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ATHENS, GA—Vanderbilt football was assumed to have no chance to win against No. 2 Georgia in Athens on Saturday, yet it’s trailing just 21-14 heading into the break.
Vanderbilt has outgained Georgia 234-215 overall and 72-20 on the ground. It’s also ran 35 plays in comparison to Georgia’s 29. On a day in which Vanderbilt could’ve curled up and been ran off the field against Georgia, it’s shown up ready to play and is pushing Georgia as much as it’s been pushed all season.
Clark Lea and company indicated that they weren’t penciling in a scheduled loss earlier this week, and they appear to have meant it.
“This is exactly why you sign up for these jobs, why you come to Vanderbilt to play,” Lea said, “For challenges like this, and I've got a team that right now is focused on the details, the execution that we're gonna need for Saturday, but is putting in the work and preparing themselves to go down and fight for the result we want.”
Vanderbilt is in the game on the back of a standout performance from backup quarterback Blaze Berlowitz–who is in the game as a result of Vanderbilt freshman Jared Curtis being ruled out with a knee bruise. Curtis gave it a go pregame, but Vanderbilt opted against playing him. Berlowitz has stepped up in his absence and is 8-for-17 as a passer with 162 passing yards and a touchdown through the air. Berlowitz also has 33 yards as a rusher.
Berlowitz and his Vanderbilt teammates were counted out, but they always appeared to believe that they could compete with Georgia if they brought their best. It appears as if they're being proven right as they enter the second half at Sanford Stadium.
“The mindset's just [about] us, man,” Vanderbilt linebacker Bryan Longwell said during the week. “We got to do whatever we got to do. I mean, it's just football.
If you play sound solid and simple, you're gonna win if you don’t make mistakes. You can't make little mistakes, you’ve got to be focused. They're not going to give you anything. They're a good team, too. And we're a good team. So we just got to play solid and just play our game.”
Time to see if Vanderbilt can keep pushing Georgia after halftime.
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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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