Game 5: No. 1/2 Alabama (4-0, 1-0 SEC) vs. Vanderbilt (2-2, 0-1 SEC)
When: Saturday, Oct. 5 • 3:15 p.m. CT
Where: FirstBank Stadium • Nashville, Tenn.
Watch: SEC Network (Tom Hart, Cole Cubelic and Alyssa Lang)
Listen: 94.9 The Fan (Andrew Allegretta, Norman Jordan and Kevin Ingram)
NEXT UP
• Vanderbilt hosts top-ranked Alabama on Saturday with the action airing on SEC Network.
• Saturday’s contest will mark Vanderbilt’s 11th game all-time against a team ranked No. 1 in the AP Poll. The Commodores hosted top-ranked Georgia last season and faced the No. 1 Bulldogs in 2022 to give Vanderbilt a top-ranked opponent in each of the last three campaigns.
• With Alabama entering the weekend ranked top-10 in both polls, Vanderbilt will be facing its ninth top-10 opponent under head coach Clark Lea (since 2021) and second in as many games after falling in double overtime at No. 7/8 Missouri on Sept. 21.
• Saturday’s game will be the 86th meeting between the two sides since 1903.
• Vanderbilt will be looking for its first-ever win over a top-ranked opponent and first win over Alabama since 1993.
LAST TIME OUT
• Vanderbilt took No. 7/8 Missouri to two overtimes on Sept. 21 before falling to the Tigers, 30-27.
• The Commodores’ defense posted eight tackles for loss, the second time this season with at least eight.
• Joseph McVay caught a 65-yard pass from Pavia, his first career catch and the Dores’ longest play of the season.
• Diego Pavia finished with 14 completions off 23 attempts and two touchdowns for 178 yards, his third game this season with 100- plus passing yards. It is also the third time this season he has finished with at least two passing touchdowns.
• Gabe Fisher caught his first career touchdown off his first career reception to boost Vandy in overtime.
• Brock Taylor connected for a program-record 57-yard field goal in the closing seconds of the first half. Taylor is now 2-for-3 on 50- plus yard field goals this season.
• Vandy has played two overtime games already this season, the most since 1998.
SIGNAL CALLERS WITH SPEED
• Diego Pavia’s 279 rushing yards this year are already the 24th-most in a season by a Vanderbilt quarterback (since 1965) and 10th-most since 1996.
• At his current pace of 69.8 rushing yards per game, the best mark by a Commodore QB since at least 1996, he would finish the regular season with a quarterback school-record 837 rushing yards.
• Chris Nickson owns the current single-season mark for a QB with 694 rushing yards in 2006.
• Pavia’s performance marks the 57th time a Commodore quarterback has eclipsed 100 rushing yards in a season since 1965.
• Nate Johnson is currently 24 yards away from joining the list. It would be the 14th time Vanderbilt had two 100-yard rushers at the quarterback position in the same season since 1965 and the first time in over a decade. It last happened in 2013 with Patton Robinette (214 yards) and Austyn Carta-Samuels (115 yards).
• Vanderbilt has had a quarterback reach 100 rushing yards in all four seasons under Clark Lea after not having a signal-caller reach 100 rushing yards in the previous five seasons.
SPECIAL PLAYS, SPECIAL PLAYERS
• Vanderbilt leads the SEC and ranks 10th in FBS with 21.3 yards per punt return.
• Vanderbilt’s special teams efficiency of 67.2 ranks 24th among FBS programs according to ESPN’s FPI.
• In the win over Alcorn State, Martel Hight became the first Dore with 100-plus punt return yards since Jonathan Krause on Nov. 24, 2012 at Wake Forest (110 yards). Hight’s punt return for a touchdown was the first since Krause’s in that contest.
• Hight is now the first Commodore to have 100-plus punt return yards in a season since the 2019 campaign, reaching the mark in just two games.
• Jesse Mirco totaled 111 yards on just two punts in the win over Alcorn State and is averaging 44.8 yards per punt on the season. Mirco’s 69-yard punt vs. Alcorn State is tied for the sixth-longest punt in FBS this season.
• Brock Taylor drilled a program-record 57-yard field goal at Missouri on Sept. 21. Taylor has two makes of 50 or more yards this season.
WEEK 2 SHUTOUT
• Vanderbilt blanked Alcorn State 55-0 on Sept. 7 to move to 2-0 on the season. It was Clark Lea’s third career shutout as a defensive coordinator and first since his 2020 Notre Dame defense held South Florida scoreless.
• The 55 points scored were the most since a 63-10 win at Hawai’i to open the 2022 season.
• The defensive unit held Alcorn State to just 71 total yards. The last time Vandy held its opponent to under 100 yards was against Chattanooga in 2003, with the Mocs generating just 93 yards.
• Vanderbilt held the Braves to just 40 rushing yards after holding Virginia Tech to 75 rushing yards, marking the first time since 2017 that Vandy limited its opponent under 100 rushing yards in back-to-back games (at Middle Tennessee and against Alabama A&M).
• Vandy’s offense closed the first half with a field goal, giving the Commodores a score on all five possessions in the first half.
• The win was the largest margin of victory since Vandy defeated Presbyterian 58-0 on Sept. 17, 2012.
WEEK 1 THRILLER
• Diego Pavia accounted for three touchdowns and posted 294 total yards of offense to lead Vanderbilt to a 34-27 win over Virginia Tech in overtime to open the 2024 season.
• The Commodores have won three consecutive season openers as Vanderbilt collected its first victory over a team receiving votes since Nov. 12, 2022, when the Dores knocked off RV/24 Kentucky at Kroger Field.
• Vandy scored on its first three offensive possessions to take a 17-0 lead. It marked the first time since 2017 that the Dores scored on their first three possessions to open a campaign.
• The win was Vandy’s first overtime contest under head coach Clark Lea.
TWO-AND-O
• For the first time since World War II, Vanderbilt won its first two games in three consecutive seasons. The last such streak of 2-0 starts came from 1941-43.
• The 1941 team opened with five straight victories before finishing 8-2. In 1942, the Commodores won three straight to begin the year and finished 6-4. The 1943 team played just five games due to World War II and won all five games.
• From 1956-58, the Commodores were not defeated over their first two games each year. The 1956 team opened 3-0, in 1957 the Dores started with a tie followed by a win and another tie, then in 1958, Vandy again began 3-0.
• Clark Lea is the first Vanderbilt head coach to win the first two games three consecutive seasons since Ray Morrison did it four consecutive seasons from 1935-38.
