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Vanderbilt football will avoid a winless SEC season.
Clark Lea and company went into Starkville and took a 25-23 win over Mississippi State to move to 1-5 in league play and to snap a five-game losing streak. The win is Vanderbilt's first in Starkville since 1971 and is its first win over Mississippi State since 2004.
Vanderbilt needed a late stop to secure the win despite leading for most of Saturday's game, but Lea and company won't be picky. They have their first SEC win and believe they can build on it.
Here's what to take away from Vanderbilt's Saturday win.
There’s a “standard” win for Lea and company
This Vanderbilt team could’ve checked out after five-consecutive losses and a bye week, particularly after some things didn’t go its way down the stretch, but it didn’t.
Vanderbilt isn’t what Lea thought it was this season, but Saturday demonstrated that its baseline level of performance is still good enough for it to avoid being the SEC’s worst team. At the very worst, this Vanderbilt team won’t be winless in the SEC. That means something, at least.
This Vanderbilt team proved something on Saturday, that Lea has a healthier program than he did in his worst years at the helm.
That was as close to a complete performance as Vanderbilt has put together all season
For a long stretch of Saturday’s game, it looked like Lea had his program back.
Vanderbilt dominated the time of possession battle. It finally got its running game going. It finished drives. It was better than its opponent on special teams. Its defense dominated and forced turnovers. Penalties didn’t threaten the momentum that Lea’s team had. Vanderbilt wasn’t perfect, but it played the best half of the season in the first half of Saturday’s game.
More than anything, Lea’s players finally looked like they were playing to an identity. For the first time since their buy games, they looked like they knew what the identity was supposed to be.
That was enough to keep this group coming back, believing that they can make something of this otherwise disastrous season. For once, they looked like what Lea envisioned they’d look like when he and Vanderbilt general manager Barton Simmons assembled this group in the offseason.
But, it was still 2026 Vanderbilt football in action
This Vanderbilt team really knows how to let somebody back in a game.
Just when it looked like Vanderbilt was going to run Mississippi State off the field on Saturday, its tendencies kicked in again.
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After AJ Swann missed a few layup throws, Vanderbilt gave him one that was all but impossible to miss as a result of a busted coverage on the backend. Swann found Mississippi State receiver Sanfrisco Magee for a 65-yard touchdown, in which he went untouched. Then, Vanderbilt gave Mississippi State seven points when Curtis fumbled in Vanderbilt’s red zone and the Bulldogs ran it back for a touchdown. It also allowed Mississippi State to drive it right down the field late in the game
That was the closest thing to a complete performance as Vanderbilt has assembled, but it would’ve been difficult to imagine that performance–which also included five Vanderbilt penalties that went for 20 yards and a few Swann passes that could’ve been intercepted, but weren’t–netting a win against virtually any other SEC team.
The difference was Vanderbilt’s running game
Sedrick Alexander being appointed to do the halftime interview on SEC Network says it all.
Alexander bounced back from a career-worst performance against Kentucky to go for 59 yards on 21 carries on Saturday. He wasn’t the only one. Vanderbilt went for 160 rushing yards Saturday on 3.1 yards per carry and opened the most holes for its backs that it has all season.
Vanderbilt’s ability to run the ball also allowed it to win the time of possession battle 39:55-to-20:05 and to all but ice the game when it needed to late. This group is capable of winning when it does that.
Vanderbilt made the right move on AJ Swann
Vanderbilt figured that a running quarterback would serve it better in 2024 than Swann would, which led to Swann entering the transfer portal at the season’s conclusion. At one point, Vanderbilt thought Swann was its quarterback of the future. He didn’t prove to be, though.
All these years later, Swann looks like he wasn’t going to be able to fit that description.
Swann completed 23 of his 36 passes Saturday, threw for 254 total yards and threw two touchdowns and an interception while missing a few throws he easily should’ve made. There’s no real bad blood here between Swann–who stormed the field when Vanderbilt won against Alabama in 2024–and Vanderbilt, but it appears that Vanderbilt made the right move.
How about Brock Taylor?
Huge make from Brock Taylor from 55 to put Vanderbilt up 25-17 late.
Now, can Vanderbilt’s defense get a stop? pic.twitter.com/iKJGALb7k4
Taylor said this Tuesday, as if he was foreshadowing what Saturday would look like for him.
“Right now is kind of an interesting time. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little frustrated with the lack of attempts this season, which is nobody’s fault,” Taylor said. “It’s unfortunate how things have turned out that way.”
Well, that changed quickly.
Taylor was 6-for-6 on Saturday with two makes from 50+ yards, including a 55-yarder to put Vanderbilt up late. Vanderbilt believes Taylor can be an NFL kicker, and he finally demonstrated that Saturday. He also outscored Mississippi State by himself. Things would’ve been much different had Taylor not been one of the country’s best kickers.
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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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