Vanderbilt Commodores Slide in Latest Power Rankings After Loss to LSU Tigers
It was a magical run for the Vanderbilt Commodores this year, but with their second loss in as many games, that magic may have run out.
The Commodores dropped their fifth contest of the year on Saturday to the LSU Tigers, putting their overall record to 6-5 with a conference record of 3-4 with one game left in the regular season.
That game will not be much easier than their previous two, however, as it will come against the Tennessee Volunteers who are ranked seventh in the latest AP Poll.
Speaking of rankings, the latest loss from Vandy saw their stock in the eyes of the media slide a bit, with Chris Vannini of The Athletic dropping the program from 31st last week to 35th in the latest iteration of his college football power rankings.
In fact, Vanderbilt is on a two-game losing streak that began the day after their transfer quarterback Diego Pavia filed a lawsuit against the NCAA to try and receive another year of eligibility.
While these things could seem unrelated on the surface, when diving into the stats, things become much more clear.
In the nine games prior to the lawsuit, the quarterback threw for 1,677 yards with 15 touchdowns and three interceptions on a 62.0% completion percentage with a pass efficiency rating of 151.9, while adding 563 yards and four touchdowns on 146 rushing attempts.
In the two games since the lawsuit, Pavia has thrown for only 352 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions on a 52.7% completion percentage, with a pass efficiency rating of 112.5, while adding 108 yards and two touchdowns on 19 rushing attempts.
Pavia has also been banged up during this time, something that could be causing his numbers to deflate a bit compared to what they were during the earlier portion of the season.
It's hard to be a one-dimensional quarterback that is more effective running the football, and in the SEC, that is especially true with teams needing to be multi-faceted in every aspect of the game to be successful.
When Pavia was performing through the air and on the ground, the Commodores had major success, but now that he has become a bit one-dimensional, the team has lost some of their magic.
Vandy has one game left in the regular season, and a bowl game later in the winter, giving themselves an opportunity to close out a year that has been one of the best in recent program history.
