Five things to watch for: Vanderbilt vs Alabama A&M

Vanderbilt left plenty to be desired in its Saturday night opener but has an opportunity to bounce back in week one against Alabama A&M.

Here are five things to watch for in the Commodores' matchup with Alabama A&M.

Can Vanderbilt run away with this one?

For a multitude of reasons, Vanderbilt just couldn't completely shake Hawaii in its opener. The Commodores led by 21 at one point but gave up 14 fourth-quarter points and had its back against the wall up until Hawaii's last drive.

Coach Clark Lea didn't enjoy seeing that.

"I want to see a certain style of play for an entire 60 minutes, and I thought we weren't able to do that today," the third-year head coach said. "If I was disappointed by anything it was that our energy wained."

Lea should feel that way, his team was significantly more talented than Hawaii but just couldn't put it away. A performance like that doesn't beat many teams on Vanderbilt's schedule.

One of the teams that a performance like that likely would've been good enough against is Alabama A&M, a FCS team that finished 4-7 last season. Just beating Alabama A&M shouldn't be the standard, though. Vanderbilt should be running a team like that off the field.

Doing that against Alabama A&M shouldn't redefine how anyone looks at Vanderbilt's long-term outlook but it would be a natural step in the right direction after a disappointing week zero performance.

So. Let's see it. Let's see Vanderbilt prove that it can outclass a team for 60 minutes.

Does Vanderbilt’s offense have to be one-dimensional again?

Vanderbilt's offense was good enough to get the job done against Hawaii but wasn't good enough to inspire much long-term confidence.

It's hard to have that after a performance that included just 39 rushing yards and an average of 1.5 yards per carry. When factoring out sacks, that number still only becomes 2.82. That's a far cry from the 404 yards that the Commodores put up against the Rainbow Warriors in 2022.

Patrick Smith started things off well with a 21-yard touchdown run on Vanderbilt's opening drive but other than that, Vanderbilt wasn't much of a threat on the ground. The holes weren't there like they needed to be and there weren't many instances of Vanderbilt's backs extending those runs into big plays.

That isn't a sustainable way to run an offense, after all AJ Swann is still a sophomore with just a few conference starts under his belt.

The young quarterback is one of the most talented that Vanderbilt has had in recent memory but can't do it all by himself. Smith along with the rest of Vanderbilt's backfield have to be able to take some of the pressure off of their quarterback.

The trenches

Perhaps the most underwhelming part of Saturday's performance against Hawaii was what happened to Vanderbilt on the line of scrimmage.

It felt as though Lea's team could separate itself through its continuity and physicality on the offensive as well as the defensive line, that was far from the case, though.

The argument could even be made that Vanderbilt lost at the line of scrimmage. That can't happen against Hawaii and it dang sure shouldn't happen against Alabama A&M.

Vanderbilt's week one matchup will provide some insight as to whether its week zero performance was a fluke or whether the line of scrimmage is an area of worry.

Can Vanderbilt avoid giving up the big play?

In Saturday's underwhelming outing against Hawaii it gave up nine passes that went for over 15 yards, six that went for 20 or more, three that went for over 30 yards and two that went for over 40.

Not ideal.

That was a result of Vanderbilt's trouble in the secondary as well as its lack of pressure at times.

Some of that secondary play could improve as time goes on as a result of better communication on the backend or perhaps more reps going to Vanderbilt's younger guys but defensive coordinator Nick Howell's group largely is what it is.

Howell likely doesn't possess a secondary that will ever be the best position group on Vanderbilt's roster but he'll need it to be serviceable. That starts with limiting the big plays like what it gave up on Saturday, particularly through the air.

If Vanderbilt is going to take care of Alabama A&M the way it should, it has to limit big plays in a more significant way than it did on Saturday.

How does Vanderbilt adjust to what Alabama A&M throws at it?

Lea was quick to note the differences between Alabama A&M and an average opponent.

"Alabama A&M in all three phases will be exotic to us," said the third-year head coach. "We will have to adapt our systems to make sure we're blocking what they do."

Lea noted head coach Cornell Maynor's high-tempo offense as well as the "multiple fronts" and "non-traditional special teams" that Alabama A&M will likely show.

Whether Vanderbilt can remain poised enough against looks it hasn't yet seen will determine how large Saturday's score discrepancy really is.