Next up on the schedule for No. 10 Alabama is the Vanderbilt Commodores, the No. 16-ranked team in the country.
The Alabama Crimson Tide secured a major 24-21 win over No. 5 Georgia on Saturday, reminiscent of 2024’s shootout with the Bulldogs that Alabama won 41-34.
The Commodores are hot, as this is the first time that they’ve been ranked for consecutive weeks since 2008, and it’s in major thanks to quarterback Diego Pavia.
Pavia played a major role in Vanderbilt’s 40-35 upset over No. 1 Alabama in Nashville last year, and it came the week after the Crimson Tide beat Georgia in Bryant-Denny Stadium.
One year later, Alabama is in a similar spot as it is coming off a big win against Georgia, and is now looking forward to facing a lower-ranked Vanderbilt team.
A couple of things are different this year, though, specifically how this time around the game will be a Top-25 matchup with national attention and College Gameday coming to town.
Along with that, the Crimson Tide will get the privilege to host the Commodores this year. But this time around, Alabama is led by a new quarterback with a new offensive coordinator.
“You’ve got to reload mentally, physically, emotionally to during the week get prepared at the highest level you possibly can and go play ball,” head coach Kalen DeBoer said. “Physically, it’s going to be a battle and mentally, you’ve got to be ready to respond, we didn’t handle success last year well.”
Contain Pavia
Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack left many fans upset with the defense’s performance and play calling after last year’s game at Vanderbilt, which consisted of an inability to stop option plays and quarterback-designed runs.
“I thought we improved last season as the year went on in terms of the lack of discipline, particularly in the quarterback read game,” Wommack said. “So when you look at option-style football, there’s a sequence of reads that go on from the quarterback position that he’s looking from this position to that position. If your eyes and feet are not in the right place, then all of the rest of the play breaks down.”
The issue is that Pavia is playing on a new and improved level this year, and he thrives under pressure, which is why the Alabama defense needs to create less of that.
Wommack can often get a little heavy-handed when calling blitzes, and that can often lead to big plays, whether it be through the air or on the ground.
Pavia is running the ball less this year, but he’s doing it more effectively. Instead of attacking him through blitzes, Wommack just needs to contain him.
Quarterback contains, fewer rushers and quarterback spies could be the game changer, as creating pressure will just force him to improvise and scramble, which is an area he excels in.
If the defense can lock the Vanderbilt receivers up, then it will force mistakes. It may also result in some scramble attempts, but spies, contain and low zone coverage could eliminate big plays.
“We cannot allow four, five, six explosive plays to dictate how the rushing game went which is exactly how it went at Georgia the other night, if you look at those six explosive plays that we gave up,” Wommack said.
Cover the middle
Pavia has been running the ball more effectively this year, already rushing for about 37% of his total yards from last year on just about 25% of his total rushes.
The improvement also translates to the running backs as well. Starting running back Sedrick Alexander, who’s increased his average yards per carry by almost two yards.
Vanderbilt likes power runs up the middle and inside zones, which could be something that it changes against the Crimson Tide, but is something Alabama needs to prepare for.
Alabama doesn’t need to blitz to stop the run. All it needs to do is be ready for it and have the personnel in the position to stop it.
With spies and certain zone coverage, Alabama could still be in a position to contain Pavia, while still being in a position to defend the run, but also prevent the pass.
In just five games, Pavia has already completed more than half of the passes he completed last year, and yet he’s attempted less than half of what he attempted last year. As it stands so far, he’s increased his completion percentage by 15.2%.
This is in big part due to his increased ability to hit the deep ball. He can hit his receivers all over the field; however, the Vanderbilt offense favors the middle of the field.
Similar to the Alabama offense, Pavia frequently targets his receivers mid-range in the middle of the field, which allows for big gains. Alabama will need to take that away from him.
If the Alabama defense can manage to contain Pavia and eliminate Vanderbilt’s opportunities to throw over or run through the middle, then the Crimson Tide will see success.
Let Ty Simpson ball
As for Alabama’s offense, there’s not much it needs to change up.
Vanderbilt has the No. 55 pass defense in terms of average pass yards allowed per game. Its rush defense is better, but the Crimson Tide favors the air attack anyway.
Alabama currently has the No. 10-ranked passing offense, as it averages about 321 pass yards per game due to quarterback Ty Simpson’s lethal accuracy.
Jam Miller also returned for the game against Georgia and proved to be a difference maker. He was the leading rusher and played a major role in Alabama’s win in Athens.
The Alabama offense needs to ensure that it doesn’t lose momentum and can continue to execute come game time on Saturday against the Commodores.
The game will kick off at 2:30 p.m. CT, and fans can tune in from home on ABC.
