Vanderbilt's Loss to Texas Felt Closer to Blowout Then 34-31 Final Score; Column

They’d sworn against it. They’d harped on it all week and had insisted that they were better than that. It appeared to be a thing of the past for this Vanderbilt team. Yet when Texas receiver Ryan Wingo caught it behind the line of scrimmage on the first play from scrimmage of the afternoon, he dodged a few Vanderbilt defenders and took Arch Manning’s pass for a 75-yard touchdown.

Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea said Thursday that his team’s ability to close gaps and use leverage on the perimeter wasn’t a strength of his team through its first eight games–in which it went 7-1–perhaps that didn’t hurt it much to that point. Saturday was different, though.

Saturday it was down 10-0 before it could blink, gave up 185 yards after the catch in the first half and fell 34-31 to a desperate Texas team in Austin. It wasn’t quite 2023 esque for this Vanderbilt team–which finished that season 2-10–but it was as close as this team has gotten to the performances that it turned in throughout that embarrassing season. The difference between that season and this one was that Vanderbilt proved to be capable down the stretch, but the hole was already too deep.

“I think they did a really nice job having their team prepared,” Lea said. “I thought, against a really fast team, we were just a little sluggish early. Whatever the case may be, I have to look at how we’re preparing, our training and those kinds of things.”

Vanderbilt averaged just 2.4 yards per carry–although it averaged 5.4 with sacks factored out–committed eight penalties that cost it 70 yards and allowed highly-scrutinized Texas quarterback Arch Manning to put together a performance in which he threw for 328 yards while leading Texas to scores on six of its nine non-half ending drives. It’s been awhile since a list of stats has been used to do anything but prove the validity of this Vanderbilt team. But, here we are.

"They got some good players over there," Pavia said. We'll fix it. We'll get it right. And my feet were off on a few [throws], and I just got throw the ball waiting. That's on me. I got to get better for this football team to take us where we want to go."

It’s been awhile since a Saturday has felt like this for Vanderbilt football. Its loss to Alabama in Tuscaloosa didn’t feel like this, that game was in reach for Lea’s team. This one didn’t appear to be until Brock Taylor’s onside kick rattled around the turf with a little over 30 seconds to go in the afternoon.

The downhill train that Vanderbilt appeared to be was stopped all of a sudden, the magic it had that appeared to allow it to escape any situation with a win appeared to disappear. The same team that appeared to be invincible at points of this season looked uniquely human on Saturday afternoon. It looked like it didn’t belong at times, either.

Nov 1, 2025; Austin, Texas, USA; Vanderbilt Commodores head coach Clark Lea looks on during the second half against the Texas Longhorns at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Scott Wachter-Imagn Images | Scott Wachter-Imagn Images

"I don't think we played well," Lea said. "They beat us. They did a really good job of protection. We just didn't win. In our program, to say that we weren't the hardest playing team on the field hurts me."

Never was this exclusively a matter of Vanderbilt making an inordinate amount of fundamental, technical errors--which did happen. At times this was more about Texas–which was ranked 11 spots below Vanderbilt heading into Saturday’s game–being better than Vanderbilt.

Perhaps a mid third quarter sequence sums that up best. It’s third and eight for Vanderbilt as it looked to convert on an opportunity deep in Texas territory that would’ve brought the score to 31-17 had the Commodores scored a touchdown. Instead, the ensuing play included Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia running around in the backfield before being brought down for the fifth time of the afternoon–the most of the season. The camera eventually pans to Pavia’s family staring out at the turf field as if they’d just seen a ghost. To top it all off, Vanderbilt kicker Brock Taylor–who hadn’t missed a field goal and had missed just one extra point this season–missing a 48 yarder wide right.

Later in the afternoon, Pavia was the subject of a vivid “overrated” chant from the Texas crowd.

It was humbling. It was embarrassing, but in a sense it was a microcosm of the day that Vanderbilt had in Austin before its second-half comeback. This one was likely turned off late in the third quarter by many, although some late scoring patched up some wounds. Vanderbilt has had games like that because of the lead it’s held, but it’s never had one like this since Pavia, Eli Stowers and the former New Mexico State coaching staff arrived, the closest it’s gotten was a 28-7 loss to South Carolina last season–and it was in that game heading into the fourth quarter. The margin of Saturday’s game was closer to Vanderbilt’s 27-24 loss to Texas last season, but the feel of the game was closer to its aforementioned loss to South Carolina.

Saturday it was down 24 heading into the fourth quarter, though. Perhaps it didn’t act as if it was, but it was all but down for the count at that point and would’ve had to be nearly perfect to pull off a win. That’s an unfamiliar posture for this group. Now, it’s got to get up off the mat like it did at the end of Saturday’s game.