Why penalties are such a concern for Vanderbilt football headed into Alabama game

In 2023, Vanderbilt football was one of the best teams in college football at avoiding penalties and one of the worst at committing turnovers. In 2024, it’s been the opposite.

The Commodores (2-2, 0-1 SEC) have committed only one turnover this season, but for as much as they’ve improved there, penalties have become a big problem.

Vanderbilt hosts No. 2 Alabama (4-0, 1-0) on Saturday (3:15 p.m. CT, SEC Network) and can’t give up any free yards to have any hope of an upset.

The Commodores’ one turnover is tied with three other teams, none of which are in the Power 4, for fewest in the country. The Crimson Tide have committed five turnovers, which is tied for 42nd.

One problem for Vanderbilt is that the Commodores have fumbled seven times, though Vanderbilt recovered six of them.

“We’ve put the ball on the floor in options too many times,” quarterback Diego Pavia said. “But yeah, we haven’t turned it over. …. So we just got to keep control of the ball.”

The Commodores also haven’t excelled at forcing turnovers, with no forced fumbles and four interceptions. Four forced turnovers is tied for 93rd nationwide, while Alabama has forced eight turnovers.

But Vanderbilt knows where the real problem lies: penalties. The 2023 Commodores were 24th in the country with 42.5 penalty yards per game. This year, that number has almost doubled to 83.3 yards per game, ranked 124th of 134 teams in FBS.

Alabama, too, is near the bottom of that leaderboard with 77.3 penalty yards per game, which is 120th.

How does Vanderbilt fix that problem?

“Those problems aren’t solved on game day, you know?” coach Clark Lea said. “They’re solved in the creating, the understanding and really coaching through some of the fundamental technical aspects. We had a few holding penalties when they had one on ones defensively, like, that’s not OK. So we point those…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/why-penalties-concern-vanderbilt-football-201542077.html

Author : The Tennessean

Publish date : 2024-10-01 20:15:42

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