No. 15 Missouri lost starting quarterback Beau Pribula to a left ankle injury early in the third quarter of its 17-10 loss to No. 10 Vanderbilt on Saturday. Sources told CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz the injury will cost Pribula at least the rest of the regular season, with further testing to come on Sunday.
Following the game, Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz told reporters that Pribula’s ankle “had to be popped back in.”
“Beau has no broken bones but he did have an ankle injury that had to be popped back in,” Drinkwitz said. “Don’t have a timetable for his return but it could be a while.”
With the game tied 3-3, Pribula got bent up on a fourth-down rushing attempt near the goal line when the pile of bodies pushed back on top of him as the Vanderbilt defense stacked him up. Pribula stayed down on the field in pain as the rest of the two teams left the field. He was tended to by medical staff and quickly put into an air cast before being carted to the tunnel where the broadcast showed him being transferred to a wheelchair to be taken to the back.
Pribula’s injury forced the Tigers to turn to true freshman Matt Zollers, who began the season as the third-string quarterback. After losing Sam Horn for the season to an injury in the opener, Zollers became the backup and had to take over for the Tigers in a hostile road environment in a game with College Football Playoff implications. Both the Tigers and Commodores entered Saturday at 6-1 overall with 2-1 marks in SEC play.
Pribula, a Penn State transfer, was 9-of-14 for 68 yards passing and added 10 yards on four carries rushing prior to the injury in a defensive battle in Nashville. For the season, Pribula entered Saturday having completed 70% of his passes for 1,617 yards, 11 touchdowns and seven interceptions, adding 210 yards and five touchdowns on the ground for the Tigers.
Zollers, a four-star, top 100 recruit in the class of 2025, received only a few snaps this season prior to Saturday, completing all six of his attempts for 75 yards and a touchdown. In his first series, Zollers looked solid, completing 4-of-6 passes for 27 yards including a key completion on fourth and 4, but the drive stalled in the red zone and Missouri hit the upright on a short field goal to keep the game tied.
While Missouri eventually lost 17-10, Zollers finished the game with completions on 14 of his 23 passing attempts for 138 yards and one touchdown.
“I was really proud of him. I thought he did an excellent job,” Drinkwitz said of Zollers. “Obviously, the one turnover on a mesh read, but other than that, I though he played really big. Fourth-down conversions to give us a chance and then when they took the lead, to drive the ball down and score was really impressive. Moment wasn’t too big for him.”
That performance from Zollers might raise the spirits some of the Missouri faithful, but seeing Pribula go down with an injury that will cost him the remainder of the Tigers’ regular season puts a significant damper on the excitement of what has been a fantastic first half of the 2025 season. The Tigers, now 6-2 overall and 2-2 in SEC play, enter an off week before hosting No. 3 Texas A&M on Nov. 8.
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