LEXINGTON, KY—Vanderbilt football leaves Lexington, Kentucky, with the same tune and the same feel that it's had for the past four weeks. Its 34-17 loss to Kentucky was its fifth in a row and indicated that it's still got a long ways to go before turning the corner.
Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea believed he had his team playing to the program's identity in Saturday's first half, but watched as his group deterorated and fell into the same habits that have landed it here--with a 3-5 record overall and an 0-5 record in SEC play.
The Commodores still have more questions than answers at this point and have plenty to unpack. Here's what to take away from its Saturday loss.
Vanderbilt’s offense was good, but demonstrated its major–surprising–flaw
There were shades of this Vanderbilt offense having its best performance of the season and looking as if it had a sustainable formula, but there were also some glaring blindspots here.
Vanderbilt finally appeared to have playcalling that fit its personnel and finally used the middle of the field for the first time of the Curtis era. It was as good through the air as it has been at any point this season, outside of two turnovers late in the game that sealed its fate.
The bigger deal, though, was that Vanderbilt ran for 0.9 yards per carry. It ran for 2.2 yards per carry without sacks being accounted for. This group was supposed to be able to run the ball in order to form an identity. It clearly cannot.
As a result, there’s far too much pressure on Jared Curtis.
Vanderbilt’s defense still has major issues
This Vanderbilt defense is talented, but it was entirely outclassed by Kentucky’s offense for most of the day.
Kentucky went for 376 total yards, 173 yards on the ground on 4.4 yards per carry, didn’t turn it over, scored on six of its last seven drives and looked entirely comfortable once Vanderbilt’s offense stopped dominating the time of possession battle.
Vanderbilt still doesn’t have enough pass rushing, it has some up and down in its secondary and its run defense is shockingly poor at this stage. There’s gonna have to be some real self reflection done here this offseason.
Curtis’ fumble inside Vanderbilt’s red zone changed things
Vanderbilt had played a relatively clean game up to that point, but Curtis was blitzed on a whiffed block from CJ Williams and Kentucky was handed a golden opportunity as a result.
The blame should be shared by Curtis and Williams on that one, but in any case Vanderbilt can’t expect to win games like Saturday's in the fallout of plays like that–even though Kentucky only got three out of it.
Curtis turned it over again on Vanderbilt’s next offensive drive, but it felt like the damage was done the drive before.
There were elements of Vanderbilt’s 2024 win at Kentucky in that performance, but not enough
When Vanderbilt had it going Saturday, it looked a lot like the last time it was here.
It dominated the time of possession for long stretches. It played good, disciplined defense in other stretches. It had a competement rushing attack. It got its tight ends involved often and used them over the middle of the field. It used misdirection to its benefit offensively.
That obviously wasn’t the case for the entirety of the evening, but Vanderbilt offered a glimpse of what this can all look like if this talented group ever figures out how to play to the identity that Lea has worked to instill within the program.
This Vanderbilt team isn’t that team, though, and it showed Saturday.
Jared Curtis and Ja’Cory Thomas seem to be forming a real connection
Thomas was limited early in the season by injury and Vanderbilt’s general non-committal nature towards using him, but he appears to have turned the corner. Curtis appears to have noticed.
Curtis and Thomas connected three times for 35 yards and a touchdown Saturday. That felt more normal than surprising at this stage. In a five-week span of misery for this program, Thomas and Curtis developing a repertoire has been a positive development.
In a way, Thomas is the perfect target for Curtis. He’s big and physical, can go up and get the ball on the sidelines, is capable of catching a hard-thrown ball and has a wide catch radius. He’s been a great story for this team in recent weeks.
That was the same old story
Vanderbilt is what it is at this point, and that isn’t enough for it to win many games.
It doesn’t have an identity. It is undisciplined. It turns it over too much. It has far too many penalties. It just isn’t good enough. There was some thought that this group might be, too, but nope.
That was proven again on Saturday.
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