As the dust settled and “Dixieland Delight” blasted over the loudspeakers on Saturday late in the fourth quarter, Vanderbilt knew that its chances of a win over Alabama in back-to-back seasons would not be possible.
Exactly one year ago to this day, the Commodores secured a win over then-No. 1 Alabama at home, and the students promptly ripped down the goalposts at FirstBank Stadium in celebration. Quarterback Diego Pavia was an immediate social media star, and the eyes of the college football world were on Vanderbilt for the first time in years.
But the Crimson Tide knew that they’d get their shot at revenge in 2025 — this time in Tuscaloosa.
This weekend’s game was one of the most highly anticipated matchups of the college football slate, as ESPN’s College GameDay even headed down to Alabama’s campus to get in on the action. Two ranked teams — No. 16 Vanderbilt and No. 10 Alabama — would be squaring off with potential College Football Playoff implications.
The hype couldn’t have been more real, but the Crimson Tide got the best of the Commodores, 30-14, on Saturday afternoon. The over 100,000 Alabama Faithful were successful in rattling Pavia and Co. as the Commodores were completely shut out in the second half. Some costly red zone turnovers, short-lived possessions and lackluster defensive performances earned Vanderbilt its first loss of the season.
People say lightning never strikes twice. It did not for Vanderbilt on Saturday evening as it couldn’t muster up the momentum or strength to pull off another upset against the Crimson Tide. It now looks to right the ship after its first blemish on the record sheet.
Now, let’s dive into what went wrong in Vanderbilt’s loss to Alabama.
Flash fried
Head coach Clark Lea often harps on the need to win the time of possession battle. Vanderbilt’s offense usually operates in a way that chews clock and limits possessions for opposing teams. In fact, that was the winning recipe for Vanderbilt a year ago in Nashville against then-No. 1 Alabama — the Commodores held the ball for nearly 25 minutes more than the Crimson Tide.
That wasn’t the case this Saturday, though, as Vanderbilt lost the time of possession battle by almost 15 minutes. The Crimson Tide executed long, sustained drives with solid gains to wear down Vanderbilt’s defense and limit the amount of time Pavia had the ball in his hands. Give credit to Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer and Co. as they didn’t let Pavia find any rhythm or momentum all day.
The lost time of possession battle is concerning for Vanderbilt, but what caused it to happen? It was partly due to how Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson operated his offense, but Vanderbilt offensive coordinator Tim Beck didn’t help either.
He consistently relied on the passing game when Vanderbilt has recently used the ground game to move the chains. Lead running back Sedrick Alexander had four carries on Saturday. Granted, he did have three catches as well, but that’s still a shockingly low number of rush attempts for a back that has looked exceptional all year.
I’ve been one to praise Beck in past games, and I still think he’s one of the better offensive coordinators in the SEC. With that said, I must criticize his play-calling against Alabama — he had Pavia drop back too many times and completely underutilized running backs like Alexander, MK Young and AJ Newberry.
The most puzzling part of the play-calling is that Alabama has struggled to stop the run this year. Coming into this matchup with Vanderbilt, Alabama’s run defense allowed 160.5 yards per game to rank No. 90 in the nation. The Crimson Tide also ranked in the top 10 in the nation in passing yards allowed ahead of Saturday’s game, showing their extreme talent in the secondary.
Pavia throwing the ball 36 times just doesn’t play to Vanderbilt’s strengths or Alabama’s weaknesses. It consistently stopped the clock, losing Vanderbilt the time of possession battle, and was not a good matchup for the Commodores. Granted, some of those 36 throws were in garbage time when Vanderbilt needed to make big plays, but Vanderbilt’s play-calling was inherently flawed on Saturday.
Beck doesn’t need to repeat the same recipe he used last year — his team is actually far better from a talent perspective so there’s more room for him to be creative. But he strayed too far from Vanderbilt’s normal game plan against Alabama, and it came back to bite him.
Spoiled Jam
Alabama running back Jam Miller was spectacular on Saturday, and the Commodores couldn’t find an answer to stop him. The senior rushed for 136 yards on 22 attempts to average over 6 yards per carry. While he only racked up one touchdown, Miller found some massive holes to break through and eventually wore down the Commodores’ defense.
Miller is one of the better backs in the SEC, but 136 yards for one player is quite a stat line. It’s all due to Alabama’s impressive offensive line — a unit which was rated as the preseason No. 1 offensive line in the country according to PFF. Led by veteran left tackle Kadyn Proctor, the Crimson Tide dominated at the line of scrimmage. The unit limited pressure on Simpson and opened up some huge holes for Miller to burst through.
Vanderbilt’s run defense has been stellar all year, making this performance even more surprising. Going into the Alabama game, Vanderbilt ranked inside the top 20 in the country in rushing yards allowed per game with an average of 79.8. Interior defensive linemen like Glenn Seabrooks III, Zaylin Wood and Joshua Singh have been stellar at stopping runs and getting to the quarterback all year.
In this game, CJ Heard and other members of the secondary often had to come down to tackle Miller after he’d broken out for a six or more-yard gain. I’m not raising this as a concern for Vanderbilt — it was up against one of the best offensive lines in the country — but it does prove that Alabama played to its offensive strengths, something which can’t be said for Vanderbilt.
Cherry turnovers
Winning the turnover battle is critical to beat good teams on the road. Vanderbilt failed to do so, giving the ball up two times to create extra possessions for Alabama. It did not help that both turnovers were in the red zone (hence the cherries in this title).
Pavia caused both — a pick and a fumble — which dissolved any of Vanderbilt’s momentum. The first turnover, a fumble that was knocked out of Pavia’s hand on the quarterback keeper, was the product of a fantastic defensive play. Alabama linebacker Justin Jefferson made a heads-up football move, coming from behind Pavia and dislodging the ball from an awkward position. That was a difference-maker in the game, though, as the Commodores were on the opposing 8-yard-line and on the verge of taking a two-score lead in the first half.
Vanderbilt’s second turnover of the day was the result of poor decision-making by Pavia. He tried to thread the ball through tight coverage over the middle of the field for tight end Eli Stowers, but Alabama defensive back Keon Sabb was there to pick it off. The ball was intercepted on Alabama’s own 7-yard-line, another close call near the end zone.
“We knew this would be won on third downs and in the red zone, and especially in the second half, we failed in those situations,” Lea said postgame.
I don’t necessarily point out these costly turnovers to rub salt in Vanderbilt fans’ wounds but to prove a somewhat positive point. Vanderbilt shot itself in the foot on Saturday afternoon. Had a few plays gone differently, such as Vanderbilt putting points on the board in those red zone situations, the outcome of this game could’ve been very different. Vanderbilt’s game plan moving forward has become abundantly clear: clean up the mistakes.
I’ll never be one to put the entire blame on Pavia — after all, he’s the one who has brought Vanderbilt Football back to relevancy — but these mistakes are fixable. He needs to have better awareness of defenders when he’s on the move and not force tight throws when he doesn’t need to. In fact, on the second turnover, Pavia had Alexander wide open in the flat but instead tried to thread the needle to Stowers in double coverage. He’ll learn from these mistakes and likely come back stronger.
To pull off the upset in Tuscaloosa would’ve been shocking, but this outcome just sends Vanderbilt back to the drawing board. Most importantly, the Commodores will now have a bye week to reset mentally and physically. Getting currently injured players like Issa Ouattara and Mark Davis back into the mix will only benefit the depth of this team. Having a week to reset from this loss certainly helps as well.
The Commodores will be back in action on Oct. 18 as they take on LSU in FirstBank Stadium.
