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TUSCALOOSA, AL ― There’s no shame in losing to Alabama for Vanderbilt football.
The Commodores (5-1, 1-1 SEC) have become a program that’s competitive with the top of the SEC. But Vanderbilt isn’t quite at a spot where it can expect to win these types of big games, as the 30-14 loss on Oct. 4 showed.
Late in the first half, the Commodores held a 14-7 lead but things went downhill from there. Alabama scored a touchdown shortly before halftime and Vanderbilt didn’t score in the second half. Diego Pavia had his first poor performance of the season, committing two turnovers and completing just 58% of his passes.
The Commodores are idle this week before hosting LSU on Oct. 18. While the Tigers don’t have as explosive an offense as Alabama, they have a strong defense. Vanderbilt will need to clean up some of its issues to win that game and stay in College Football Playoff contention.
There were several areas where the Commodores fell short. Here are five stats that illustrate the loss:
Six carries by running backs
In the first half, Sedrick Alexander showed why Vanderbilt stuck with him instead of seeking a top running back in the transfer portal. He gained 76 yards on four attempts, including a 65-yard touchdown. But those were four of just six carries by running backs all game − AJ Newberry and Makhilyn Young had one carry apiece.
Quarterback Diego Pavia himself had nearly twice as many carries as the running backs did, with 11 (not including one sack). Vanderbilt has used a strategy of “run to win” this season, so it’s surprising that the Commodores abandoned the run in their most important moments. The runs that Vanderbilt did attempt averaged 7.1 yards per carry, but too often in the second half, the Commodores were playing from behind and felt they needed to pass instead.
Eli Stowers, Tre Richardson and Junior Sherrill: 11 catches on 23 targets
Stowers and Sherrill have largely been reliable this season but both had poor performances against Alabama.
Stowers was targeted seven times but made three catches. Sherrill was targeted 10 times with six catches. Both players had drops in key moments.
Tre Richardson also wasn’t a factor, catching just two of his six targets and gaining six yards. Going forward, against SEC defensive backs, the wide receivers need to play better.
Alabama had 37:23 time of possession
Vanderbilt likes to win games by winning the time of possession, holding the ball longer than its opponents to prevent them from scoring. A longer time of possession isn’t necessarily required for a win if a team is scoring quickly, but it’s how the Commodores won the first matchup with the Crimson Tide, taking a lead early and never allowing Alabama to get back in the game.
But the Crimson Tide also play at a deliberate pace and are capable of holding the ball. This time, it was the Crimson Tide who went on long drives, leaving Vanderbilt without much time to come back once Alabama took the lead.
Ty Simpson: 74% completion percentage and 340 yards
Ty Simpson is a good quarterback, and he deserves credit for the stats he put up. But the flip side of Simpson’s performance was the struggle of Vanderbilt’s defense to contain him.
Vanderbilt did get four sacks, but it also allowed Simpson to escape the pocket and find open receivers too often. And while the Commodores are far from the only team to fail to contain an Alabama receiver room that features several future NFL players, the Tide receivers could bail Simpson out of plays that Vanderbilt’s receivers couldn’t for Pavia.
1-for-3 scoring in the red zone
Prior to the Alabama game, Vanderbilt had gone 28-for-29 this season in getting at least a field goal when in the red zone. Not so much against the Crimson Tide.
The Commodores scored one touchdown in the red zone on Pavia’s shovel pass to Alexander. Alexander’s other touchdown came from outside the red zone.
In Vanderbilt’s other two trips to the red zone, it turned the ball over with one Pavia fumble and one interception. It’s foolish to assume both red zone trips would’ve resulted in touchdowns. The Pavia fumble came on third down, and an ensuing fourth down would’ve forced a decision between a field goal or the risk of coming away without points. But to come away with nothing from either was a killer.
Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on X @aria_gerson.
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