‘Let’s not sleep on Missouri’: College GameDay crew previews Mizzou, Vanderbilt match up

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (KMIZ)

All the hoopla and national attention may be going the way of the No. 10 Vanderbilt Commodores, leading up to head coach Eli Drinkwitz and company's Top-15 showdown in Nashville on Saturday, however, some of the biggest names in college football are telling fans not to look past Mizzou.

The Music City will be home for this week's edition of the traveling pregame show 'College GameDay,' as host Rece Davis, as well as analysts Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Pat McAfee and Nick Saban will all take Nashville by storm.

The Commodores will roll into Saturday's game favored over the No. 15 Tigers by 2.5 points, as head coach Clark Lea and his team has been gaining a ton of national recognition. However, on the flip side, there hasn't been a whole lot of talk about Coach Drinkwitz's 6-1 Mizzou team...and maybe that's the way they like it.

"Let's not sleep on Missouri," Herbstreit said. "I mean, they're going to come in here and kind of love the fact that no one's talking about them."

You can watch the full availability with Herbstreit in the video player below.

MU will come to Nashville fresh off of a double-overtime win over Auburn at Jordan-Hare Stadium last week. Although it wasn't a pretty win, a win is a win.

Herbstreit noted that the Tigers have quite a few X-factors that may just make the difference against Vanderbilt, on Saturday, including their ability to stop the run.

"I think Drink does a good job of getting his team to play with a chip on their shoulder," he said. "I think they've done a really good job to the portal. Damon Wilson, you could argue, is making as much of a difference as anybody in the SEC. You put [Damon Wilson] and Zion Young up there up front and they're physical against the run, which is going to be, to me, a game within the game. Can Vanderbilt run the football and avoid being in those 3rd-and-7's and 3rd-and-8's? Diego Pavia is great when they run and then he play actions and he can scramble around. Well, Missouri prides themselves on stopping the run and containing the quarterback, so I think that's going to be exciting. I think Beau [Pribula] has been really exciting to see what his abilities as a runner and passer."

College GameDay's first visit to Vanderbilt since 2008 is the culmination of all the work Lea and company have put in to revitalize the Commodore program, going from the doormat of the Southeastern Conference to a real contender.

However, it does take two to tango. GameDay's draw to Saturday's game, undoubtedly, also comes due to who's on the vistors sideline.

Over the course of his Mizzou tenure, Coach Eli has put the Tigers back in the national conversation. Just in the last three seasons (2023, 2024 and 2025), Drinkwitz has guided MU to a 29-6 overall record and appearances in the some major bowl games.

"I think Missouri is a legitimately really good team and a contender in the SEC. They need to prove they can win a game like this where the stakes are high," Davis said. "I'll make a lot tomorrow morning about the fact that this is the first time in 78 years that Vanderbilt has played a game as a Top-10 team. Over the last 40 years, Missouri's 1-33 on the road against Top-10 teams. So, here's an opportunity to sort of start erasing some narratives. A lot is at stake and there's a big opportunity there for Mizzou. I think both of these teams are really good. Whether either can elevate themselves to the status of being a champion or being a playoff team...a big step in that direction comes tomorrow."

You can watch the full availability with Davis in the video player below.

"This is not just like you're inviting random guests to a party. I mean, this is a big time. If this were LSU and Alabama, it would feel like, okay. But it's Missouri and Vandy and our brains aren't conditioned to like accept that this is a massive game in the SEC. But it is. That's where we are in 2025," Herbstreit added.

No. 15 Mizzou and No. 10 Vanderbilt will kickoff at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday at FirstBank Stadium. You can watch the game on ESPN.