Takeaways From Vanderbilt Football's 38-14 Loss To Georgia – Sports Illustrated

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ATHENS, GA—Vanderbilt football couldn’t pull off the seemingly improbable Saturday as it fell 38-14 to Kirby Smart and Georgia. The loss makes it 3-2 on the season, but what does it say about it? 
Clark Lea declared postgame that Vanderbilt didn’t have any joy following Saturday’s loss, but Vanderbilt appears to understand the context surrounding what happened. 
“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.” 
Here’s a few takeaways on what that means for Vanderbilt. 
No shame in that loss for Vanderbilt 
That appeared to have all the makings of a blowout loss for Vanderbilt. It was a heavy underdog on the road against the No. 2 team in the country, who is as strong as anyone in the country on the road. It had its backup quarterback in there. It got down early. 
Yet, it wasn’t entirely outclassed. 
Not at quarterback. Not on the line of scrimmage. Not really on the perimeter as a whole, either. 
Vanderbilt never really looked like it had a chance to win, but it never looked like it was getting ran off the field. Georgia is far more talented and developed within its structure, but Vanderbilt had its moments and didn’t make it easy on Georgia. That doesn’t resonate with a program that doesn’t take moral victories, but this is probably as good a performance as could be reasonably expected of it at this point. 
It may not have anything to show for it, but that was perhaps its best performance of the season. 
Blaze Berlowitz proved something on Saturday
Berlowitz had been Vanderbilt’s scapegoat for the first two weeks of the season, but he demonstrated Saturday that he shouldn’t be. 
It’s not as if Berlowitz was ever going to lead Vanderbilt to a win on Saturday, but he made more downfield throws than anyone who saw him in fall camp believed he could heading into Saturday. Berlowitz was as impressive as he’s been at any point since arriving at Vanderbilt. He pushed it downfield. He threw it on the run. He led the operation well. He was gutsy in swing moments. That’s the guy Vanderbilt thought it might have when it recruited him a few years ago. 
Berlowitz finished 12-for-23 as a passer, threw for 190 yards, threw a touchdown and an interception on Saturday. More than anything, Vanderbilt wasn’t one dimensional offensively with Berlowitz in the game. Even when it got behind the sticks, Berlowitz was often able to get it out of trouble. 
Good for Berlowitz, who has been through a lot since joining this program in the spring of 2024. 
That scoreless third-quarter drive sunk Vanderbilt
Vanderbilt wants to use up all the time of possession it can, but in this case doing that burned it. While Vanderbilt was trailing 28-14, it was driving and appeared to be heading towards an eventual scoring drive. Then, it turned it over on downs. 
All of a sudden, a six-minute and 44-second drive was over without a score and cut Vanderbilt’s time to come back significantly. That’s not to mention where it positioned Georgia when it was over. 
Junior Sherrill is proving to be a star and Ja’Cory Thomas is proving that he should have more of a role
Sherrill is becoming one of the SEC’s best receivers before everyone’s eyes–particularly after finishing Saturday with seven catches and 107 receiving yards and he finally appears to have a sidekick. 
Vanderbilt invested heavily financially in Old Dominion transfer receiver Ja’Cory Thomas this offseason, now it’s time for it to invest heavily in him in regard to his reps. Thomas caught two balls for 43 yards on Saturday and appears to be capable of more than any of Vanderbilt’s non-Sherrill receivers. Vanderbilt has been hesitant to turn to him since he suffered an injury in fall camp, but he appears to be making a case for increased involvement. 
Perhaps the arrow could be pointing up for Thomas, as well as Sherrill. 
Maybe Vanderbilt is getting closer
Vanderbilt declared that it was getting closer to winning after losing to Auburn a week ago, now it appears to be backing up what it said. 
Georgia outgained Vanderbilt 471-293 and left with the win, but it didn’t dominate it. Moral victories shouldn’t fly around West End, but in this foundational season this appears to be progress and the best game Vanderbilt has played to this point.
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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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