Vanderbilt Commodores Offensive Line Must Improve Against Tennessee Front
As much as Vanderbilt needs to focus on slowing down Tennessee on offense, they also need to worry about a stout Volunteers defensive front.
The Commodores offensive line has had some trouble protecting their quarterback and opening up lanes in the run game this season, so they will need to come up with something different if they want to change the results against Tennessee this weekend.
In previewing the rivalry week matchup, Pro Football Focus' Dalton Wasserman and Max Chadwick highlighted that side of the ball as something that could decide the game.
Diego Pavia doesn't actually go down that much.
Vanderbilt is tied for No. 26 in the country in sacks allowed at 14 overall.
That is mostly thanks to Pavia's ability to make things happen in the middle of the plays and escape the pocket. He deals with a fair bit of pressure, especially coming from the edges. Both starting tackles have allowed 20 or more pressures this season.
The star quarterback is actually fairly productive when facing pressure, at least compared to the drop-off that most signal callers face.
He is put under pressure on 40.3% of his dropbacks, virtually every time the opposing team blitzes. He has completeed 40% of his passes on those plays for 474 yards with six touchdowns and two interceptions.
It isn't a great completion rate, but he doesn't turn the ball over and doesn't let them turn into sacks. That's about all teams can ask for from a college passer.
Thanks to the low sack numbers, the Commodores ranked No. 21 overall with 4.36 tackles for a loss allowed per game.
As for the Volunteers defense, they rank tied for No. 43 in total sacks with 26 and tied for sixth in total tackles for a loss with eight per game.
James Pearce Jr. is the player to highlight for Vanderbilt on that side of the ball, needing to commit everything to stop him.
He is one of the top NFL draft prospects in college right now, and for good reason, since he's one of the best pass rushers in the country and is solid against the run.
His 49 total pressures this season rank fifth among individual edge rushers.
The Commodores faced a lot of pressure in last week's loss to the LSU Tigers, allowing 17 in that game alone. Though Pavia was only brought down twice, he was not able to get any positive momentum going.
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