Nashville, TENN – Clark Lea’s Commodores fought Texas tooth and nail, to the final whistle. The final score on West End was 27-24, but there were positives to take away from tonight. Despite four sacks and two interceptions on Quinn Ewers, the Vanderbilt offense wasn’t able to do enough on the vaunted Longhorn defense. For the defense though, the 4th quarter effort was enough to keep the Commodores in the game. Here’s how they graded out.

What went right:

On Texas’ first drive and Quinn Ewers’ first pass, Langston Patterson appeared to tip the ball at the line of scrimmage and Martel Hight was there for the interception. That set the offense up in Texas territory early. That was the early momentum Vandy needed.

With just under 9:00 to play in the 1st half, Nick Rinaldi sacked Quinn Ewers on third down, halting a penalty-filled drive from the Longhorns. That was another strong drive from Texas, but two penalties helped to stop Ewers and Company.

With under 1:00 to play in the 1st half, Randon Fontenette came up with a huge sack of Quinn Ewers, giving the ball back to the Vanderbilt offense at the 35-yard line after the punt. Thanks to that Fontenette sack, the Commodores were able to get in position for Brock Taylor’s 54-yard field goal to close the half.

Midway through the 3rd quarter, Randon Fontenette tipped a Quinn Ewers pass that was caught by Miles Capers for an interception. That led to a miraculous TD pass from Diego Pavia to Junior Sherrill, cutting the Texas lead to 24-17. That was Ewers’ 2nd interception of the day, both led to Commodores touchdowns.

On Texas’ next offensive possession, Randon Fontenette drew a holding call on Texas and then, Khordae Sydnor sacked Quinn Ewers on 3rd down. Despite what the stat sheet shows, this defense made just enough plays to keep Vandy in the game.

With 9:16 to play, Vandy’s defense forced a 3rd and 19, but Quinn Ewers found Silas Bolden wide open in the middle of the field to convert the first down. That was a backbreaker. Later in the drive though, Vandy forced two straight incomplete passes from Ewers to give the ball back to the offense with 8:10 to play.

What went wrong:

On Texas’ second drive, they marched 75 yards down the field in 9 plays to tie the game at 7-7 with 5:37 left in the 1st half. Quinn Ewers quickly got it out of his hands on about every throw, capping the drive on a one-handed grab from Matthew Golden in the endzone. The Commodores’ defense was out-flanked too many times while Steve Sarkisian simply allowed his playmakers to make plays in space.

Then, on the third Texas possession, the Longhorns took advantage of a short field after a nice punt return as Ewers found DeAndre Moore for a 27-yard touchdown. Dontae Carter was the slot corner on the play and was isolated in 1-on-1 coverage with no safety help. Texas’ offense played to its strengths in the 1st quarter, but was also aided by poor punt coverage from the Commodores.

With 5:04 to play in the 1st half, Quinn Ewers capped a quick 59-yard drive with another touchdown pass to DeAndre Moore. At this point, the Commodores’ defense was at risk to give up a chunk play on almost every snap. To keep that drive alive on 3rd down, Ewers fit a perfect pass in the middle of the field to TE Gunnar Helm that led to his third touchdown on the day.

In Texas’ first drive of the 2nd half, the Commodore defense didn’t offer much resistance at all. The tackling was atrocious and Texas realized that, as they consistently put their playmakers in space with room to run. To end the drive though, Miles Capers and Randon Fontenette combined for a sack on Quinn Ewers, forcing Texas to kick a field goal. The Commodores bent on that drive, but didn’t break, which is Clark Lea’s exact formula every week.

To ice the game, Texas drove down 24 yards down the field after Pavia’s interception, but the Commodores held to a field goal to make it 27-17 with 2:00 to play.

Defensive MVP: Randon Fontenette

The Texas native finished with 8 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, and 1.5 sacks. That was his best individual performance of the season and proved why he was a huge portal pickup in the offseason.

Final grade: B-