For head coach Clark Lea, quarterback Diego Pavia and all of Vanderbilt Football — previously 0-60 against top-five opponents — it was a result out of a dream that from the outside seemed laughably too big, but from the inside … maybe not.
For Alabama, No. 1 and fresh off a thrilling victory against Georgia, it was a nightmare performance that could have postseason implications even here in the expanded 12-team playoff.
Vandy 40, Alabama 35 … and a party in the party town of Nashville.
Lea has slowly built up the Commodores. But four years into his tenure, he was in desperate need of a credibility victory that went beyond what hardcore fans could see. Vandy went 0-8 in SEC play a year ago, after all.
In Pavia, the gritty New Mexico State transfer, he may have found his perfect match — a 6-foot, 210-pound, balled-up fist of fight that saw the vaunted Crimson Tide as an opportunity. How is 16 of 20 for 252 and two touchdowns passing? How is another 57 rushing?
Vanderbilt didn’t just beat Alabama; it bulldozed the Tide. It outgained Alabama (418-394) and out-rushed Alabama (166-84). It converted 12 of 18 third downs and went one-for-one on fourth. Some of them were straight effort plays, runners churning for extra yards.
Vanderbilt dominated time of possession, holding the ball for 42:08. Marinate on that for a second.
“This is a dream …,” Lea said on the SEC Network after. “Too much to express right now. I’m proud of our team. I believe in our team. I believe in what we’re building. There’s more for us than this. This isn’t a finish point but it’s a hell of an arrival.”
This was no fluke. This is what Lea wants Vandy to be and knows it can be. It’ll never have the 5-star appeal of the Tide, but line up and fight and he’ll take his chances.
And that may be the most terrifying part for Alabama.
If it can’t physically dominate Vanderbilt, then can it hold up across the rest of the season? Just a week ago it won an epic clash with Georgia, but it came after giving up a 28-0 lead and required the otherworldly acrobatic talents of freshman Ryan Williams (who was at it again against Vandy).
Is this Tide team — is this Kalen DeBoer team — built for the battles ahead, including what is at least three rounds of playoffs and, perhaps now for Alabama, four?
One of Nick Saban’s greatest traits was getting his team to focus on the task at hand — no matter the opponent, no matter the play, no matter the situation. It’s how he won and won and won, including all four times his Alabama teams played Vanderbilt. They won by a combined 172-13.
“I feel we’ve got a great football team,” DeBoer said. “We weren’t at our best today. We’re going to find out really how much we care about each other.”
With all of Alabama watching for clues.
This is a different Commodore team but also a different Alabama team; looser and more creative offensively. It can be fun. Over the long haul, it should produce a lot of victories. The standards are the standards, though — and watching Vandy storm the field isn’t one of them.
Alabama isn’t done by any means. It is 1-1 in the SEC though, with little margin for error now, and the Tide still has Tennessee and a road game at LSU on the slate. No one knows how the selection committee will factor so-called “bad losses” — that is if 3-2 Vanderbilt winds up closer to .500. Maybe Vandy starts peeling off victories and this doesn’t look so bad. The Tide can only hope.
New coach, new team, new era and new feelings — or at least ones not experienced since before Saban arrived.
How good are these guys? How reliable are these guys? If Vandy can muscle them, what about the Vols and Tigers and so on? Ryan Williams can only be so dominant.
Alabama arrived No. 1 overall. Vandy, after 10 consecutive losses to top-ranked teams, turned its program on its ear with a performance for the ages.
Now it’s Alabama with all the questions, and no one certain of the answers.