Vanderbilt Lost Margins Uncharacteristically in Loss to No. 10 Alabama
TUSCALOOSA, AL–It was the antithesis of what we’ve generally known about what to expect from a Vanderbilt team in the Clark Lea era.
Vanderbilt was talented enough to beat a top 10 team in the country on the road, yet it made big mistakes that negated how talented it is. That’s ultimately what led to its demise in its 30-14 loss to Alabama. It wasn’t the College Gameday spotlight or the onslaught of publicity that came its way, it was the things that it’s preached on every stage.
Lea’s team turned it over twice in the red zone. It dropped a few balls on “conversion downs.” It had lapses in coverage when it couldn’t afford them against a stacked Alabama wide receiver room. It just wasn’t good enough to win on Saturday in a game that needed it to be somewhere between great and flawless.
“I told the team ‘we don't like the feeling, but we earned the feeling,’” Lea said. “It's just like everything was just a little short of where we needed to be to win a game like that. And we have a good enough team to win a game like that. We did not play well enough tonight to get it done.”
Vanderbilt’s most prominent case of poor play hampering it down the stretch was embodied in its inability to convert in two of its three redzone trips. The first of which came on a Diego Pavia fumble while the second came on a backbreaking interception in which he appeared to force the ball to Vanderbilt tight end Eli Stowers over the middle.
Stowers and the rest of Vanderbilt’s offense wasn’t absolved of blame, either. The Vanderbilt tight end had two dropped passes on what Lea called “conversion downs” while Vanderbilt receiver Junior Sherrill had one of his own. Pavia believes his mistakes were the deciding factor, though.
“I put that game on me,” the Vanderbilt quarterback said. “You can’t turn the ball over twice in a game and expect to win…Myself, I pressed too hard because time was limited.”
Vanderbilt possessed a 14-7 lead at one point in the first half, but ultimately allowed Alabama to score 23 points unanswered as it outgained Vanderbilt by over 100 yards in the second half and held the Commodores to nine rushing yards in the second half.
It wasn’t all on Pavia, though. Vanderbilt allowed Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson to throw for 340 yards and three touchdowns. It wasn’t as if it was a demonstration of spectacular jump ball ability by Alabama’s wide receivers, either. Vanderbilt was capable of covering them, but had more lapses in coverage than it’s had in a game since Lea took over Vanderbilt’s defense at the beginning of last season.
“What is our leverage defensively? How are we covering the routes? I think on one of the conversions, our inside leverage player fell down and they completed a dig,” Lea said. “That shouldn't happen. We'll study it and we'll find ways to get better.”
Compound that with a few penalties late that Lea labels “dumb football” and winning at Bryant Denny Stadium against a top 10 team appeared to be all but impossible for this Vanderbilt team on Saturday.
It was nearly flawless a year ago as it knocked off No. 1 Alabama. It played to its model and didn’t give Kalen DeBoer’s team much of a chance to rattle it.
On Saturday, it lost the time of possession battle by around 15 minutes, went 5-for-11 on third down and turned it over three times.
“We didn’t play Vanderbilt football,” Pavia said. “I think Bama beat us the way we beat them last year.”
_(1)-b3e453dfe426b2dd4b83a12540ebdb37.jpeg "Joey Dwyer")
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, Southeastern 16 and Mainstreet Nashville.