Oct. 8, 2016
By Zac Ellis
VUCommodores.com
LEXINGTON, Ky. – When Vanderbilt ventured to the halftime locker room at Commonwealth Stadium on Saturday, it faced a familiar dilemma: an early double-digit deficit, this time 17-3 against Kentucky.
On the road in the SEC, an uphill battle can quickly become insurmountable. Indeed, the Commodores finished just short in a 20-13 loss to the Wildcats on Saturday. How short? One fourth-down, goal-line incompletion short of a huge SEC road win. And while several factors led to Vanderbilt’s most recent setback, head coach Derek Mason pinpointed his team’s slow start almost immediately in his postgame press conference.
“We dug a hole for ourselves early,” Mason said.
That refrain is hardly a new tune in the ears of Commodore fans. Mason knows early deficits do no favors for his offense. But for all the details that Vanderbilt can fine-tune, perhaps none is as important as dictating the early tone of games. Had the ‘Dores done that Saturday, they might have departed Lexington with a win.
“We can’t afford to get behind and play catch-up football,” Mason said. “We’ve got to start faster, and we keep talking about it.”
A quick look at the first half of Vanderbilt’s season offers several examples of lackluster starts. In Week 2, it trailed MTSU 10-5, coming alive only after a lengthy rain delay and winning, 47-24. Two weeks later the Commodores fell behind 14-0 at Western Kentucky before ultimately rallying to win 31-30 in overtime. And just last week against Florida, Mason’s crew let the Gators’ defense control early tempo in an eventual 13-6 win.
But despite slow starts in several contests, the Commodores have found themselves in game-tying or game-winning situations in the fourth quarter of all three SEC losses this year. What does that mean? It means Vanderbilt knows how to bounce back from adversity, if not yet all the way. The question is, what happens if this program turns things on early in games, instead of late? The ‘Dores aren’t yet known for playing a full four quarters. If they did, it’s fascinating to consider what this program might look like.
Solving that problem for Vanderbilt is another story, and the issue resonates in all three phases of its game. Quarterback Kyle Shumur and the offense must find a rhythm in their first few possessions. The ‘Dores’ defense must tighten up, and special teams must limit its own mistakes. Against Kentucky, safety Ryan White fumbled an early punt return that the Wildcats ultimately recovered. Instead of the ‘Dores driving from midfield for a go-ahead score, Kentucky turned the takeaway into a 14-3 lead in the second quarter. In no time at all, Vanderbilt found itself playing catch-up in an SEC road environment.
Miscues like that can define a game in the early moment. The good news is, the Commodores have learned how to come together when adversity strikes. “We try to stay positive and lift each other up,” defensive lineman Adam Butler said, “because if you don’t, things can roll downhill, and we don’t want that.”
But no team can sustain a come-from-behind approach for the duration of an SEC schedule. Going forward, Vanderbilt must harness that same energy at the beginning of games. Its three SEC losses have come by a combined 17 points, and in all three games the ‘Dores have had late chances to alter that trajectory. The next step is altering that trajectory before the fourth quarter kicks off.
In those moments, details matter. That’s why Mason harped on the little things in speaking to his team on Saturday night.
“I think execution, more than anything else, is keeping us from being the football team we need to be,” Mason.
The Commodores have been a band of comeback kids for much of 2016. But if this team learns to execute sooner rather than later, the season’s second half could look very different from the first.