Thoughts on Vandy's 47-13 WIN over Alabama A&M

[BrentVU]

If you missed it, here’s the story of this game: after some erratic play in the first half (after which Vandy led only 12 to 3), Vanderbilt got its mind right and exercised its superior athleticism in the second half, winning 47-13. Alabama A&M put up a valiant fight, but simply wore out in the second half on a warm night in Nashville.

There were some trouble spots, for sure: AAMU converting four third downs on its opening field goal drive; A.J. Swann’s 5-of-13 performance in the first half, culminating in a bad interception; a running game that started out sluggishly; and the Bulldogs completing a long bomb for a score in the second half. But those who stuck around were rewarded by seeing the ‘Dores light it up in the second half, including some dazzling play by some young players.

Most notable was true freshman RB Sedrick Alexander, with two spectacular touchdown runs, and another run in which he hurdled a Bulldog. (Sedrick the Entertainer? Alexander the Great?) He finished with a team-leading 87 yards, though a lot of it came in garbage time. After starting the season third-string, he has made a case for more playing time; he has great make-people-miss ability. Another true freshman, Bryan Longwell from Lipscomb Academy, blocked a punt and made a great diving tackle. Martel Hight got a chance to return a punt, and, man oh man, the rumors are all true... what shiftiness! Ken Seals, taking his first snaps since 2021, threw Vandy’s final TD to Kamrean Johnson, a true freshman TE from Lower Alabama. Langston Patterson came off the bench to lead VU in tackles with 7.

Throw out the first drive and the one busted coverage, and the defense had a pretty good night, holding AAMU to 278 yards and 6-of-18 on third down. After that poor first half, Swann looked a lot sharper in the second half, twice finding Will Sheppard for scores and sneaking in for a third score. He had a nice run in the first half to set up Vandy’s first field goal, and his best play of the night was when he broke out of a sure sack and found a streaking Justin Ball for a 27-yard gain. Several times Vandy went up-tempo, and it was effective.

And what a night for the punt return team! Vandy blocked two punts; Sheppard had two nice returns totaling 47 yards, on top of Hight’s dazzler for 22 yards. Vandy had 96 total yards in punt returns, the first time that’s happened in... just about forever.

Vandy’s top two right tackles were out with injuries; Grayson Morgan (50 pounds lighter than starter Junior Uzebu) got his first start. Vandy also had four D-linemen out for this game (Agu, Zunk, Bapst, James). De’Rickey Wright went down early with what looked like an ankle injury; he didn’t return, but hopefully that’s only precautionary. Vandy had only three penalties, two of them on the first-time OL starter Morgan.

After starting out 5-16 in his first 21 games, Coach Lea is now 4-1 in his last five.

The first two wins haven’t been pretty, but they’re in the books. The next four games will tell the story for this season, starting with Wake Forest next week. To keep bowl hopes alive, Vandy really needs to win at least three of those four games… before the going gets much tougher in the second half of the season. The Commodores should be favored against UNLV, but probably not in the others.

Kickoff next week is at 10 a.m. CT, the earliest kickoff in school history. It will also be Vandy’s first TV appearance ever on the ACC Network.

[AuricGoldfinger]

The injuries along the OL and especially the front seven on defense (there's a couple of guys out at LB, too) are concerning, but I'm hoping most of the absences are short-term and they'll be back sooner rather than later. Sounds like Agu could be back for Wake this week.

[alathIN]

Slow starts and coverage breakdowns continue to haunt.

Swann looks so good on some plays it's easy to forget he's a sophomore and needs more time to develop before he has the junior or senior consistency we remember from the likes of Shurmur. The decision making is complicated and he doesn't have it all mastered yet.

If our hopes of winning an SEC game or two rest on getting consistent upperclassman QB play - like mistake free games - we will be disappointed. We can count on Swann for some really good to great plays here and there - but we'll need the rest of the team to step up to get any SEC wins. Or Wake, for that matter.

Alexander looks really slippery. The ability to turn a five yard gain into a 25 yard gain is great, but something we will miss in Ray Davis - and that Alexander could provide - is the ability to turn a 2 yard loss into a 4 yard gain. At second and six, another run play is an option. Second and twelve, not so much.

I don't know about the D. With a few exceptions (Wright, KPat) the defensive players are either under-athletic or under-experienced. You can point to a lot of guys on the D who could be very good next year and great the year after - but very few who are good to great now. Worse, among our small number of experienced and athletic defenders, a lot of them are are dinged up.

Upshot: I don't think we're going to win many low-scoring games dominated by defense. There is hope the D can improve by getting some guys more healthy and some more experienced, but we aren't winning on great D this year. The offense will have to outscore the bad guys.

[VU1970]

We weren't the only SEC team that got off to a slow start against an FCS opponent Saturday. Next week Vandy will need to wake up before stepping on the field. It was fun to see four Vandy QBs in one game, and I'd definitely buy a ticket to see Sedrick, especially if he can break tackles in the first half.

[dore74]

Agree with you on Swann being inconsistent. The second half tempo that Lea spoke of in this presser (that may well have started when they finally listened to Roanoke re getting him going on some easy passes) may well be the key to his being successful this year. We'll find out quick on Saturday morning if they go back to this strategy.

If, and its a big if, some of the injured guys Brent and Auric spoke of above come back in the next week or so we may see some improvements on both sides of the ball. On D a stronger pass rush is all we have to cover what is, to be nice, a developing situation in the defensive backfield. And on O more time will certainly speed up the maturation of Mr Swann and improve the running game.

Hopefully, our game plan for next week (and the following weeks) will better play off our various strengths and weaknesses.

[charlestonalum]

Swann looks at his desired target almost every down: surely they can coach that since it is a very serious problem thst will be exploirtd by good defenses. Even our good pass plays, he was locked in on his man from the snap.

[FayetteDore]

"There were some trouble spots, for sure: AAMU converting four third downs on its opening field goal drive..."

Yeah, sitting in the stadium watching that drive, I was thinking that Vanderbilt's constant playing of the trumpet solo from Narco (the Third Down theme for when Vanderbilt is on defense) was actually firing up the A&M offense. It's catchy and makes you want to stand up and whistle along with it -- but I noticed the A&M fans were doing the same thing. Ah well, what can you do.

[commadore]

"There were some trouble spots, for sure: AAMU converting four third downs on its opening field goal drive..."

Yeah, sitting in the stadium watching that drive, I was thinking that Vanderbilt's constant playing of the trumpet solo from Narco (the Third Down theme for when Vanderbilt is on defense) was actually firing up the A&M offense. It's catchy and makes you want to stand up and whistle along with it -- but I noticed the A&M fans were doing the same thing. Ah well, what can you do.

Kind of like "Move those Chainss!"

[BrentVU]

BONUS OBSERVATION, NO CHARGE:
Last week against Hawaii, Will Sheppard drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for an ostentatious stomping gesture after scoring a TD. Coach Lea would later call it "unacceptable", and Shep sat out the entire following possession.

This week... it looks as though Shep has mastered the art of showing no emotion whatsoever after scoring. It's almost comical the way he walks away so calmly after beating his man on big catches...

[JWCommodore]

Swann looks at his desired target almost every down: surely they can coach that since it is a very serious problem thst will be exploirtd by good defenses. Even our good pass plays, he was locked in on his man from the snap.

Absolutely

He has a habit of telegraphing his throws, hopefully the staff is working with him on this and his decision making. He has tremendous upside and potential

[JWCommodore]

BONUS OBSERVATION, NO CHARGE:
Last week against Hawaii, Will Sheppard drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for an ostentatious stomping gesture after scoring a TD. Coach Lea would later call it "unacceptable", and Shep sat out the entire following possession.

This week... it looks as though Shep has mastered the art of showing no emotion whatsoever after scoring. It's almost comical the way he walks away so calmly after beating his man on big catches...

Nice observation

Definitely a much more subdued celebration on both of those

[VandyPhile]

BONUS OBSERVATION, NO CHARGE:
Last week against Hawaii, Will Sheppard drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for an ostentatious stomping gesture after scoring a TD. Coach Lea would later call it "unacceptable", and Shep sat out the entire following possession.

This week... it looks as though Shep has mastered the art of showing no emotion whatsoever after scoring. It's almost comical the way he walks away so calmly after beating his man on big catches...

I thought the same thing. Making it a point to not be penalized. And subtly thumbing his nose at it.

[VUgearhead]

Act like you been there.

Earn respect for your deeds, not your dance.

[docdore]

Act like you been there.

Earn respect for your deeds, not your dance.

FRESHMAN kamrean johnson showed saturday how to act like he'd been there before (which he hadn't collegiately).

[Seadog73]

"Just doing what I'm supposed to do."