Takeaways From Vanderbilt Football's 21-15 Loss To Auburn Football
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AUBURN, AL—Vanderbilt football has the first real blip on its resume following its 21-15 Saturday loss to Auburn at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
This could’ve been avoided, but Vanderbilt couldn’t make the big play and avoid the big mistake when it mattered the most. As a result, it’s left to reflect and think about where this went wrong ahead of its trip to Athens next weekend.
Here’s our takeaways from Vanderbilt’s Saturday performance.
Vanderbilt saw evidence in regard to what Lea has been saying for years
Lea sounds like a broken record when he says the margins are small in the SEC, but he’s right. Vanderbilt saw that Saturday as it fell to Auburn.
Vanderbilt’s been living on the edge through its first four games and has gotten away with a lot, but its good fortune ran out on Saturday as Auburn magnified Vanderbilt’s mistakes on the way to delivering it its first loss.
Saturday included Vanderbilt turning it over on downs deep in its own territory on a fake punt, having a punt blocked for a touchdown, a missed field goal, a few untimely penalties and a few crucial misses downfield from Vanderbilt quarterback Jared Curtis. Those things were ultimately its demise. It felt as if it was constantly two steps forward and a step backward for Vanderbilt.
Vanderbilt outgained Auburn 311-279, won the time of possession battle 37:28-to-22:32, seemingly always converted in high-leverage fourth-down situations and scored nine points off turnovers as opposed to Auburn’s zero. Yet, it lost.
Lea’s clearly on to something here. Just think about how this could’ve been different without the little things going awry.
Vanderbilt’s lack of a running game is concerning
This group had its moments Saturday on the ground, but it’s still yet to prove that its identity is as a running team that mixes in passes downfield to complement what it does on the ground.
Vanderbilt ran for 2.7 yards per carry on Saturday despite its four rushing plays of over 10 yards. When sacks are taken out, that number is 3.6. Sedrick Alexander found the end zone, but only gained 13 yards in his 11 carries. Once again, Curtis was Vanderbilt’s leading rusher–this time in a tie–and had far too much pressure on him throughout the day because of Vanderbilt’s lack of an ability to gain yardage on plays that didn’t involve his heroics.
This is all particularly jarring because Vanderbilt has generally won as a result of the run game in its program surge. Vanderbilt offensive line coach Chris Klenakis also declared in August that his group was further along this fall camp than it was a year ago. That’s severely limited what Vanderbilt can do, and has all but neutralized its group of talented backs.
Don’t blame it on Vanderbilt’s defense
That group had far too much pressure on it on Saturday.
To give up 14 points–and don’t count the seven points Auburn generated via a blocked punt against Vanderbilt’s defense–in an SEC road game is an impressive feat and should lead to a win more times than not.
Not Saturday, though. Instead, Vanderbilt’s offense put its defense under the microscope and amplified all of its mistakes.
Jared Curtis was about as expected
Curtis actually didn’t make the big mistake on Saturday and didn’t have quite as many freshman moments as he has previously. He also didn’t flash quite as consistently as he did in other performances.
That wasn’t quite an encouraging performer from Curtis, but it wasn’t discouraging. Curtis showed that he’s grown up a bit, but was also inaccurate at times, looked sped up at others and didn’t lead Vanderbilt’s offense to an explosive scoring output.
Curtis finished the day by completing 22 of his 33 passes for 199 yards, running for 46 on 18 attempts and throwing a hail-mary interception that shouldn’t be held against him.
It’s all part of the process for Vanderbilt’s freshman quarterback.
Junior Sherrill needs a sidekick
Curtis and Sherrill clearly have a connection, as evidenced by their improbable connection down the sideline as Vanderbilt tried to get back into the game.
Sherrill finished Saturday with 95 yards, six receptions and a long of 39 yards. He looks like a bonfire star at this point, but Vanderbilt needs more than just him if it’s going to have an impactful downfield passing game against SEC opponents.
Vanderbilt has nine other players catch passes, but none are all that reliable of options at this stage. The next leading receiver was MK Young, who had 21 yards through the air.
Apparently Blaze Berlowitz is a receiver now?
It was jarring and seemingly entirely unpredictable, but there Berlowitz was running down the seam and adjusting his body in an effort to lunge out and catch a pass from Curtis. The wild part–well, there are a few–that was Berlowitz’ second-consecutive target, and he caught the first one.
Evidently, Berlowitz has been practicing at wide receiver all week and Vanderbilt’s coaching staff has been encouraged by the returns. Berlowitz did warm up at quarterback and still appears to be Vanderbilt’s backup, but his loud physical tools appear to be indicative of some capability at receiver.
Vanderbilt’s receiver room has been entirely unimpressive outside of Junior Sherrill and Vanderbilt offensive coordinator Tim Beck appears to be turning every possible leaf over in an effort to find a solution.
Perhaps Berlowitz could provide one.
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Joey Dwyer is the lead writer on Vanderbilt Commodores On SI. He found his first love in college sports at nearby Lipscomb University and decided to make a career of telling its best stories. He got his start doing a Notre Dame basketball podcast from his basement as a 14-year-old during COVID and has since aimed to make that 14-year-old proud. Dwyer has covered Vanderbilt sports for three years and previously worked for 247 Sports and Rivals. He contributes to Seth Davis' Hoops HQ, Basket Under Review and Mainstreet Nashville.
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