Vanderbilt Football Defense Knows It Has Its Hands Full This Weekend – Sports Illustrated

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NASHVILLE — Vanderbilt football head coach Clark Lea stood at the podium for his weekly Tuesday press conference fully aware of the challenge that awaits his team this weekend.
Vanderbilt has its SEC home opener against a No. 9 Ole Miss team that is among the most lethal in college football. Not only is Ole Miss coming off a season where it was just short of a spot in the national title game, but the Rebels brought back its stars, specifically on their offense. And that is exactly the challenge the Commodores have to defend against this weekend.
Ole Miss boasts of offensive weaponry. From star quarterback Trinidad Chambliss to running back Kewan Lacy to wide receiver Deuce Alexander, Ole Miss presents various ways to hurt opposing defenses. If a defense somehow manages to somewhat contain Chambliss, it will still have to find ways to prevent Lacy from creating explosive runs or from Alexander from getting loose in the secondary.
In other words, there is no one player that a defense can shut down and beat Ole Miss. Defenses have to be locked in on the run game and pass game in order to take down an offense that averages over 35 points per game.
Right now, Chambliss is No. 5 in the country in passing yards per game and No. 3 in college football in total offense generated. Lea and his team know how potent Chambliss is.
“Trinidad Chambliss is as advertised. He’s a dynamic player. He’s got the arm strength, he makes quick decisions. Some of the throws he makes it’s just incredible. It’s a credit to him and them putting him in a good position,” Lea said of Chambliss.
Defending against Chambliss will not be easy, of course. Vanderbilt knows it has to do its best to make Chambliss one-dimensional and limit his ability to get out of the pocket and create big plays. The way to do that is to do what it can to contain and build a cage defensively around Chambliss, keeping him in the pocket.
There is no complicated defensive structure to do that, but it does require plenty of defensive discipline and attention to detail. Getting into the Ole Miss backfield will not be easy either. The Rebels have only allowed Chambliss to be sacked four times this season, which translates to one sack per game. Despite the blowout loss to Florida, the Gators only got to Chambliss for one sack.
Vanderbilt seems confident about its ability to defend against the Ole Miss front and create havoc on Chambliss, though.
“Pretty much anticipation. That comes with film study,” Vanderbilt linebacker Bryce Cowan said about getting into the Ole Miss backfield. “I mean, if you do a good job of studying these offensive linemen, they’re not hard to beat honestly. That’s how I feel.”
If Ole Miss is able to protect against Vanderbilt’s defensive front, the Commodores are going to need to do the best they can to keep Alexander from leaving his imprint on the game. Alexander is the top pass catcher for the Rebels, leading the team in receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns with 27 receptions for 429 yards and four touchdowns in four games.
The vertical threat Alexander poses means the Vanderbilt secondary is going to face some pressure limiting his impact on the game. Vanderbilt’s defense is going to need to come up with huge plays, especially on plays where the defensive front does not get to Chambliss.
“With Deuce Alexander, you’re going to talk about one-on-ones and hey, do we have awareness of the route tree, what he’s going to look like against certain coverages. And there are going to come times where we have to depend upon our player to make a play against him. That’s part of the deal,” Lea said.
The challenge seems daunting and it will be one of the most electrifying offenses Vanderbilt will see this season. But Vanderbilt’s defense has started to show some growth over the past couple weeks. Time to see how it will do on the test this weekend.
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Graham Baakko is a writer for Vanderbilt Commodores On SI, primarily covering football, basketball and baseball. Graham is a recent graduate from the University of Alabama, where he wrote for The Crimson White, WVUA-FM, WVUA 23 as he covered a variety of Crimson Tide sports. He also covered South Carolina athletics as a sportswriting intern for GamecockCentral.
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