Vanderbilt Alabama
Alabama quarterback Bryce Young (9) warms up before an NCAA college football game against Louisiana-Monroe, Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo/Vasha Hunt)

Vanderbilt Faces Colossal Test at Alabama

Jake Lehman September 23, 2022 College Football, SEC 496 Views

David vs. Goliath? Nope. Just Vanderbilt at Alabama.

This Saturday, the upstart Vanderbilt Commodores will walk into Bryant-Denny Stadium as roughly 40-point underdogs, hoping to shock the world.

Bama Moving Past Early Scare

For Alabama, the proverbial “rat poison” was strong this off-season.

Despite a loss in last season’s title game to Georgia, the Tide entered 2022 as the near-unanimous #1 ranked team.

All the hype in the world means nothing, of course, when the ball is snapped. Alabama learned this quickly two weeks ago at Texas.

Despite entering the game in Austin as 21-point favorites, a heroic 4th quarter effort was needed from Bryce Young for Alabama to escape Austin with a one-point win.

The offense sputtered against Texas, resulting in 6 punts. The most shocking aspect of the effort was Alabama’s 15 penalties – an uncharacteristically sloppy output for a Nick Saban team.

The offensive line struggled to protect Bryce Young against the Texas front, which led to highly-touted true freshman Tyler Booker receiving playing time the following week.

In the eyes of Nick Saban, the freshman impressed and will challenge for starting reps moving forward.

Last week’s game against UL-Monroe was a good get-right spot for Alabama, as they cruised to a 63-7 win. Still, two interceptions from Bryce Young in that game may be some cause for concern.

Promising Start from Vandy

Expectations coming into the season were a bit different for Vanderbilt.

While Alabama was heavily favored to win the conference at SEC Media Days, Vandy was a strong favorite to finish last in the East division. After a 2-10 debut season for Head Coach Clark Lea, it’s understandable.

While SEC play has not begun yet, Vanderbilt’s showing in non-conference play has provided a glimmer of hope, particularly on offense.

In a 3-1 start, the ‘dores are averaging 42 points and 437 yards per game.

There’s a real QB battle as well.

Mike Wright performed swimmingly in opening wins over Hawaii and Elon, but was pulled in favor of 4-star true freshman AJ Swann in a competitive loss to Wake Forest.

In last week’s win over Northern Illinois, Swann was the hero.

Vanderbilt stood strong in the face of adversity, rallying to defeat the Huskies on the road. On the back of that performance, Swann will get the nod against Alabama.

For a team that many expected to win only a game or two, three wins to start the year is significant progress.

The Matchup

While history would suggest a blowout, Nick Saban is not one to overlook any opponent.

In media availability, Alabama’s head coach praised Clark Lea and the progress Vanderbilt has shown in his second year.

The last time these two faced off, it was a fairly similar setup.

In 2017, the Commodores received some early season hype after a 3-0 start and a win over Kansas State.

Fans of both teams likely haven’t forgotten this clip:

What happened next was not pretty for the Commodores.

In a 59-0 shellacking, the Tide outgained Vanderbilt 677-78 in total yards. Then-freshman Tua Tagovailoa was able to flash his abilities late in the blowout.

On Saturday, Vanderbilt fans would likely be pleased with a competitive effort. When you’re building a program back to relevancy in the SEC, so-called “moral victories” are possible.

We’ll see Saturday if Vanderbilt looks like an SEC team under Clark Lea.

The game will be carried by SEC Network, with kickoff at 7:30 ET.

Tags

About Jake Lehman

Check Also

Saban, Belichick and Carroll Leaving Long Time Roles

In just under 24 hours, three legendary coaches are each exiting their long time jobs …

© 2024 WRUF / Division of Multimedia Properties