No Shame In That Loss For Vanderbilt Football. No Moral Victories, Either. – Sports Illustrated

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ATHENS, GA—There on the red-painted 20-yard line at Sanford Stadium in the hours prior to Vanderbilt kicking off against Georgia on Saturday, this probably ended. That is, if it hadn’t already. 
For a few minutes, Vanderbilt quarterback Jared Curtis and athletic trainer Jordan Pierce stood there on the precipice of the red zone and appeared to decide that Curtis wouldn’t be there at any point during Vanderbilt’s Saturday matchup with Georgia. Curtis was questionable all week and was a true game-time decision for his return to Athens–where he committed to play before flipping to Vanderbilt on National Signing Day. He went through a number of pregame workouts  to see if he could be effective while playing with a bruised knee, but Curtis and company came to the conclusion that him playing Saturday was unwise–and they were probably right. 
This thing felt like it was over before it started. It was probably wise not to throw a banged-up freshman quarterback out there to take a beating against a defense full of future NFL players at every level. Curtis always gives Vanderbilt a chance to win because of his natural explosive ability, but he probably couldn’t have on Saturday. That team Vanderbilt was facing was too big, too fast, too physical and too experienced for it to pull a rabbit out of its hat like it did in 2024 against Alabama. 
That Vanderbilt team was perfect that day and had a star quarterback. This one hasn’t played anywhere near a complete game yet. That Alabama team had a number of flaws that Vanderbilt could exploit, this Georgia team doesn’t. 
“That’s a team that’s just gonna say ‘man, we’re better than you,’” Vanderbilt safety CJ Heard said. “They’re not a team that's gonna try to trick you or nothing like that. There's gonna be a run game, perimeter throws, man. They stick to that for a very long time, man. We just got to keep fighting. We knew exactly what they were gonna try to do, we came here and they did exactly that.” 
Saturday was the first time in a long time in which it felt like Vanderbilt didn’t have much of a chance. That didn’t mean it couldn’t compete or it losing was necessarily a damning indictment on it. In reality, it may say more about Georgia than it does Vanderbilt. But, everything that it was facing Saturday appeared to be insurmountable. 
It was playing against a true national championship contender. It was starting a backup quarterback. It was a heavy underdog. It was on the road in the SEC’s most difficult place to win a game, too. The idea that Vanderbilt was going to leave here with anything other than a loss was futile, particularly without a perfect performance. 
Honestly, that’s okay. Unless the evaluation of Vanderbilt is happening within the lens of whether it can be a College Football Playoff team–considering that would indicate that it was all but eliminated from Playoff contention with Saturday's loss–this isn’t a jarring disappointment that says all that much about it. No long-term, sweeping conclusions can be drawn from that other than ones that indicate that Vanderbilt isn’t a Playoff team. 
Not in this place. Not against this team. Not this foundational year that won’t be all that conducive to winning. Not without its quarterback. That’s no slight to Berlowitz–who did have some nice moments Saturday–but it’s reality. Even if Curtis played, Vanderbilt would’ve needed him to have a performance reminiscent of a compilation of Superman’s best acts to win. It probably would’ve needed a few wild swing plays to go its way, too. 
With Berlowitz, Vanderbilt would’ve needed a herculean effort from its offensive line to consistently open holes in the run game and would’ve needed to win the time of possession battle by more than 15 minutes as a result. It would’ve needed Berlowitz to avoid the big mistake and put on a show more impressive than any he has since arriving at Vanderbilt–even in practice. It would’ve needed to force a few turnovers and special teams errors that flipped the game right away. It would’ve needed to play a nearly perfect game. 
Vanderbilt got much closer to that than expected, but it wasn’t enough. As a result, it can’t take any moral victories home with it. 
“Our margin for error is so small and we as a team have not yet learned to play the game in a manner that gives us a chance on that field today,” Lea said. “There are just things that this team needs to do to close that gap in performance, that goes beyond anything we're going to do in adding players to the roster as we go to next season. Our [focus is] growing players within our roster. Our focus right now is just cleaning up the football, and we believe that when we do that, that that outcome can be different.”
Vanderbilt looked better than it did a week ago and Lea is cognizant of that, but he won’t be leaving Athens talking about that. He’ll be talking about how Berlowitz proved that he’s talented enough to play at this level, but Vanderbilt still trailed by enough for Lea to pull him from the game with over five minutes to go. He’ll likely hit on the fact that its defense provided some resistance, but it didn’t keep it in the game. Maybe he’ll say it scared Georgia heading into the half, but Georgia was dominant in the second half. Vanderbilt was better than expected, but still lost. 
Moral victories no longer fly around this program–particularly after its 10-win 2025 season–but Vanderbilt shouldn’t have a whole lot of shame about them because of Saturday. If its losing ways continue, it will have games that it should. 
But, it shouldn’t today. 
“I know this team is coming more into focus,” Lea said. “I'm really frustrated by the way we played in the fourth quarter because that didn't feel like the same team that I had at halftime, you know, and we need to address those things so that the next opportunity we get next Saturday that I'm seeing a four quarter performance that we can be proud of.”
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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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