Takeaways From Vanderbilt Football's 35-26 Win Over Delaware – si.com

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NASHVILLE—Behind Jared Curtis' 210 yards on 14-for-22 passing, two rushing touchdowns and 64% completion rate, Vanderbilt football pulled away from Delaware to move to 2-0 on the back of a 35-26 win Saturday at FirstBank Stadium.
Curtis is still involved in a quarterback competition with veteran Blaze Berlowitz, but attempted 13 more passes than Berlowitz did and took the majority of Vanderbilt's snaps as a whole.
What does that mean for Curtis and Vanderbilt as a whole? Here's our takeaways from Vanderbilt's Saturday win over Delaware.
Vanderbilt’s quarterback battle should be over 
And it looks like it is. 
Jared Curtis took every snap in the second half while Blaze Berlowitz stood on the sideline staring off into space. Vanderbilt had its chances to put Berlowitz back in the game, but it appeared as if it made its choice on Saturday. 
Curtis is the guy and it appears as if Vanderbilt is treating him as such. It has to after seeing how playing multiple quarterbacks slowly eroded it early in the game. Lea had to know that he was flying too close to the sun as Vanderbilt’s offensive staff shifted between Berlowitz and Curtis early and lost any rhythm that it had offensively as a result. 
Even if Vanderbilt didn’t have a clear winner in its quarterback room, it had to make a choice before it starts playing power-five games. There was a winner, though. It was Jared Curtis. 
That was the most consistently good performance Curtis has shown in front of the media as a college football player
Outside of a first drive that evidenced some operational issues Curtis will have to work through, he looked like a star. 
Curtis made NFL throws. Almost every drive he led on Saturday was effective. He appeared to grow more comfortable in his command of the offense every drive that he took the field. He ran it more effectively than most believed he could. 
It wasn’t all that rare to see Curtis flash in fall camp, but he often followed it up with a turnover or a poor read. That didn’t happen on Saturday. Curtis rarely made mistakes once he took over Vanderbilt’s offense full time. He played with swagger. He made throws that only a few other quarterbacks in the country can make. He finally looked like Jared Curtis. 
He made an NFL throw across his body to Vanderbilt tight end Walt Taylor for a touchdown. He zipped it to Junior Sherrill along the sideline on a play that was reminiscent to a few that Berlowitz didn’t make. He led more touchdown drives in the third quarter than Berlowitz did all game. All that was merely following up the mistake-filled first-half performance from Curtis that was still better than the one Berlowitz engineered. 
Vanderbilt has the guy at quarterback. It finally got to see what he can look like when he’s at his best. 
Blaze Berlowitz did not help himself Saturday 
Berlowitz has had every opportunity to separate from Curtis and to prove that he’s the guy, but he hasn’t done it. Saturday felt like one of his final chances, and he didn’t take advantage of it. 
He finished 3-for-9 on passes, threw for 29 yards, fumbled on an ill-advised hurdle, led a few three-and-outs early in the game and clearly made Vanderbilt significantly less dynamic offensively. 
Vanderbilt’s coaching staff appears to have noticed. 
Berlowitz didn’t appear after the first half of Saturday’s game while Curtis took every drive and clearly ran away with the opportunity. By the end of Saturday night, Berlowitz had spent more time standing on the sideline alone than he had leading Vanderbilt’s offense on the field. 
Vanderbilt was boo’d going into the half, and it’s hard to blame its fans
Say what you will about where boo’ing a college football team stands morally, but Vanderbilt has earned it at this point if it’s considered defendable in any scenario. Seriously. 
This Vanderbilt team declared that it had aspirations of winning the national championship, yet it didn’t even look like a team that will make a bowl game. Its offense didn’t have a rhythm, or a quarterback. Its offensive line looks far worse than it expected. Vanderbilt defensive coordinator Steve Gregory was thoroughly outcoached throughout the second quarter. Its special teams play was a disaster.
Vanderbilt was in control for most of the first half, but it threw it all away because it appeared to be more worried about getting a quarterback evaluation in than winning the game. Lea has said all along that this all has to be conducive to the mission of winning, but Lea and company appeared to have lost sight of that. As a result, Vanderbilt was losing to a team it had no business to. 
All is well that ends well, but that was bleak for awhile. 
There’s reason to be optimistic, but Vanderbilt still hasn’t played anywhere near a complete game yet
Vanderbilt’s defense shut Delaware down early, but it was relatively disappointing as a whole. Vanderbilt also clearly has issues on the offensive line, averaged 2.6 yards per carry, saw its best wide receiver drop far too many balls and was 5-for-15 on third down. 
Lea’s team is 2-0, but he can’t be fired up about the performance as a whole. 
Vanderbilt only outgained Delaware by one yard, was outgained through the air, had less first downs than Delaware and clearly let some things slip operationally that it will need to clean up before NC State comes to town Saturday. That performance likely wouldn’t have been enough to beat NC State, but that’s okay.
It didn't need to beat NC State on Saturday. It just had to beat Delaware. And it did.
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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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