Riding high off of SEC victories over Alabama and Kentucky, Vanderbilt Football (5-2, 2-1 SEC) returned home on Oct. 19 for a nighttime clash with Ball State (2-5, 1-2 MAC). It was a perfect fall night at FirstBank Stadium as the sun set over the Nashville skyline, but it was a less-than-pretty game for head coach Clark Lea’s group. Despite entering the game as near four-touchdown favorites, the Commodores scraped by the Cardinals 24-14. Diego Pavia (357 total yards and 2 total touchdowns) and Eli Stowers (8 catches for 130 yards and a touchdown) guided the Black and Gold to their third-straight win.
Vanderbilt won the coin toss and elected to defer, putting the ball in the hands of quarterback Kadin Semonza and the rest of the Cardinals’ offense to start the game. Tight end Tanner Koziol wasted no time impacting the game, catching 3 passes for 26 yards through the opening minutes to advance his team past Vanderilt’s 40-yard line. From there, Semonza found Cam Pickett and Justin Bowick for 11 and 19-yard gains as the Cardinals worked the ball inside Vanderbilt’s red zone.
Running back Kiael Kelly found space along the right side of the field out of wildcat formation for a nine-yard score. Ball State managed to silence Vanderbilt’s home crowd with an 11-play, 75-yard scoring drive that took just under seven minutes.
The onus then fell on Vanderbilt’s offense to respond.
Running back Sedrick Alexander went to work early on Vanderbilt’s first drive, but a busted screen to Stowers left Pavia and Co. facing a third-and-long. As he’s done so often this year, Pavia delivered on third-down, dealing a strike to Stowers, who then broke multiple tackles en route to a 29-yard gain. From there, wide receiver Quincy Skinner Jr. took over with 8 and 15 yards receptions as the ‘Dores made their way inside the Cardinals’ 10-yard line.
Back-to-back rushes from Alexander and Pavia went nowhere, and Skinner Jr. dropped a would-be touchdown to force a field-goal attempt. Kicker Brock Taylor trotted out and nailed a 27-yard chip shot to make the score 7-3 with just under two minutes left to go in the opening quarter.
Semonza got right back to work on Ball State’s second possession of the game as he found Carson Neu for a 24-yard chunk play along the right sideline. He couldn’t get much going otherwise, though, as stingy coverage from Martel Hight forced a fourth down and subsequent punt attempt.
Vanderbilt finally got the crowd into the game when Pavia — working from the 13-yard line — evaded a sack and scrambled to find a wide-open Alexander for a 38-yard gain along the left sideline. Two plays later, Pavia produced yet another “Heisman” moment as he wove his way around three would-be tacklers and delivered a 43-yard strike to Junior Sherrill. The Black and Gold worked their way down to the 1-yard line before a false start halted momentum and forced a third down. Pavia couldn’t connect with Sherrill on a pass to the end zone, and the Commodores once again settled for three points. Taylor connected on a 24-yard field goal to bring the deficit within one point.
Vanderbilt’s defense finally made its mark on Ball State’s third possession as defensive tackle De’Marion Thomas got to Semonza in the backfield for a much-needed sack. A completion from Semonza to Koziol fell about four yards short of the line-to-gain to force another punt. Brian Cooey’s attempt was picture-perfect as it rolled nearly 20 yards down to the Commodores’ three-yard line.
The Black and Gold couldn’t get anything going either, as a quick three-and-out forced a punt from Jesse Mirco and left the Cardinals in prime position at Vanderbilt’s 49-yard line. Ball State couldn’t capitalize on the opportunity, though, as strong coverage from cornerbacks Truedell Berry and Jaylin Lackey forced a three-and-out.
The field position battle continued as the Cardinals’ punt team pinned Vanderbilt at the 3-yard line once again. Pavia found some space up the middle of the field on a 10-yard scamper, and he kept things going with first-down completions to Stowers and Richie Hoskins. The graduate phenom stayed locked in as he found Loic Fouonji and Cole Spence for 11 and 13-yard chunks, respectively, to push into Ball State territory.
From there, a delayed screen worked to perfection as Pavia lobbed a short ball to Stowers, who — with blockers in front of him — sprinted down the field and into the end zone for a 41-yard touchdown. The play capped off an impressive 11-play, 97-yard touchdown drive. It also marked the second time in as many games that Vanderbilt drove 97 yards.
Offensive coordinator Tim Beck kept his foot on the gas as Vanderbilt went for two — and succeeded. Pavia found a wide-open Spence sprinting across the end zone to put the Commodores up 14-7 with 2:39 left to play in the first half.
Vanderbilt’s defense stood tall again, forcing another Cardinal punt to give itself a chance to go up two scores entering the break. It looked like that might have been the case as Pavia found Stowers for a 23-yard gain over the middle, but a drop from running back AJ Newberry and a pair of incompletions stalled the drive out. To add salt to the wound, Alexander limped off the field on the Commodores’ last drive of the half.
Mirco punted, and Ball State ran a few plays before the half ended but never presented a scoring threat with less than 30 seconds and only one timeout to work with. Linebacker Nick Rinaldi ended the half in style as he got to Semonza in the backfield, marking his third-straight game with a sack.
It was an up-and-down opening 30 minutes for Vanderbilt, as the ‘Dores trailed for nearly 28 of them despite outgaining Ball State 285 to 152. Pavia (246 yards and a touchdown) and Stowers (6 catches for 105 yards and a score) were the stars of the show at the game’s midway point. It was an uncharacteristic first half for the Commodores, though, as they threw the ball (23 passes) nearly twice as frequently as they ran it (12 rushes). Vanderbilt’s defense got its act together in the second quarter after a sloppy first, as it held Ball State to just 46 yards and 3 first downs.
The ‘Dores started the second half slowly, going three-and-out. Mirco set up Lea’s defense with a 53-yard punt to Ball State’s 6-yard line. Semonza stayed calm under pressure and found running back Braedon Sloan for a first down to give his offense some breathing room, but it didn’t last for long. A couple of runs left the Cardinals to deal with a third-and-one, and Vanderbilt’s front came up big, collapsing onto running back Vaughn Pemberton and forcing a fourth down.
Head coach Mike Neu flashed nerves of steel as he went for it on fourth down from his own 41-yard line — and converted. A nifty flea flicker from Semonza to Pickett went for 29 yards and put the Cardinals on the cusp of scoring, and it didn’t take long for them to hit paydirt. Semonza found a wide-open Tanner Koziol for a 7-yard score to even things up at 14-apiece.
Pavia once again used his legs to get the crowd back into the game, as rushes of 11 and 20-yards put Vanderbilt on the move. Beck kept the ball on the ground as the combined efforts of Pavia, Alexander, Chase Gillespie and Moni Jones brought the ‘Dores into the red zone, but it was all for naught. A Hoskins drop and a pair of incompletions from Pavia to Stowers forced another field goal attempt from Taylor, who connected on a 37-yarder. With the entire fourth quarter left to play, Vanderbilt clung to a three-point lead, 17-14.
On Ball State’s next drive, Semonza caught his own pass attempt after it was batted up into the air by Randon Fontenette, but Bryce Cowan was quick to the scene: The junior linebacker brought Semonza down for a 10-yard loss, and Vanderbilt’s defense forced a stop. Hight gave the Commodores excellent starting field position thanks to a 25-yard punt return.
Beck’s offense was tasked with an early third-and-long despite taking over from inside Cardinal territory, but Pavia and Stowers came through once again. The roommate duo flashed their chemistry on an eight-yard completion to move the sticks before 8 and 11-yard rushes by Pavia brought the Black and Gold back into the red zone. Pavia executed a fake handoff to perfection on a third-and-short from the five-yard line, walking into the end zone to extend his team’s lead to 10. With less than eight minutes to go, Vanderbilt led 24-14.
The Black and Gold stood tall on defense on their next possession. The Cardinals managed a 13-yard rush on the drive’s opening play but went backward from there, ultimately punting the ball back to Pavia.
A false start from Chase Mitchell pushed the Commodores backward, but Pavia stayed calm and went right back to his security blanket: Stowers. The junior’s eighth reception of the game went for 17 yards and earned Vanderbilt a new set of downs.
Vanderbilt managed to eke out its third-straight win over Ball State despite a sloppy performance, improving to 5-2 on the year.
Vanderbilt Football will be back in action under the lights of FirstBank Stadium when it takes on No. 1 Texas on Oct. 26. The timing of the game is still being determined.
