The Vanderbilt Commodores didn’t pass the test they took this past Saturday in Lexington. They realized that the Kentucky Wildcats’ offense really was as bad as UK’s game against Texas A&M had indicated.
By Matt Zemek
The Commodores realized that Kentucky was as vulnerable as outward appearances had suggested, and that the Wildcats’ record was much more a product of the caliber of UK’s competition rather than the quality of the Cats themselves. Vanderbilt did everything it reasonably could have been asked to do on defense, which is the side of the ball head coach Derek Mason knows best… and therefore hasn’t had to worry about.
All Vanderbilt needed to do was make a few basic plays on offense and special teams, a very familiar story for this program not only under the current coaching staff, but for much of the past two decades.
As has usually been the case, the Dores couldn’t come through.
Two fourth-quarter fumbles. One missed field goal. A punt after a drive start at the Kentucky 40 following a fumble recovery. Three bad plays and one terrible series of downs — therefore, a total of six snaps, one on special teams — kept Vanderbilt from bagging a huge season-changing win.
Just make the basic plays. Vanderbilt couldn’t make them. it is the kind of loss which cuts deep and has been all too familiar in these parts over the years. The promise of the Kyle Shurmur era still hasn’t been realized. The sense of frustration in and around the program is palpable.
What also makes this loss to Kentucky frustrating is the larger context in which it occurred. A week earlier, Vanderbilt pounced on opportunities and did more to create an advantage — precisely what it didn’t do in Lexington. Whereas Vanderbilt could not develop a multi-possession lead over UK, it did exactly that against Florida, taking a 21-3 cushion into the middle of the second quarter. Yet, on that occasion, the defense couldn’t hold the 18-point margin. It gave way in the second half and was outflanked far too many times after halftime. VU lost, 37-27.
It is that old and haunting refrain which belongs to Vanderbilt and other “not yet over the hump” teams: Both sides of the ball can’t play well at the same time. If one side of the ball does well, the other side does just poorly enough to NOT complement it. If one side of the ball does poorly, the other side of the ball does fairly well, but not QUITE enough to overcome it. Whatever the balance (or imbalance) of a team’s performance is, it falls just short of what victory requires. The past two weeks against Florida and Kentucky reflect that all too clearly — and painfully — for VU.
Yet, even though this test against UK wasn’t passed, the bigger reality — in accordance with what has been written in this Monday column all season long — is that Vanderbilt’s main goal is still intact. Now comes the time for the Commodores to achieve it.
We said this back at the beginning of the season: Splitting the Kentucky and Arkansas games would likely give Vanderbilt four wins heading into the final two home contests against Ole Miss and Tennessee. The Rebels and Volunteers are as bad as many figured they would be, so VU still has a very reasonable chance of winning those two games, which is exactly how the 2016 team made a bowl game at 6-6. VU is not yet at the point where realistic bowl aspirations have left the building. Winning this next game at Arkansas — one of the SEC’s worst teams — will enable Vanderbilt to enter November with legitimate bowl aspirations, which is all this season needs to produce.
No one felt this was a team which could compete for an upper-division finish in the SEC East. No one expected nine or more wins. Just making a bowl was this season’s central and foremost task. As miserable as October has been and as agonizing as the Kentucky game was, Vanderbilt is still in the hunt for everything it wants out of this 2018 campaign.
Final exams, gridiron-style, are only now beginning.
If it was extremely hard for Vanderbilt to solve Kentucky’s first-class defense, it shouldn’t be nearly as tough to handle Arkansas’ defense under struggling defensive coordinator John Chavis, who has lost the mustard on his fastball.
If it was extremely difficult for Vanderbilt to handle Dan Mullen’s offense in the Florida game — even though the Gators had a subpar quarterback, Feleipe Franks, manning the controls — it should be easier for VU to cope with Chad Morris’s Arkansas attack. This isn’t necessarily a verdict on Morris’s coaching acumen, but it remains that Arkansas has not cultivated the consistency it needs on offense, especially at quarterback, to strike fear into opposing defenses. The Hogs have shown glimpses of quality but have not played a complete SEC game yet this season. They can’t lean on their defense the way Kentucky does, and their offensive architect (Morris) has not yet found his groove or the quarterback he can totally trust.
The past doesn’t have to be a weight Vanderbilt carries. These past two losses against Florida and Kentucky were hard to stomach, but if the lessons they imparted are successfully applied in these upcoming final exams, Vanderbilt will get to the 6-6 threshold it has always been chasing this season. If the past few weeks show that VU has learned well from its failures, these experiences will not have been in vain. These bitter herbs will wind up providing nourishment which carries the Commodores to a successful resolution of a 2018 season which has been every bit as bumpy as expected.
Get your pens and paper ready, your mind clear and refreshed. Time to focus on final exams and pass the tests which will define how this season is remembered at Vanderbilt University.
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