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NASHVILLE—Vanderbilt football fell to 4-6 Saturday on the back of a 21-6 loss to No. 3 Alabama, which didn't allow it much hope of winning at any point after halftime.
Clark Lea's team trailed just 7-3 at halftime, but Alabama ran away in the middle eight and never let Vanderbilt back into the game. Vanderbilt had its chances, but this thing was out of reach.
“It’s always Vanderbilt football beating Vanderbilt football,” Vanderbilt running back MK Young said.
Here's a few takeaways from the latest example of that.
Vanderbilt actually didn’t play that poorly, but it didn’t do what it did in 2024
Lea reflects on the best elements of that Vanderbilt performance as its three phases interlocking, a physical run game and sustaining the good performance that allowed Vanderbilt to get out to a big lead early.
Vanderbilt also had masterful playcalling, dynamic quarterback play, great play up front, a few turnovers that swung the game in its favor, dominance in the time of possession margin and a little magic in the air on its side that October day in 2024.
Saturday, it really had none of that. It showed in the final score.
Guess what? Vanderbilt’s penalty issues popped up again
It actually had more penalty yards in the first half than offensive yards. Seriously. 52 penalty yards on seven penalties. 32 offensive yards on 24 offensive plays.
Vanderbilt should’ve been leading Alabama at halftime, but it threw away the chance it had at scoring on a short field after Dontae Carter’s interception that put it deep in Alabama territory. Seemingly whenever it had a big play on offense, it came back due to a penalty. It’s not only that Vanderbilt had penalties, but that they came at the worst time.
That isn’t difficult to envision knowing this group. It’s talented, but it hasn’t been able to get out of its own way all season. Perhaps it’d have an extra win or two if it could control its penalties. It’s the antithesis of how Lea built this thing.
Vanderbilt really could’ve won that game
It looked like it belonged on the field with Alabama on Saturday for long stretches of that game, but it didn’t do the things required of it to leave with a win on Saturday.
Vanderbilt didn’t score any touchdowns in its three trips to the red zone, its offense was entirely one dimensional because its lack of a run game and its offensive line keeps getting outclassed by SEC defensive lines.
That’s not to mention the ever-present penalty issues.
Vanderbilt still doesn’t know what it wants to be on offense
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It keeps saying that it wants to establish a physical run game, but it doesn’t commit to doing that. Vanderbilt gave Sedrick Alexander just six carries on Saturday and most of the other carries it distributed were directed east-to-west rather than north-to-south. It ran for just 12 yards on Saturday and 39 yards without sacks factored in.
Vanderbilt doesn’t have a strong enough offensive line to be what it wants to be as a team and it appears to know that. As a result, it’s putting a lot on Jared Curtis’ shoulders and is expecting him to be Superman. Curtis played relatively well on Saturday, but expecting that much out of him appears to be futile.
All this isn’t exactly breaking news, but it feels like some sort of change has to come in the offseason as a result.
It was easy to see Vanderbilt’s lack of identity manifest in performance Saturday as it went for six points, 235 total yards and all but invalided a good defensive performance.
And good that performance was
The reasonable assumption would be that Alabama would run up and down the field on Vanderbilt’s offense, but that didn’t happen on Saturday. Vanderbilt’s defense deserves credit for that.
That’s the defense that Lea and company thought they had before the season began. It flew around. It limited explosive plays. It made Alabama quarterback Keelon Russell look silly at times. It finally had its playmakers making plays.
Vanderbilt limited Alabama to 309 yards of total offense, sacked Russell three times, recorded six tackles for loss, forced two turnovers and held it to 2.6 yards per carry. If it had that defense all season, it would’ve found a way to win more than the four games than it has to this point.
Vanderbilt still doesn’t know how to use Martel Hight
Tim Beck–Vanderbilt’s offensive coordinator–came to Hight during the bye week and asked him if he wanted to play wide receiver full time, but Beck still utilized Hight well.
Hight went for one rush, which netted -4 yards on Saturday. That was it. He wasn’t targeted at wide receiver, didn’t play many snaps and wasn’t targeted in the passing game. He had just one reception for three yards a week ago.
Vanderbilt appears to be wasting Hight.
But, Vanderbilt is where it is and doesn’t appear to be heading anywhere
Vanderbilt now has six losses and has to win out in order to guarantee itself a bowl berth. The last two games it plays will be against Tennessee and Florida, with the Florida game coming on the road.
This group hasn’t looked like a team worthy of making a bowl game, and it will take a near miracle for it to do it–especially with the NCAA turning away from APR.
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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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