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NASHVILLE — If you think somehow Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer or any player or coach in the program that made the trip to Nashville in 2024 forgot what happened, think again.
It may have been two years since Vanderbilt football pulled off a historic upset against an Alabama team that was ranked No. 1, but DeBoer and his team are well aware of what happened the last time Vanderbilt hosted his team.
“It didn’t go so well,” DeBoer told SEC This Morning on Wednesday when he summarized the result of the 2024 matchup.
It feels like a very similar scenario compared to two seasons ago. Alabama is coming off an emotional win that looks to have put it firmly in the upper half of the projected playoff bracket while Vanderbilt has seemed to be forgotten about this season since the departure of Diego Pavia.
Perhaps last time Alabama went to FirstBank Stadium it did not take Vanderbilt as seriously as it should have. That is far from the case this time around.
“I think that people are truly underestimating [Vanderbilt],” DeBoer said. “If you look at scores throughout the course of their games — the Ole Miss game got away from them a little bit. But other than that, end of the first quarter, even second quarter, or third quarter, these games are tight against some really good football teams.”
Vanderbilt is coming off its first SEC win of the season with a 25-23 road win over Mississippi State. The Commodores found some identity on the ground with 160 rushing yards and made big stops in big moments defensively.
Maybe Vanderbilt finds a way to continue to do that this week and can keep close in the later stages of the game.
The Commodores will certainly try that. One of the players that will look to pull off an upset Saturday is five-star freshman quarterback Jared Curtis. Curtis has grown and developed throughout this season. The most encouraging thing from Curtis coming out of the Mississippi State game was the fact he did not make the big mistake.
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While Curtis did fumble while getting sacked at the beginning of the second half last game, Curtis did not throw an interception for the first time in SEC play and helped drive his team down the field and get in scoring position time and time again.
DeBoer sees the talent that Curtis has put on tape. Alabama does not seem like it will be caught off guard by the arm strength and arm talent Curtis possesses.
“He can put the ball wherever he wants to. This guy is a really good football player. Really good. You can just see the snaps that he’s getting are adding up, a lot like we would say with Keelon Russell and his development. Moving the chains on third down happens a little more consistently on third downs, it seems,” DeBoer said. “But he can throw the ball down the field and along the sideline as good as anyone.”
Curtis has thrown for 1,657 yards and eight touchdowns along with his eight interceptions this season. His numbers this season may not jump off the charts, but the capabilities he has cannot be understated.
Vanderbilt is going to do what it can to give Alabama its best shot this weekend. The Commodores have had a tough season, but have been able to keep most of their games close early in games.
Vanderbilt put the pieces together against Mississippi State, but this week offers a challenge of a much bigger scale. If the Commodores are able to replicate what it did last weekend in terms of team identity, who knows what could happen.
Either way, Vanderbilt clearly has the attention of the Crimson Tide this week.
"We got to be ready. We know what it’s like going there. We’ve been there once before, at least with our staff and this team. It didn’t go so well,” DeBoer said.
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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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