The history wasn't in Vanderbilt's favor on Saturday night.

Clark Lea's team that has made history time and time again this season went into a place that its program hasn't won in since 1959 and looked to defeat a team that it hadn't in the previous nine tries.

On Saturday, LSU fought against becoming a part of that Vanderbilt's season's allure and extended its win streak against Vanderbilt into double digits.

LSU's Saturday win over Vanderbilt looked a lot like the other nine that it's racked up since 1990. It was an example of the more physically imposing team asserting its dominance.

It felt like LSU could do whatever it wanted to in the downfield passing game. It put together nine passes that resulted in 15+ yard gains and ran in two touchdowns as a result of 20+ yard touchdown runs.

LSU's defense seemed to be equally as physically imposing, it allowed Vanderbilt's offense to generate just 245 yards outside of its 63-yard touchdown on the first play of the night. Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia was also hit eight times and while Vanderbilt back Sedrick Alexander ran for just 2.7 yards per carry.

That offense seems to be figured out schematically in some senses despite Vanderbilt having a week to add some wrinkles to its offense.

At the very least, it didn't have enough wrinkles to avoid this being body on body without it having a schematic advantage.

On Saturday that meant trouble for Lea's team.

Perhaps the most troubling part of that is the possibility that a statement like that hasn't been limited to this week.

Even in its wins over the span of the last five weeks, Vanderbilt's offense has grown frustrated with its lack of ability to successfully put up numbers and to establish its identity. The Commodores have averaged just 119.2 rushing yards per game, which would rank second to last in the SEC if it were spanned across the entirety of the season.

The only team that would be below that mark; LSU.

Brian Kelly's team averaged just 115.6 yards on the ground per game, but went for 139 on Saturday on 4.3 yards per carry. That allowed LSU to run 21 more total plays than Vanderbilt and to win the time of possession battle 34:17-25:17.

That crucial stat in the context of Vanderbilt's season, which seemed to always go its way early in the year, has been lost in three of its last four games.

As a result, Vanderbilt has seen its two most decisive losses of 2024 come in back to back weeks and has taken a step back towards earth.

That doesn't mean it's not a team that can beat Tennessee next weekend or be worth celebrating, but it does mean that its blueprint is out and it needs to adjust accordingly.

It means that it's going to have a hard time sneaking up on anybody or pulling some magic out of its hat. As it currently stands, it's no longer the college football world's darling.

It's human and it has to prove itself all over again.

As humans do, Vanderbilt has seemed to wear down over the course of the season. So has its momentum as it's run up on the brunt of its brutal schedule.

Vanderbilt currently seems to sit at a crossroads. Is it closer to the team that's shown up the last two weeks or the team that performed magic against Alabama and Virginia Tech?

That question has a more foggy answer than it seemed to a few weeks ago.