Vanderbilt drubbing Charleston Southern 45-3 was impressive but expected. Vanderbilt hammering Virginia Tech 44-20 without punting was not expected. It certainly gives us all a lot to talk about this week. Some of it will be overreaction. It is easy to do when you completely dismantle an ACC opponent in a way that the Commodores have not done since at least Brigadoon. Trying to be the rational one who does not go over the top with extreme optimism is a weird place for me to be, but I will try.
Last
week, nothing felt certain enough to do more than ask questions. This week I do feel like there are some answers forming, if not ones that can be made with an acceptably high level of confidence.
Lessons We Are Learning
Tre Richardson could be the perfect complement to Junior Sherrill and Eli Stowers in the passing game. He followed up a debut with 5 catches for 74 yards and 1 rush for 1 yard with 3 receptions for 54 yards and 2 carries for 32 yards. The catch totals seem low, but Vanderbilt has only completed 35 passes through 2 games even though they are completing passes at a 72.9% rate. Richardson had 2 tough, contested catches deep down the sideline including a TD. The versatility in the option game really adds to the trouble Richardson is causing. The concern with him entering the season was that his biggest attribute was just speed, which he does have in abundance, and that teams would just be able to play off of him and guard the deep ball. Instead, he has shown an ability to run slants and other short routes while also being an option in the running game. The competition may take another step up with South Carolina, but they also had issues with VT’s passing game that Vanderbilt’s secondary did not.
The offensive line is improved from last year, so we just need to see how improved they are. The Hokies generated 7 TFLs, 4 of which were sacks, against the Gamecocks, but only stopped the Commodores short of the LOS twice with neither being a sack. Vanderbilt’s running backs also averaged 8.9 yards per carry, which drops to a still-respectable 6.0 YPC without MK Young’s 62-yard dash that included a hole that you could have driven an RV through. South Carolina’s front 7 has some individuals that should cause most team’s trouble even if they are off to a slow start to the season. The Gamecocks did generate 7 TFLs, which includes 4 sacks, against South Carolina State, so they could be finding their footing. It should be a fun battle.
The running backs are taking advantage of the offensive line’s success. Yes, Young had a 62-yard carry that gets the big attention, but Sedrick Alexander also had runs of 18 and 21 yards. When you get 3 explosive runs out of 19 carries, they are showing any ability to get downfield toting the rock. These are ignoring carries of 21 and 11 yards by Tre Richardson and 15 yards by Diego Pavia, which are heavily about scheme but also speak to how the entire team is blocking.
Lessons for Further Study
The first new subject that has arisen over the first two games is penalties. Vanderbilt was called for 11 penalties for 77 yards against Virginia Tech. They were whistled 7 times for 60 yards against Charleston Southern. Three or four of the penalties against VT were questionable if not outright awful. Still, 7 or 8 penalties in a game where the team is built on ball control is not a winning formula. They need to reign in the procedural stuff like covering up Cole Spence in formation to make him an ineligible receiver. The staff and team also need to realize officials are apparently keyed in on their OL getting downfield on RPOs.ds
This topic will probably stay firmly here unless the answer is negative which feels like a jinx, but where is Pavia’s health? He did step out on Vanderbilt’s last drive after taking a hit. However, there was no indication that decision was due to bad effects, and Pavia was laughing and dancing on the sideline immediately after leaving the game. He carried the ball 11 times for 61 yards and only took 2 or 3 real hits which includes his last play. He may need to stop throwing massive lead blocks as he got downfield twice, once on an option pitch and once on a reverse, then lowered the boom on a defender. It is such an impressive, energizing thing to see, but it does carry some risk and concern.
The other jinx relates to limiting mistakes. Were Vanderbilt’s 2 turnovers last week an anomaly or something concerning? After only 7 turnovers for all of 2024, the Commodores gave it away twice against Virginia Tech. One was a silly decision by Pavia to heave a pass off his back foot into double or triple coverage. The other was Sedrick Alexander on a rather innocuous looking hit. Alexander did put the ball on the ground against Charleston Southern, which is not ideal. The turnovers are not a trend yet. It is a detail that Vanderbilt needs to keep under control. Their only two non-scoring drives were the turnovers.
In terms of other changes from 2024, are some defensive scheme changes showing? Vanderbilt had 8 TFLs with 3 being sacks. CJ Heard had 1 sack and also hit Kyron Drones another time. Khordae Sydnor had a sack and was part of another TFL. Sydnor had two times where he nearly generated strip sacks by hitting Drones mid-release. The pressures are looking more creative, too. Heard’s near-sack saw the ball hit Sydnor right in the hands as he dropped into a shallow zone. Mixing up the number of rushers and who is coming can cause real havoc. Doing so without exposing your run defense is a tricky balance, but they showed no sign of that either. Bob Shoop was brought on staff as a Senior Defensive Analyst. His Vanderbilt defenses during the James Franklin era were known as aggressive, creative blitzing squads. His ideas may be blending in to spice things up a bit.
Speaking of the run defense, after Charleston Southern averaged less than 2 yards per carry, Virginia Tech was only able to muster 3.7 YPC. There were 2 runs fo 27 and 21 yards. The average drops all the way to 2.4 without the big carries, and one of them was on the final drive when Vanderbilt was up 24 with less than 2 minutes to play. Outside of losing Drones a few times in the first half, the run defense looked stout. VT gained 112 yards on 21 first half carries 5.3 YPC but were absolutely stuffed in the second half for 0 yards from 12 carries. That qualifies as “stout” in my book.
How has the pass defense improved? Charleston Southern’s 10/19 for 88 yards day was not bettered by much by Kyron Drones. Drones was 17/29 for 134 yards, so both teams averaged 4.6 yards per attempt. That puts Vanderbilt at 13th in the country in opponent yards per passing attempt. That ranking almost certainly will not hold up, but they were atrocious last year. They were 10th WORST in opponent yards per passing attempt. Now they get to contain the potentially explosive LaNoris Sellers. Sellers has not been great to start the season. He has the talent to torch secondaries though and just needs his WRs to catch the ball better to get into a groove. If Zaylin Woods, who was only credited with 2 tackles and 0.5 TFLs, keeps collapsing offensive linemen into the backfield, guys like Sydnor and Nick Rinaldi will keep feasting around him as he draws double teams. In coverage, Jaylin Lackey has been relegated to 4th or 5th on the depth chart after being Vanderbilt’s second best corner last season thanks to Marlon Jones and Mark Davis getting healthy along with Kolbey Taylor seemingly finding play to match his trash talk.
The pass defense was not able to pick any passes off. The defense did force and recover a fumble to officially ice the game. The Commodores only forced 1.2 turnovers per game in 2024. They have taken the ball away 3 times in 2 games, which is a slight improvement. If they continue to hit QBs, they will be able to pull down interceptions and get strip sacks.
Back on the offensive side of the ball, Eli Stowers appears to be working back from his offseason injuries. He had 4 catches for the second straight week. He only gained 29 yards, but they were all important conversions. Two of them converted 3rd and 5+ situations. The last one was the 4th down TD from Blaze Berlowitz. They are being selective with his usage. Hopefully, he is full go this weekend.
All of the apparent improvements rolled into a game that had Vanderbilt’s fans and social media poking fun at the traditions and lore of Lane Stadium. The pressure of the moment and environment was high in Blacksburg. The lights get even brighter (literally since Lane has the old school halogen lights, not the fancy LEDs of Williams-Brice) this weekend with another stadium known for rocking well above its capacity. Check off another game where it appears the team is fully locked in on the mission. They did stutter off the start a bit with the turnovers and missed assignments on Drones, but it was nothing too egregious.
