NCAAF

Alabama Crimson Tide at Vanderbilt Commodores

· NCAA - Football
4-1, 1-1 Away
Final
35 - 40

Vanderbilt takes down No. 1 Alabama 40-35 in historic college football victory

Donuts, chains and standing ovations for Vandy following win vs. Bama

Then they toted the goal post just over a couple miles and tossed it into the Cumberland River.

Their school's historic win over No. 1 Alabama deserved to be celebrated this way.

Sedrick Alexander ran for two touchdowns, Randon Fontenette scored on a pick-six and Diego Pavia outplayed Heisman Trophy candidate Jalen Milroe as Vanderbilt stunned Alabama 40-35 on Saturday for the Commodores' first win over the nation's top-ranked team.

Vanderbilt (3-2, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) had lost all 60 games against AP top-five teams, according to SportRadar. The Commodores hadn't beaten Alabama on the field in 40 years, but they snapped a 23-game skid making big play after big play to give coach Clark Lea his alma mater's biggest win ever.

“This is the dream, right here,” Lea said. "And for the next 12 hours, I’m going to enjoy the dream. We’ve got more ahead of us, but this is what Vanderbilt football needs to be about: Big wins on big stages. We’re going to go get some more.”

The Commodores scored the first 13 points and took a 16-point lead that was their largest ever over the No. 1 team in the country. Only Jam Miller running for his second TD just before halftime trimmed that to 23-14.

Alabama had just moved to the top of the AP Top 25 last week after a win over then-No. 2 Georgia. It'll be a short stay, and first-year coach Kalen DeBoer said it's back to work for a team that wasn't at its best Saturday.

“We’re going to find out really how much we care about each other and what it looks like moving forward,” DeBoer said. "We’ve been tested in different ways really a lot of the games here this season, and this is a different type of test now in our response.”

Alexander capped the game's opening drive with a 7-yard TD to put Vandy ahead to stay. It marked the first time since 2007 that Vandy had opened a game against Alabama with a TD, the last time being Nick Saban’s second game as coach.

The Tide (4-1, 1-1) helped Vanderbilt pad that lead with too many mistakes, sloppy play and penalties.

Alabama got to 30-28 with Milroe's 58-yard TD pass to Ryan Williams.

The Commodores answered with 10 points. Of their total, 13 came off Milroe's two turnovers, the second a strip sack by Miles Capers recovered by Yilanan Ouattara at midfield.

Pavia capped the drive with a 6-yard TD pass to Alabama native Kamrean Johnson with 5:07 left for a 40-28 lead. Milroe tried to rally Alabama, with Williams scoring on an end around on fourth-and-1 from 2 yards out with 2:46 left.

Vanderbilt fans and players started celebrating as Pavia knelt down to run out the clock.

“Games like this change your life,” Pavia said.

Milroe had his second pass of the game tipped into the air by De’Rickey Wright, who committed to Alabama and wound up at Vanderbilt. Fontenette grabbed the ball and ran 24 yards to the end zone for the pick-six and a 13-0 lead at 8:03 of the first quarter.

Vanderbilt jumped out to a 23-7 lead, just the second time in the last 10 seasons that a No. 1 team trailed an unranked opponent by 16 or more points.

Vanderbilt never trailed as the Commodores played keep-away, holding the ball for just over 42 minutes. Alabama had a 312-252 yardage advantage on offense. It didn’t matter with Vandy converting 12 of 18 on third downs wearing down the Tide defense.

Alabama linebacker Deontae Lawson said it's early and everything remains in front of the Tide.

“We never want to feel this again,” Lawson said.

Poll implications Alabama will drop out of the top spot after this loss to the SEC’s perennial cellar dweller. Alabama now is 64-4 against unranked teams as the AP’s top-ranked team.

The takeaways Alabama: The Tide played sloppy coming off an emotional win over Georgia and hurt themselves with too many penalties. The Tide had six penalties for 57 yards. They also failed to sack Pavia even once.

Vanderbilt: Lea’s numerous offseason changes paid off, and those included bringing in Pavia as a graduate transfer along with his head coach and offensive coordinator from New Mexico State. ... Kicker Brock Taylor also got a much-needed confidence boost after missing two field goals in the second overtime of a road loss at then-No. 7 Missouri. After having his second extra point attempt blocked, he came back to make a pair of field goals, including a 51-yarder.

Up next Alabama returns home to host South Carolina.

Vanderbilt visits Kentucky.

How To Watch

How can I watch Alabama Crimson Tide vs. Vanderbilt Commodores?
  • TV Channel: Crimson Tide at Commodores 2021 College Football, week 6, is broadcasted on SEC Network.
  • Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.

Matchup Prediction

Commodores: 7.9%
Crimson Tide: 92.1%
*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Scoring Summary

VAN TD 1st Period 8:46 Sedrick Alexander 7 Yd Run (Brock Taylor Kick)
VAN TD 1st Period 8:03 Randon Fontenette 29 Yd Interception Return (Brock Taylor PAT failed)
ALA TD 1st Period 4:22 Jam Miller 8 Yd Run (Graham Nicholson Kick)
VAN TD 2nd Period 9:32 Sedrick Alexander 1 Yd Run (Brock Taylor Kick)
VAN FG 2nd Period 4:10 Brock Taylor 51 Yd Field Goal
ALA TD 2nd Period 1:25 Jam Miller 3 Yd Run (Graham Nicholson Kick)
ALA TD 3rd Period 12:01 Jalen Milroe 14 Yd Run (Graham Nicholson Kick)
VAN TD 3rd Period 2:53 Junior Sherrill 36 Yd pass from Diego Pavia (Brock Taylor Kick)
ALA TD 3rd Period 1:01 Ryan Williams 58 Yd pass from Jalen Milroe (Graham Nicholson Kick)
VAN FG 4th Period 10:35 Brock Taylor 33 Yd Field Goal
VAN TD 4th Period 5:07 Kamrean Johnson 6 Yd pass from Diego Pavia (Brock Taylor Kick)
ALA TD 4th Period 2:46 Ryan Williams 2 Yd Run (Graham Nicholson Kick)

Statistics

https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/ncaa/500/333.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originALA https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/ncaa/500/238.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originVAN
17 1st Downs 26
3-6 3rd down efficiency 12-18
1-1 4th down efficiency 1-1
394 Total Yards 418
310 Passing 252
18/24 Comp/Att 16/21
12.9 Yards per pass 12.0
84 Rushing 166
21 Rushing Attempts 54
4.0 Yards per rush 3.1
6-57 Penalties 3-20
2 Turnovers 0
1 Fumbles lost 0
1 Interceptions thrown 0
17:52 Possession 42:08

Game Information

FirstBank Stadium

Location: Nashville, TN
Attendance: 28,934 · Capacity:
Full Standings

College Football News

No. 7 BYU can take another step toward Big 12 championship game with a victory over Kansas

No. 7 BYU can take another step toward Big 12 championship game with a victory over Kansas

— After suffering several close losses earlier this season, Kansas is finally resembling the team that was expected to be a Big 12 contender after last year’s nine-win campaign.

No. 19 Washington State aims for fifth straight win as Cougars face resurgent New Mexico

No. 19 Washington State aims for fifth straight win as Cougars face resurgent New Mexico

— Washington State would seem to have an enormous advantage over New Mexico on Saturday, especially when it comes to motivation.

Nebraska, USC both making big changes on offense in effort to turn around disappointing seasons

Nebraska, USC both making big changes on offense in effort to turn around disappointing seasons

Nebraska (5-4, 2-4 Big Ten) at Southern California (4-5, 2-5), Saturday, 4 p.m. EST (FOX)

No. 11 Georgia faces must-win against No. 6 Tennessee between the hedges

No. 11 Georgia faces must-win against No. 6 Tennessee between the hedges

— Georgia's playoff hopes are hanging by a thread.

Houston looking to back up big win against an Arizona team looking for answers

Houston looking to back up big win against an Arizona team looking for answers

Houston (4-5, 3-3 Big 12) at Arizona (3-6, 1-5), Friday, 10:15 p.m. EST (FS1)