Vanderbilt Beats Tennessee by 3 Touchdowns, Full Game Recap
SUBSCRIBE TO THE DORE REPORT TODAY – CLICK HERE AND JOIN FOR JUST $1 + a free year of The Athletic
In maybe the most fitting way to end Vanderbilt and Diego Pavia’s historic regular season, the ‘Dores went into Neyland and dominated the Tennessee Volunteers, winning by a score of 45-24.
The Vanderbilt offense was elite once again, scoring 45 points for the 3rd consecutive game. This was spearheaded by a herculean effort by Diego Pavia, overcoming 2 early interceptions to finish with 268 yards passing, 165 yards rushing, and 2 total TDs. Sedrick Alexander had his best game as a Vanderbilt Commodore as well, rushing for 115 yards on 10 carries and scoring 3 touchdowns. Junior Sherrill and Tre Richardson had 76 and 75 yards receiving, respectively, with Richardson scoring a touchdown, too.
After a shaky first half, the defense shut down Joey Aguilar and Tennessee’s explosive offense, limiting them to only 3 points in the second half. Randon Fontenette led Vanderbilt with 8 total tackles and Kolbey Taylor had 7. Taylor’s performance in particular summed up the Vanderbilt day, where after a shaky first half he had a strong 2nd that included a pass defended and several big solo tackles. Bryan Longwell, Nick Rinaldi, Zaylin Wood, and Linus Zunk all had sacks, with Longwell having another 1.5 TFLs on top of that sack.
Game Recap
Vanderbilt won the coin flip and deferred, giving Joey Aguilar the ball first. On the first drive the Vandy defense forced a 3 and out that gave Vandy the ball at the 28. The Vanderbilt offense put together a methodical 10 play, 50 yard drive into the red zone before Diego Pavia threw an ill-advised pass on 3rd and long that was intercepted.
The Volunteers capitalized on the momentum, orchestrating a 12 play, 80 yard drive that was highlighted by several explosive runs by DeSean Bishop and made the score 7-0.
Already desperately needing a response, Vanderbilt’s offense got one in an admittedly frantic and chaotic drive. A Pavia scramble drill turned into a 22 yard MK Young reception as he escaped pressure and Young slipped out of the backfield uncovered. A 24 yard catch and run by Junior Sherrill turned into a disaster when Edrees Farooq (who had the pick) forced a fumble with several Volunteer players nearby. By the grace of what had to be Fate itself, Sedrick Alexander was able to fall on the ball after several Volunteers failed to grab it. Alexander then broke a 28 yard TD run as the Volunteer D-line could not set the edge to contain him. Brock Taylor then made it 7-7.
The Vanderbilt defense held strong once again, allowing just 1 first down before forcing the 2nd Tennessee punt of the day. Bryan Longwell had a clutch sack on 3rd and short to force the punt.
Vanderbilt’s offense struck once again in lightning quick fashion. A 32 yard pass to Junior Sherrill followed by a 37 yarder to Eli Stowers got Vanderbilt to the Tennessee 9 yard line in just 2 plays before a false start moved them back to the 9. An 11 yard Diego Pavia run followed by a 3 yard dance to the endzone by MK Young put Vandy up 14-7 in Neyland.
A Josh Heupel led team wouldn’t go long without an explosive touchdown, though, and that’s exactly what happened next. Kolbey Taylor was caught looking at the sideline for the play call while Tennessee was using tempo and Chris Brazell blew right by him. Aguilar found him wide open downfield for a 54 yard score that evened things up at 14 a piece.
On Vanderbilt’s next play from scrimmage, Diego Pavia saw that Tre Richardson beat his man on his release and let it fly. Unfortunately for him and the Commodores, the ball was underthrown and floated too far inside, giving the Volunteers their second easy interception of the half. Tennessee once again capitalized on the Vanderbilt mistake and a 35 yard run by Bishop gave them a 21-14 lead just halfway through the 2nd quarter.
Vanderbilt and Tennessee then exchanged punts and Vanderbilt got the ball needing a score with 3 minutes remaining in the first half. It was this drive where Vanderbilt’s o-line really started to assert themselves. 3 runs of 10 yards or more got Vanderbilt down to the Tennessee 11 yard line. The drive then appeared to stall after Vanderbilt went backwards due to penalties and incomplete passes, but a controversial roughing the passer call on 3rd and 12 gave Vandy a 1st and goal with 20 seconds remaining. Pavia found Tre Richardson in the end zone on a beautifully executed out route to tie it up at 21 heading into halftime.
The second half could not have been much more different than the first.
Vanderbilt opened with an 11 play touchdown drive that took over 6 minutes of game time. The drive was highlighted by a 23 yard pass to Junior Sherrill and capped off by a 5 yard Sedrick Alexander TD run. The Vols simply couldn’t stop Vanderbilt’s rush attack and Tim Beck kept them honest on the outside by using the short pass game effectively. Vanderbilt reclaimed a 7 point lead at 28-21.
Vanderbilt’s defense then forced its 2nd 3-and-out of the day, giving Vanderbilt all the momentum. Diego Pavia then took it upon himself to build upon the Vandy lead. Runs of 41 and 15 yards by Pavia got Vanderbilt into the red zone where the drive stalled. The ever-reliable Brock Taylor nailed a 35 yard field goal to give Vandy a 2 score lead.
In desperate need of anything to go their way, Joey Aguilar and the Tennessee offense drove down the field quickly and got into the red zone. On 3rd and 3 from Vanderbilt’s 7 yard line, sophomore receiver Mike Matthews dropped what was an easy touchdown pass that just about summed up the performance for the Volunteers. Tennessee had to settle for a field goal to make it 31-24.
After this, we saw this Vanderbilt team do what so many Commodore squads have struggled with in the past: finish a team off when they’re down. An outstanding 28 yard pass dropped in a bucket to Tre Richardson got the drive moving before Diego Pavia scored a touchdown on a designed qb run from the 24. At 38-24 with less than 9 minutes remaining the Volunteer faithful started to file out of Neyland.
With the outcome looking more and more like a Vanderbilt win, Josh Heupel had to play extra aggressive to try and claw back into the game. After a Linus Zunk sack set the Vol offense behind the chains, Heupel elected to go for it on 4th and 14 from the Tennessee 42. Chris Brazzell was tackled well short of the line to gain and Vandy got the ball back at midfield with 6 minutes remaining.
Two Diego Pavia runs gave Vanderbilt a first down, and then Sedrick Alexander broke free for a 39 yard touchdown that took him over 100 yards for the day. At 45-24, the “VU” chants rang out louder than anything else in the stadium.
Tennessee got the ball back one last time, and after getting into Vanderbilt territory, turned it over on downs on 4th and 11.
Tennessee had all 3 timeouts left but elected not to use them as Vanderbilt ran out the clock.
This victory marked the first time that Vanderbilt has ever beaten a ranked Vol team on the road.
SUBSCRIBE TO THE DORE REPORT TODAY – CLICK HERE AND JOIN FOR JUST $1 + a free year of The Athletic
TDR Collab
Visit Nil.Store/DOREREPORT15 and use code DOREREPORT15 at checkout for 15% off your order
Great NIL gear from your favorite Vanderbilt athletes
