Nashville, TENN--Vanderbilt fell to 5-3 with a 27-24 loss to No. 5 Texas on Saturday, but continued to show that it belongs.

Here's a breakdown of its offense in that matchup.

What went right:

Vanderbilt was out gained significantly throughout the afternoon, but stayed in the game primarily as a result of how it cashed in off of its defenses' turnovers.

Tim Beck's offense scored two touchdowns the two times that it was handed the ball as a result of a turnover. Those two touchdowns both included some magician-ship from Pavia, who ran in an improbable score on third and eight then followed it up with a tightly-squeezed touchdown pass to Junior Sherrill later in the night.

Those two scores raised Vanderbilt's red-zone scoring percentage, which was previously the best in the SEC.

Perhaps Vanderbilt's best offensive asset on Saturday was Pavia's legs, the veteran quarterback ran for 67 yards on 4.2 yards per carry.

What went wrong:

It felt as if Vanderbilt couldn't find a rhythm all night as it faced the SEC's best defense.

The Commodores generated just 269 yards of total offense relative to Texas' 392 on Saturday night while passing for just 155 yards and rushing for just 114.

Vanderbilt has been able to win without standout yardage numbers throughout the year, but it felt near impossible for it to emerge with that outcome as it paired its struggles to move the ball as it turned it over three times.

Saturday's contest saw Vanderbilt turn it over more than it had throughout the entirety of its first seven games combined.

As a result, Vanderbilt also didn't dominate the time of possession like it needed to. Its defense played its best game of the season, but was on the field entirely too often.

Vanderbilt's offense wasn't good enough to get it over the hump on Saturday afternoon.

Grade: C-

A curve is applied for Vanderbilt's competition, which is fairly regarded as the SEC's best defense, but it didn't give it enough of a chance to win against the league's third-best offense.

Vanderbilt wasn't completely incompetent on Saturday, but struggled in ways that it hasn't throughout the entirety of the season. It's still a good group, but it'll have to get back to basics as it prepares for Auburn.

MVP: Junior Sherrill

Sherrill hasn't had the year that was expected from him preseason, but has played his two best games against Vanderbilt's two best opponents.

Sherrill went for 62 yards on five receptions on Saturday and made Vanderbilt's play of the day on a touchdown catch that he caught in traffic. That play gave Vanderbilt some momentum and kept it in the game.

Perhaps Saturday can be a catalyst for Sherrill to become more consistently being involved.