No. 7/8-ranked Missouri football faces Vanderbilt on Saturday in Columbia, where the Tigers will have a chance to open the season 4-0 for the second straight campaign.

The Commodores are coming off a road loss against Georgia State last Saturday, but have a power-conference win on their resume already this season, having knocked off Virginia Tech in Week 1.

More: Here’s what Vanderbilt’s coach, quarterback said ahead of Missouri football matchup

With a win, Mizzou can make sure it heads to College Station, Texas, to face Texas A&M unblemished.

Here are three positions we’re watching that could make sure the Tigers see off their visitors sooner rather than later:

Will Missouri football dial up the heat on pass rush?

Missouri hasn’t gone full tilt with its edge rushers through three games.

That doesn’t mean it won’t. Indeed, you should probably expect defensive coordinator Corey Batoon to dial up the temperature on Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia this Saturday.

Johnny Walker Jr., Zion Young and the Mizzou cast at defensive end had different responsibilities against Boston College and QB Thomas Castellanos. The Tigers couldn’t afford to rush past him, and put themselves, as Drinkwitz said, in an 11-v-10 situation. So, they were patient, contained him, and eventually got the best of the quarterback..

The test changes with Vanderbilt’s quarterback, who is just as capable of hurting teams with his arm.

“(Pavia) will lower his shoulder and take on defenders. So, it's different, but then there's some schematic things that are similar,” Drinkwitz said. … “I think there's some of that stuff that will carry (over). I don't think that our approach to pass rush will have to be the same. You know, we do have to contain him, but ultimately we look back at the plan, maybe there will be some more opportunities for us to try to create pressure.”

The stat sheet isn’t really giving the defensive ends a fair shake for their performances. A number of their best plays have been on tipped balls and pressures, and against Boston College they were instrumental in keeping Castellanos contained.

The Tigers might let that group loose against Vanderbilt. If they get to Pavia often enough, there’s a good chance Missouri has this game wrapped up early.

Does pass protection take a step forward?

Missouri’s run game, between Nate Noel, Marcus Carroll and some stout blocking at the point of attack, has hardly skipped a beat from 2023.

There’s still plenty to see when it comes to giving Brady Cook the time to operate in the pocket, though.

Drinkwitz saw a short set from one of his tackles and a running back failing to pick up the protection on a third-quarter sack. There was some leakage on the interior of the offensive line, the coach said, on a third-down incompletion early in the game.

The question shouldn’t really be framed as ‘if’ Missouri will be able to dissect Vanderbilt’s pass defense, but rather ‘how?’ The Commodores' DBs were shaky at best against Georgia State, and will be without starting safety CJ Taylor for the first half of Saturday’s game due to a carryover targeting suspension.

There is proof of concept that Missouri can methodically move the chains with its short-passing game. The Tigers, barring a major surprise, are going to find space through the air.

But Mizzou still has yet to show it has more in the locker. Cook has only lofted 10 passes of 20 yards or more — and completed two — through three games.

Getting more opportunities, and more explosive plays, could start with giving him more time.

“We’ve got to firm up the middle of the pocket,” Drinkwitz said. “When we have confusion about what we're doing in protection, we’ve got to still be solid. We can't retreat from the line of scrimmage, and I think we were retreating a little bit too much, which was putting pressure in the quarterback’s lap.”

More: Does Missouri football have a deep ball problem? A look inside the numbers

Can secondary clean up coverage busts?

Starting free safety Joseph Charleston missed the Tigers’ Tuesday practice and was listed as questionable on MU’s Wednesday evening availability report.

That means the Tigers could be a man down a week after some blown coverages cost them points. You could argue that all three of Boston College’s touchdowns came from costly mistakes in the secondary. The good news for MU is that the next man up at Charleston’s position, if he can't go, is Tre’Vez Johnson, who grabbed the first pick of his Mizzou career last week.

The surest way for MU to not put teams it should beat — and Vanderbilt, as 20.5 underdogs, is one of those teams — out of sight is to keep making critical errors in coverage.

Some week-over-week improvement here would be a good sign.

“You know, five plays can get you beat on defense. If 10 people do things right but one messes up on five plays, you give up explosive plays that get you beat,” Drinkwitz said. “Ultimately, we had critical busts in critical situations that we have to fix, and whether that's coaching, whether that's personal responsibility for players on both sides, whatever it is, it has to get taken off the tape, and it has to get taken off the tape quickly.”

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Position battles that could make sure Missouri football beats Vanderbilt