Analysis of Vanderbilt's defense in its 45-28 loss to Kentucky.
What went right
Vanderbilt's defense wasn't responsible for all that much on Saturday. Out of the 45 points that Vanderbilt gave up, 21 were a result of turnovers.
The Commodores also didn't allow Kentucky's passing game to completely take over the afternoon. Devin Leary threw for just 205 yards with a completion percentage of just 51.7%.
Vanderbilt also made some splash plays, such as John Howse IV's interception, Issa Ouattara's deflection and Jeffery Ugochukwu's interception that was helped by some pressure from Ethan Barr. Although those plays were largely caused by Kentucky errors.
What went wrong
45 points is 45 points.
Vanderbilt gave up plenty of its points and yardage due to the 10 "big" plays it gave up, those splash plays went for a total of 266.
Another theme that's started to emerge is Vanderbilt's struggles in the run game. Kentucky finished with 160 total yards and an average of 5.2 yards per carry.
Former Vanderbilt back Ray Davis ran for 78 yards and 4.6 yards per carry on his own.
The struggles for Vanderbilt's run defense also go hand in hand with its struggle to put pressure on the quarterback.
Its defensive line put together just three quarterback hits didn't record a sack on Saturday. For much of 2023, the Commodores have only generated pressure off of blitzes or heavy fronts and that continued on Saturday.
Vanderbilt didn't have De'Rickey Wright, Jaylen Mahoney, Langston Patterson, BJ Anderson and Savion Riley for most of Saturday's contest, but that doesn't excuse it.
Defensive MVP: CJ Taylor
Taylor didn't play his best game on Saturday but fired the rest of the roster with some jawing throughout the day. That was evident at halftime when Taylor and Ray Davis got into a back and fourth which helped to spark Vanderbilt out of the half.
Grade: C-
Vanderbilt's defense struggled for most Saturday but battled, got it some momentum and gave up just 366 all-purpose yards on 6.2 yards per play.
"I thought the defense played well enough," Clark Lea said.
The Commodore defense could've been worse, but struggled in the same areas it always has.
