Vanderbilt football lost its third of its past four games on Saturday night when the Commodores fell, 24-17, to LSU.
Like most of the Commodores’ games this season, it was a close game, but the way they lost was different from other losses this season.
There were a few similarities.
Vanderbilt (6-5, 3-4 SEC) had a strong special teams performance and won the field position battle. Neither team committed many penalties and neither had any turnovers. But the Commodores showed some more explosiveness combined with some of the trickery they showed at the beginning of the season, like Jesse Mirco’s fake punt.
Vanderbilt faces Tennessee at FirstBank Stadium on Saturday (11 a.m. CT, ABC) and with the chance to eliminate the Vols from the College Football Playoff. Some of the things the Commodores did against LSU could work against the Vols — but Vanderbilt will first have to return to the things it does well, too.
SATURDAY’S STAKESAfter a day of chaos in the SEC, could Vanderbilt football play spoiler against Tennessee?
Third down woes
Vanderbilt has been very good on third down for the most part this season. Heading into the matchup against LSU, the Commodores were third in the SEC and 20th nationwide, converting 46% of their third downs.
Now, one game later, Vanderbilt is eighth in the SEC and 33rd nationwide after going 2-for-10 on third down against the Tigers.
The Commodores have struggled all season with third-down defense — they were 15th in the SEC both before and after the game — and indeed, LSU was 8-for-13 on third down.
Explosive plays
Vanderbilt’s offense isn’t built around explosive plays but around moving the chains and winning the time of possession. As such, the Commodores typically significantly lose in explosiveness metrics like yards per play.
That wasn’t the case Saturday. Vanderbilt averaged 6.4 yards per play to 6.8 for LSU. But the Tigers won the time of possession battle with 34:43 minutes with the ball and ran 76 plays to the Commodores’ 58.
Diego Pavia created some explosive plays, including his 63-yard touchdown pass to Quincy Skinner, a 39-yard pass to Loic Fouonji and a 36-yard quarterback run. But Vanderbilt needs to combine that explosiveness with the same efficiency it showed earlier in the year.
Run game back on track
Vanderbilt has had several weeks of struggles in the run game, partially due to injuries to Diego Pavia and Sedrick Alexander. But the run game was effective against LSU, with 5.4 sack-adjusted rushing yards.
This came despite no one reaching even 50 rushing yards. Pavia had 49 yards, excluding his one sack, while Sedrick Alexander had 24, AJ Newberry 22 and Nate Johnson 20.
Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on X, formerly Twitter, @aria_gerson.
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