No. 9 Vanderbilt suffered its second loss of the season Saturday with a 34-31 loss to No. 20 Texas.
Texas got off to a fast start against the Vanderbilt defense and did not look back. It all started with the first play of the game. Texas quarterback Arch Manning passed it to Ryan Wingo behind the line of scrimmage, and Wingo evaded tackle attempts and took it all the way to the end zone for a touchdown.
On Vanderbilt’s first possession, Diego Pavia fumbled the ball while pulling a handoff away from running back Sedrick Alexander and Texas scored a field goal to make it 10-0 early. The Longhorns then were able to make it 17-0 off another touchdown drive that ended in a touchdown from Texas running back CJ Baxter.
Vanderbilt found a way to cut it to a 24-10 game right before halftime off a Pavia touchdown pass to Eli Stowers, but Texas made it 31-10 from a 93-yard touchdown drive at the 9-minute mark in the third quarter.
Overall, it just was not Vanderbilt’s day from the outset. Missed tackles from the Vanderbilt defense created explosive plays and touchdowns for Texas while penalties from the Vanderbilt offense created plenty of issues for Pavia and his teammates to move the ball down the field. The lack of a running game from Vanderbilt also contributed to the problems on offense all day for the Commodores.
Vanderbilt was able to score 21 points in the 4th quarter and made the game close. But at the end of the day, Vanderbilt barely missed recovering the onside kick and the valiant comeback fell short.
With the loss, Vanderbilt drops to 7-2, but not all is lost. The Commodores still could win out and end the season 10-2 and likely get a spot in the College Football Playoff. However, today’s loss does make Vanderbilt’s path to the SEC Championship game very hard. The Commodores of course would need to win out and hope for plenty of chaos at the top.
“I mean, obviously a really disappointing performance for us. I don’t think we played well. I respect the way we fought back. I respect the way we never quit on the game. I’m not surprised by that. That’s who we are. I despise the way we started the game. I think Texas played hard, mechanical football. And this is the feeling of one team wanting it more than the other. And I think there’s accountability that starts with me, with respect to being prepared when the ball gets put down. I felt they had more emotional energy and passion to start the game. Thought we were chasing the game down,” Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea said.