Motivated Tide tops upstart Vandy in key SEC clash
Alabama outlasts Vandy, 30-14, enacting revenge on Diego Pavia and the ‘Dores
By: Dave in Tuscaloosa
The Alabama revenge tour officially kicked off on Saturday, and how sweet it was.
After listening to Commodore quarterback and folk-hero Diego Pavia’s smack talk leading up to their top 20 tussle with the Crimson Tide, Bama avenged last year’s stunning upset to Vanderbilt by topping the ‘Dores 30-14 in Tuscaloosa. It was an important step in the maturation of a team that, after an opening day loss to Florida State, has improved weekly and now stands at 4-1 overall and 2-0 in the ultracompetitive SEC. Despite the loss, Pavia and the Commodores are off to an impressive start, sitting at 5-1 and 1-1 in conference play.
Coming off last week’s statement win at Georgia, Bama needed to flip the script compared to last season, as the loss in Nashville last October began a gradual downward trend for the Tide that resulted in missing the playoffs. And flip the script they did, calming a vocal Bama fanbase that, after the FSU defeat, foresaw a disastrous 2025 campaign. The last four games, all wins, have started to convince the Tide faithful that Kalen DeBoer may be exactly what he was labeled to be when he took the Tide job…an exceptional coach capable of getting Alabama back on top of the mountain. It's still early in the season, but the signs continue to trend up.
After struggling through a first quarter against Vanderbilt that was slightly reminiscent of last year’s contest, the Tide methodically and calmly established the fact that Alabama is still Alabama. Ty Simpson was, for the most part, sharp again, tossing two touchdown passes, yet he did throw his first interception of the season. He was sacked four times, and on at least two of them, Simpson held onto the ball too long and failed to throw the ball away.
The running game behind Jam Miller finally hit its stride as he eclipsed the century mark and scored his first rushing touchdown of the year. In addition, after giving up 113 yards on the ground in the first quarter, the Bama defense stiffened and allowed only 22 yards on the ground throughout the rest of the game. Furthermore, the defense gave up 14 first-half points and shut out the powerful Vandy offense for the second half.
Leading the way on defense was linebacker Justin Jefferson, who is quietly having a terrific season. Jefferson led the team with 14 total tackles, had the Tide’s lone sack of the day, and caused a late first-quarter Pavia fumble that ended up turning the momentum in Bama’s favor. Pavia, who boasted earlier in the week that if Vandy played their game, the outcome would not be close, struggled against an ever-improving Tide defense. Even though he passed for a respectable 198 yards and added 58 on the ground, his fumble and a fourth-quarter interception proved to be very costly.
The game started off positively for the Tide as on Bama’s opening possession, Simpson marched the offense to the Vandy 29-yard line. Facing 4th & 1, DeBoer and offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb chose to go for it. Vandy’s Martel Hight stepped in front of a Simpson pass meant for tight end Josh Cuevas and recorded an interception. Starting on their own 7-yard line, Pavia and the Commodore offense moved the ball with confidence, and when tailback Sedrick Alexander found a hole on the right side of the Bama line and raced 65 yards for a score, memories of the ’24 upset could be felt throughout the stadium. Fear spread rapidly as Bama took the ensuing kickoff and after their drive stalled at the Vandy 28, Bama placekicker Conor Talty missed from 47 yards out.
Pavia proceeded to march the Commodores right back down the field, and after he connected with Richie Hoskins for a 15-yard completion at the 2:27 mark of the opening quarter, the ‘Dores found themselves with a first down at the Tide 13-yard line, ready to break the game open early. After two incompletions, the play of the game occurred on 3rd down, as Pavia stepped up in the pocket and headed straight towards the Bama goal line. Jefferson caught the Vandy quarterback from behind and ripped the ball away. Bama recovered on its own 8-yard line, and the Tide began to turn.
Led by the strong running of Jam Miller and a few clutch passes from Simpson, the Tide offense finished the drive when he found Ryan Williams in the endzone from 14 yards out at the 9:22 mark of the second quarter to draw Bama even at seven. After holding the Vandy offense for the first time in the contest, Bama was unable to move the ball, and after a sack, a 1-yard run, and an incompletion, the Tide’s only punt of the day traveled just 30 yards and set Pavia and the Vandy offense up at the Alabama 38-yard line.
10 plays later, a shovel pass from Pavia to Alexander from four yards out gave the Commodores a 14-7 lead with just 1:33 left in the half. During Vanderbilt’s scoring drive, DeBoer used all three of his timeouts to preserve time on the clock for his offense. In perhaps Alabama’s most impressive and important drive of the young season, Simpson was sharp as he led the Tide offense on a six-play, 78-yard scoring drive that culminated in him finding an open Germie Bernard streaking down the right sidelines. Simpson delivered a perfect ball from 27 yards out, and Bama entered halftime all even at 14 and with tangible momentum.
Vandy received the second half kickoff, and after Pavia completed a 15-yard pass on first down, the Bama defense stiffened and forced a punt three plays later. Simpson and the Tide offense took over where they left off in the second quarter, methodically marching down to the Vandy 17. Although the drive stalled, Talty nailed his first field goal of the game from 38 yards out to give Alabama its first lead of the day, 17-14, at the 9:15 mark of the third quarter. Knowing Pavia’s ability to carve defenses to the bone, the Byant-Denney faithful remained on edge; however, the Bama D came up big and forced Vandy into its first three-and-out of the afternoon.
Bama took over at its own 12 and on the shoulders of a 30-yard Simpson to freshman Lotzeir Brooks completion, the Tide found themselves deep in Commodore territory at the 11-yard line. The Vandy defense sacked Simpson on first down, pushing the Bama O back to the 20. The Tide made up some ground on the next few plays and advanced to the Vandy 12, where Talty would hit his second field goal of the day to increase Alabama’s lead to 20-14 with 1:17 left in the third quarter.
Entering into the fourth quarter, Vanderbilt threatened to retake the lead as Pavia marched the Commodore offense to the Tide 20 with 12:37 to go in the contest. However, Tide safety Keon Sabb stepped in front of a Pavia pass and picked it off, killing a promising drive. Bama took over at its own 17 and marched 69 yards in 16 plays, taking an impressive 8:29 off the clock. Even though the drive stalled again, Talty would hit from 30 yards to make it a two-possession game, 23-14, with 4:08 remaining.
Unlike 2024, the Bama defense once again stood up, and when Pavia missed Eli Stower on fourth down at the Vandy 28 with 1:18 to play, the Tide faithful could taste revenge. Jam Miller finished off his 22-carry, 136-yard afternoon by scoring from 20 yards out to close the scoring. Simpson ended the day with another impressive stat line, throwing for 340 yards on a 23/31 afternoon. Pavia’s stats weren’t bad, as he passed for 198 yards and completed 21 of 35 passes, yet they also did not live up to his bravado from earlier in the week.
Bama’s receiving corps is rounding out to be amongst the nation’s best, as Simpson once again distributed the ball well, hitting 8 different pass catchers. Ryan Williams, plagued recently with the drops, did not drop a single pass against the Commodores and ended the day leading the pack with 6 catches for 98 yards and a touchdown. Germie Bernard (5-82-1) and Isiah Horton (4-66) continued their excellent seasons with solid games as well. For the Commodores, Sedrick Alexander led the way on the ground, picking up 76 yards on just four carries (the bulk coming on his 65-yard touchdown run in the first quarter) while Junior Sherrill led the way in the air, corralling six passes for 49 yards for the ‘Dores.
Coming off Bama’s impressive win over Georgia last week, it was critical that the Tide show that lessons learned from last season would actually stick, and on Saturday, they did. The Tide is shaping up to be a very different squad than DeBoer’s first Bama team. They are not only playing harder than last year’s unit, but the discipline, balance, and execution have taken huge strides this season as well. Bama finds itself recovered from week one’s debacle, and they are back in the national polls where they started at #8.
With a huge challenge next week on the road against unbeaten and 14th-ranked Missouri, followed by the annual Third Saturday in October clash at home against the 12th-ranked Volunteers of Tennessee, Bama has the chance to fully break out of the shadow of ’24 and position itself as a legitimate SEC and national championship contender.
