Vanderbilt Commodores Fall Just Short of Another Historic Win Against Longhorns
While the Vanderbilt Commodores kept this one close again, they didn't have enough chaos for their second Top 25 win in school history.
The Commodores fell 27-24 to the Texas Longhorns, falling just short of another historic win.
Not to sound like a broken record from over the past couple of weeks, but this was another gutsy performance from do-it-all quarterback Diego Pavia.
"Pavia ran out of magic," was an unfortunately accurate call from the broadcast, however. The team failed to convert a clutch fourth down that led to the fan-favorite hoisting one up that ended up being an easy interception for the Longhorns defense.
It wasn't a day in which he filled up the stat sheet, but he battled through a knee injury to get back onto the field.
After entering the game with just one interception on the season, the senior quarterback ended up throwing to in this one.
The second one led to the dagger touchdown which put Texas ahead by two scores with under two minutes to go.
The time of possession in this one was much more favored to how the Longhorns typically win games. Vanderbilt has normally kept their matchups close this season with long methodical drives and keeping the ball out of their opponents' hands. It was much more even in this one.
That could have been the difference between a victory and defeat, however.
There was a long stretch in this one where Quinn Ewers completed 17 straight passes. That's when Texas built up the 21-7 lead that made this look like it was starting to get out of hand.
It's hard to compete whenever you cannot stop the opposing team's quarterback from completing a pass.
The defense does deserve some shine for their role in this one, though, as they were disruptive enough to keep it close while the offense was struggling to put points up on the board.
Sophomore linebacker Bryan Longwell led the team in tackles yet again, already entering the day with a nine-tackle lead for the season totals. He didn't bring Ewers down in this one but shined in run defense.
In terms of sacks, fellow sophomore linebacker Randon Fontenette was the most impactful. He played a part in bringing down the Longhorns passer on two separate plays, as well as breaking up a pass to boot.
Next up for the Commodores is a matchup with the Auburn Tigers.
Dylan Sanders graduated from Louisiana State University with a degree from the Manship School of Mass Communication in 2023. He was born in raised in Baton Rouge, LA but has also lived in Buffalo, NY. Though he is a recent graduate, he has been writing about sports since he was in high school, covering different sports from baseball to football. While in college, he wrote for the school paper The Reveille and for 247Sports. He was able cover championships in football, baseball and women's basketball during his time at LSU. He has also spent a few years covering the NFL draft and every day activities of the New Orleans Saints. He is a Senior Writer at Inside the Marlins and will also be found across Sports Illustrated's baseball sites as a contributing writer. You can follow him on Twitter or Instagram @dillysanders