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Alabama fell to Vanderbilt in stunning fashion on Saturday evening in Nashville.
Things got off to a bad start for the Crimson Tide as they fell behind 13-0 following a Jalen Milroe pick-6 in the first quarter. It marked the first time this century that Vanderbilt has held a multi-score lead over Alabama.
Alabama tried to chip away at that lead for the rest of the night, but to no avail. The Commodores offense was too efficient and too explosive. Alabama’s offense had too many turnovers. In the end, Alabama fell 40-35 — losing to Vanderbilt for the first time since 1984.
Here are 3 takeaways from this result:
How did this happen?
Simply put, this is one of the biggest upsets in recent college football history when you consider the stakes. Alabama, a newly-minted No. 1 overall team in the country, was a 23-point favorite at most sportsbooks entering this game.
Alabama had not trailed at any point in a game against Vanderbilt since 2006. The Commodores scored a touchdown on Alabama back in 2007 — but then never again during the Nick Saban era. They scored a grand total of 3 points in the 3 previous matchups against Alabama.
Defensively, Alabama couldn’t get enough stops. That was largely due to Vandy’s impressive efficiency on third down. The Commodores went 12-of-18 on third down and scored a touchdown their only fourth-down attempt of the night. Vandy also went 4-for-4 on red zone opportunities. Despite averaging a mediocre 5.7 yards per play, Vanderbilt was forced to punt just twice in this contest.
Offensively, Alabama was too careless with the football. Milroe had 2 crucial turnovers — a pick-6 in the first quarter and a fumble in the fourth quarter that immediately led to 13 Vanderbilt points.
Aside from the giveaways, Vanderbilt had no answers for Alabama’s offense. The Crimson Tide averaged well over 8 yards per play and Milroe threw for 312 yards on just 25 attempts. But the turnovers and a run game that lacked explosiveness (4 yards per carry) limited Alabama’s overall effectiveness on that end.
What it means for Alabama
Coming off of the win over Georgia last weekend, this is a deflating result for the Crimson Tide. Stunning. Shocking. Embarrassing. All of that applies to this result for Kalen DeBoer and the Crimson Tide.
Alabama appears to have some serious issues on defense. The Crimson Tide were able to get past Georgia despite a poor second half, but there have been red flags about their secondary sprinkled in throughout the season. South Florida, in particular, seemed poised to make Alabama pay for its bad DB play last month — but the quarterback play wasn’t there for the Bulls.
That was decidedly not the case in Nashville on Saturday. Diego Pavia had no issues lighting up Alabama to the tune of 252 yards on 20 attempts. He also threw 2 touchdown passes and didn’t turn the ball over. He was a huge reason why Vanderbilt was so good on third down in this game.
Alabama now has 1 loss and it will still be alive in the race for the SEC Championship and College Football Playoff. But the Crimson Tide clearly have serious issues they need to address — at least on defense — before getting to that point.
What it means for Vanderbilt
For Vanderbilt, this is arguably the biggest win in program history. It’s also a signature victory for Clark Lea, who has struggled to maintain momentum at times through his tenure at Vandy.
This is Vanderbilt’s first SEC win in more than 2 years. The Commodores went 0-8 in SEC play last season and were 0-1 to start the year. Lea is in his fourth season as Vanderbilt’s head coach, but this is just the third SEC win for his program during that time.
Vanderbilt has played very well at times this season, also notably beating Virginia Tech last month. But this is no doubt the biggest win Vandy has — or could have — on its résumé. Vandy also clearly pas a path to bowl eligibility in 2024 — something it has not accomplished since 2018.
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
