Column: We Didn't Learn Much About Vanderbilt Football on Saturday, That's a Great Thing

NASHVILLE — True to the identity of its former wrestler turned quarterback, Vanderbilt football had to get up off the mat, patch up its scars and find a way to grind through an outing in which it could’ve stayed down and lost itself.

It had lapses. It had calls it disagreed with. It watched as Utah State quarterback Bryson Barnes delivered a few mind-boggling throws that could’ve indicated this Vanderbilt team was in trouble. It wasn’t, though. Maybe a different Vanderbilt team would’ve been, but this one is strong enough mentally and physically to find a way out of a game like Saturday’s with a win.

It was Vanderbilt’s first game with an underwhelming crowd. It was its first in which it had to wake up and weather the inconvenience, draining sunlight of an early kickoff. Yet, it found a way to leave FirstBank Stadium with a 55-35 win and all of its hopes still out in front of it.

“This team, no matter the opponent, we want to dominate,” Vanderbilt safety Marlen Sewell said. “That’s the kind of team you want to have.”

Vanderbilt football — Vanderbilt tight end Eli Stowers (9) celebrates his touchdown against Utah State during the third quarter at FirstBank Stadium in Nashville, Tenn., Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025. | Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

This Vanderbilt team is capable of far more than it showed on Saturday as it appeared to limp out of the gates and sputter at times defensively before putting together a long string of scoring drives to put it out of reach, but it didn’t need its best to find a way to win on Saturday. That in itself says something about this group. It already had enough of a workload that it didn’t have all that much to prove on Saturday. Its identity as a team was never up for question.

This thing never had to be pretty for this Vanderbilt team. It just had to be enough to preserve the rèsumè that it had built through its first four weeks of the season. It had to make sure that its wins over South Carolina and Virginia Tech didn’t mean any less than they did on Saturday morning.

All this team had to do to make the rest of its season meaningful was take care of business on Saturday. It didn’t matter how it did it or whether it made a compelling case to AP voters to move it up in the polls, it just had to do it.

This Vanderbilt team did.

“The story of this one for me is battling through a tough and competitive first half, making the plays we needed to make to separate,” Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea said. “I just have a ton of respect for our team. This is week five, five in a row they’ve done the work in the process. They’ve stayed focused on the climb and they’ve done the work in the process.”

Diego Pavia’s 26-for-34 performance in which he threw for five touchdowns and ran for another was noteworthy, so was Bryce Cowan forcing a fumble and Junior Sherrill having his long-awaited breakout game. None of it matters as much as what this group did for itself, though.

Now, it has the potential of being a part of College Gameday in Tuscaloosa next weekend. It will still be in the AP Poll on Sunday afternoon. It hasn’t given anyone any reason to discount it from accomplishing its biggest goals as a team.

“Same exact vibes,” Pavia said of this Vanderbilt team and his Junior College team that won the national championship. “We’re just gonna take it one game at a time, one practice at a time. So, we’ll celebrate tonight and then get ready to go tomorrow.”

As Vanderbilt celebrates a performance with some moments it would like to have back, the College Football Playoff aspirations are still alive. This Vanderbilt team is, too. That’s what matters after Saturday night.

Now, it gets more difficult than it’s ever been. Time to see if it can keep this thing rolling.

“There’s a lot more out there for us,” Pavia said. “We’re super excited to go down to Tuscaloosa this week.”