A historic moment couldn’t save Vanderbilt from extending its longest SEC losing streak in 17 years.
The Commodores fell 41-0 to Missouri on Saturday in their worst performance of the season. They dropped to 0-8 with their 12th consecutive SEC loss under seventh-year coach Derek Mason, dating back to last year.
It is Vanderbilt’s longest SEC losing streak since dropping 23 straight from 2000 to 2003 under Woody Widenhofer and Bobby Johnson.
That dismal result was lightened for a moment when kicker Sarah Fuller, a goalkeeper on the soccer team, became the first woman to play in a Power Five college football game.
She squibbed the kickoff to start the second half to make her college football debut. On Sunday, she led the Vanderbilt soccer team to an SEC Tournament title and then joined the football team in an emergency situation, as COVID-19 contract tracing had taken multiple specialists out of the lineup.
Missouri freshman quarterback Connor Bazelak was 30-of-37 passing for 318 yards, and he left the game early in the fourth quarter with a comfortable lead. The Tigers finished with 380 passing yards and 603 yards of total offense.
Missouri outgained Vanderbilt 603-196. Larry Rountree rushed 21 times for 160 yards and three touchdowns.
Running back Tyler Badie had seven catches for 102 yards and scored on a 1-yard run in the second quarter. True freshman quarterback Brady Cook got his first snaps of the year in mop-up time and threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Damon Hazelton.
Senior linebacker Nick Bolton is making a bid for All-SEC and All-American honors. Bolton finished with nine tackles, a sack, two tackles for loss and a pass breakup against Vanderbilt. He has 76 tackles on the season.
The Tigers are scheduled to play Arkansas at home on Saturday.