The Missouri Tigers did something they haven’t done in weeks: get off to a good start in their 37-28 victory over Vanderbilt on Saturday.

Mizzou’s offense jumped on the Commodores early, scoring on its 1st 2 possessions.

But as usual, a mistake early by quarterback Connor Bazelak turned the momentum around, and what should have been a 17-0 or 13-0 Missouri lead quickly turned into a 10-7 lead.

Bazelak’s interception was his 9th of the season, 2nd only behind Florida’s Emory Jones in the conference. And just like that …

Later in the game, Vanderbilt seized another opportunity and eventually took the lead. If you are a Mizzou fan, tell me if you haven’t heard all this before.

Give Bazelak some credit, though — he didn’t fall apart. He came right back at the end of the 1st half and threw a Hail Mary to KeKe Chism to take the lead. That’s what Eli Drinkwitz and this team needed to see. Bazelak put that turnover behind him and bounced back with a great play that gave his team momentum.

Another good thing Mizzou did was to finally give the ball to its playmaker, Tyler Badie. Drinkwitz said before the game that he wanted to give his star running back more touches, and boy, did he. By the 3rd quarter, Badie had 28 touches and 134 yards.

But, of course, the struggles of the defense continued, especially with stopping the run.

Vanderbilt quarterback Mike Wright had a field day running the ball, with runs of 69 and 71 yards that basically kept the Dores in the game. He also threw 3 touchdowns. The Mizzou defense made Wright look like an All-SEC quarterback. The woes of this defense to make stops when it needs to still haunts this team.

Even when the offense looked like it had taken control, Vandy just wouldn’t go away.

Good thing for Mizzou that Badie is on their side. It definitely needed him to carry the load in the 4th quarter, when both Luke Griffin and Bazelak went down with injuries.

Mizzou fans should also give credit to placekicker Harrison Mevis, who made some huge kicks in the 4th quarter when the offense stalled. Mevis has tied a school record this year by making 6 field goals of 50 yards or more. What a weapon to have when your team needs a big play.

The game wasn’t pretty, but it didn’t have to be. Mizzou wasn’t trying for style points, it was just looking for the victory.

The offense played well and did what it needed to to close out the game, which it rarely has this year.

The issue remains the defense. Every time it looked like the Tigers had put away the Dores, they would come back and make it close again.

But Badie wouldn’t let the Dores back in it. No. 1 was on point, running for 294 yards 2 scores and all but sealing All-SEC honors once this season is over.

The man looked like he was on a mission. Every time his name was called, he rose to the occasion.

But the major concern for Mizzou is that it may have to enter the Georgia game in Athens next Saturday without Bazelak. If that’s the case, the offense is going to need Badie to do what he did Saturday, and that’s put this team on his back.

Even though the Killer B’s played well, it is going to take a monumental effort to take out Georgia. It’s one thing to put up over 500 yards on Vanderbilt; it’s another to try to do that against the Dawgs.

Hopefully for Mizzou, Bazelak won’t be injured, and if he is it’s not a bad one. The biggest takeaway from Saturday is that Mizzou’s offense is formidable when it needs to be and that Badie can be a workhorse when called upon.

The Mizzou defense is still a work in progress, but as long as the Tigers’ offense keeps them in games like this, they have a pretty good chance of winning.

Now, let’s see if they can carry this performance into Athens next Saturday.