It is a top-25 match-up in the SEC as Vanderbilt hits the road to face Texas. Vanderbilt is off to their best start in 84 years, sitting at 7-1 on the year. Now, Vandy looks for a fourth top-25 win of the year as they face Texas.
Vanderbilt started the year 5-0, including a win over South Carolina. They would then fall 30-14 to Alabama. Since then, the Commodores have won two straight. First, it was a 31-24 over, then ranked number ten, LSU. The Commodores followed that up with a win over Missouri, winning the game 17-10. Now, Vanderbilt will face a fourth straight ranked opponent as they travel to visit Texas.
Meanwhile, Texas is 6-2 on the year. They opened up the year with a loss to Ohio State before rolling off three straight wins. In their SEC opener, the Longhorns hit the road to face Florida and fell 29-21. Since then, Texas has won three straight games, including a 23-6 win over Oklahoma. Still, it has been a struggle for Texas in the last two games. First, it was an overtime win over Kentucky 16-13. The next game, Texas hit the road to face Mississippi State, and needed overtime to win the game 45-38.
The Commodores have another explosive play
The Vanderbilt offense has been great this year. They a ninth in FBS in points per game while sitting 30th in the nation in yards per game. The team is 18th in the nation in rushing yards per game while sitting 73rd in passing yards per game. The explosive play has been a major part of the Vanderbilt offense. The team is sixth in the nation in yards per play this year.
The big play leading to touchdowns has been a consistent thread for Vanderbilt this year. In Week 1, it was a 35-yard run by Jamezell Lassiter for a score against Charleston Southern. Week 2 saw a 54-yard reception by Brycen Coleman for the score against Virginia Tech. Lassiter struck again in Week 3, with a 44-yard run against South Carolina. Makhilyn Young hit a 60-yard touchdown run against Georgia Southern. Richie Hoskins hit the big play the next week agaisnt Utah State, going 53 yards on a reception for the score.
Even against Alabama, Vanderbilt hit the big play, with a 65-yard touchdown run from Sedrick Alexander. The shortest of the big plays was a 21-yard run for a score by Diego Pavia against LSU. Still, Vanderbilt returned to the big play against Missouri with an 80-yard touchdown run by Young.
In six of the last eight games, Vanderbilt has scored a touchdown longer than 40 yards, and has had a touchdown of longer than 20 yards in all eight games. The big play will happen again against Texas, with another 40-yard touchdown on the ground.
The Vanderbilt defense steps up
Vanderbilt has been steady on defense this year. They are ranked 26th in the nation in opponent points per game while sitting 39th in opponent yards per game. Further, they are 21st against the run but are 89th against the pass. Meanwhile, the Texas offense has not been anything special. They are 50th in FBS in points per game while sitting 70th in yards. Further, the team is 78th in the run and 61st in the pass.
Arch Manning has had his fair share of struggles this year. Last time out, he did pass for 346 yards and three touchdowns in the comeback win over Mississippi State. He also threw a pick and was sacked five times. This year, he has thrown six interceptions and been sacked 18 times. Manning has returned to practice after suffering a concussion against Mississippi State, but he has not been fully cleared for the game.
Regardless, he is not being protected well. Texas is 88th in the nation in sack percentage this year. Meanwhile, Vanderbilt is 38th in the nation in the percentage of passing plays they get to the quarterback. Miles Capers has led the way. He has 4.5 sacks this year, while also breaking up a pass, forcing a fumble, and recovering one. Further, Zaylin Wood has three sacks, while four other players have at least two sacks. With the pressure Vanderbilt can create and the inability for Texas to protect Manning, the defense is going to force a major mistake and a big play that changes the game.
Diego Pavia shows himself to be the top QB on the field
The Texas defense has been solid this year, sitting eighth in the nation in points per game and 13th in opponent yards per game. Meanwhile, they are third in opponent rushing yards per game and 54th against the pass. Still, the Texas secondary was just dismantled by Blake Shapen. Shapen passed for 381 yards and four touchdowns.
Quarterback Diego Pavia is in contention for the Heisman Trophy and will show himself to be the best quarterback on the field in this game. He has passed for 1,698 yards with 15 touchdowns on the season, while being intercepted five times. Further, he leads the team in rushing with 458 yards while he has scored another five times on the ground.
Pavia is coming off a slightly disappointing performance, passing for just 129 yards and running for one touchdown against Missouri. That left him with a QBR of just 59.1. In his career at Vanderbilt, when Pavia has had a QBR blow 60, he has typically bounced back in a big way. He did that this year after the game with Alabama, when he had a 92.6 QBR against LSU, accounting for three touchdowns.
He also did that last year after losing to Georgia State, accounting for two scores against Missouri. Pavia also had success against Texas last year, which had a better defense. In that game, he passed for just 143 yards, but ran for 67 while racking up three touchdowns.
Manning has had just two games with a QBR over 70 this year, a win over Sam Houston and the victory over rival Oklahoma. Pavia has just two games with a QBR under 75. He is going to be the better quarterback in this one, as he accounts for three touchdowns again and leads Vanderbilt to its eighth win of the season.
