Alabama enters this week riding high off its statement 31-13 road win over then-No. 14 LSU Saturday night, rising to No. 3 in the College Football Playoff rankings.
The Crimson Tide (7-2, 5-2 Southeastern Conference) must return to the location where they reached the low point of Kalen DeBoer’s tenure when they visit Vanderbilt on Saturday afternoon in Nashville, Tenn.
This is Alabama’s first trip there since the No. 1 Crimson Tide lost 40-35 at Vanderbilt on Oct. 5, 2024.
“Everyone kind of has their own kind of way they look at each game,” DeBoer said, reflecting back on that loss. “And obviously, my job as the head coach is to take those experiences — the good, the bad, the ugly — to always apply them and make sure that we’re better because of it. And so, that’s what we’ll do.”
Vanderbilt isn’t in as strong as that 2024 squad. The Commodores (4-5, 1-5) snapped a five-game losing streak with a 25-23 road win over Mississippi State last Saturday.
Alabama avenged the loss with a 30-14 home defeat of Vanderbilt last season. But DeBoer told his team the 2024 game was a valuable lesson not to take any game lightly.
“Reset, do it again,” DeBoer said. “… It starts all over. None of the plays, none of the stops, none of the points carry over.”
The LSU game wasn’t the Alabama defense’s best performance of the season. The Tigers outgained the Crimson Tide 457-285 and crossed midfield on each of their first seven drives.
However, the defense came through in clutch situations, allowing just 10 points in four red-zone trips and forcing four turnovers on downs.
That covered up a rushing attack which has seen its production fall off of late. After Alabama ran for 124-plus yards in each of its first six games, the Crimson Tide haven’t reached the 80-yard mark on the ground in any of the last three games.
It appeared Vanderbilt was going to end its losing streak with ease when it jumped ahead of Mississippi State 16-0 at halftime. However, that lead was cut to 16-14 less than five minutes into the second half, and the Commodores needed to stop a two-point conversion attempt that would have tied the game with 32 seconds left to survive.
Struggling to finish drives was a big part of this problem. While Vanderbilt scored on all five of its red-zone trips, four of those were field goals. Brock Taylor was a perfect 6-of-6 on field goals — including a pair of 54-plus yarders — to help the Commodores get over the finish line.
Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea knows it’ll have to be a cleaner product to have a chance this week.
“We’ve learned some lessons, and this Saturday will be about have we mastered those lessons,” Lea said. “Can we protect the ball? Can we make the available play? Can we be a resilient team, and be three phases interlocked? If we can do that, we can win.”
Freshman quarterback Jared Curtis threw for 168 yards against the Bulldogs, his fewest since the first game of the season. However, it was also his first interception-free game since Sept. 12 against Delaware.
He was aided last week by Vanderbilt rushing for 160 yards — its most in an FBS game this season — to boost a rushing attack which ranks next-to-last among SEC teams at 112.1 yards per game.
“Alabama’s got a great run front. These guys are big and physical, but this has got to be about who Vanderbilt is, what our identity is,” Lea said. “It’s not always going to be pretty, but we got to commit to (the run game). …That takes a ton of pressure off the quarterback.”