For the second time this season, Barry Odom’s team has been upset by an inferior opponent.

That’s a reality Missouri and Odom have to face after losing to Vanderbilt 21-14 from Nashville on Saturday. The Tigers entered the game atop the SEC East standings and with Florida and Georgia both losing last weekend, Missouri had an opportunity to create some cushion in the East standings by beating Vandy.

Now the Tigers have to pick up the pieces in a hurry and have no margin of error in the East with games against Georgia and Florida upcoming.

As bad as Saturday’s loss was, this is something that Missouri fans have experienced under Odom just this season — as the Tigers somehow found a way to lose to Wyoming in the opener.

“Okay, you know obviously disappointed with that performance, I feel like we look at four quarters of play I think we got outcoached and I think we got that out-executed the entire four quarters,” Odom said following the game.

“We could not run the ball, which was frustrating to me that we couldn’t. And we didn’t convert near enough on our third downs to give ourselves a chance, and then defensively, you know, felt like we were host was getting off the field. Also, you look at 120 yards of penalties, we won’t beat anybody with that. So good to take a long look at that. And obviously I know there were a number of them that I recall off the top of my head that were in crucial moments.

“We’ve got a decision to make on how we’re going to respond, what we’ll do. We’re going to go on the road again next week to play a really good Kentucky team, so we’ll find out about the toughness and the resolve and how we bounce back.”

With this loss, Missouri falls to 5-2 on the season and will face Kentucky in Lexington. The Tigers are now 0-2 on the road this season.