempt wide left in the third.
Vanderbilt Brock Taylor, who hasn’t missed since a double-overtime loss last season at Missouri, tied it up with a 38-yard field goal with 2:00 left in the first half. That came after the Commodores had first-and-goal at the Missouri 8 before a holding penalty and a false start.
Zoller came in having completed all six passes he had attempted with one TD pass. He went 14 of 23 for 138 yards in a gutsy performance Ahmad Hardy, the SEC’s best rusher and third in the country, ran for 97 yards on 20 carries.
The Commodores overcame a bevy of problems that usually turned into losses in seasons past. They went three-and-out on offense three times, had eight penalties for 83 yards and were held to a season-low 265 yards of total offense.
Missouri has dominated this series since joining the SEC in 2012, with the Tigers losing that year but taking 10 of 12 before Vanderbilt ended a five-game series skid this time.
Vanderbilt visits No. 22 Texas (6-2, 3-1) next Saturday.