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Five Mind-Boggling Stats From Vanderbilt’ Upset Win vs. Alabama
Against all odds, the Commodores dethroned the top-ranked Crimson Tide on Saturday.
Pavia threw for 252 yards and two touchdowns against Alabama on Saturday.
Pavia threw for 252 yards and two touchdowns against Alabama on Saturday. / Butch Dill-Imagn Images
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The unranked Vanderbilt Commodores shocked the world Saturday and defeated the No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide with a stunning 40–35 victory at FirstBank Stadium.
Vanderbilt entered the day 2–2, with wins over Virginia Tech and Alcorn State but was coming off back-to-back losses against Georgia State and No. 7 Missouri. Alabama was fresh off an emotional 41–34 win over No. 2 Georgia last week—and clearly overlooked the pesky Commodores.
Vanderbilt didn’t trail for a single second on Saturday afternoon. The Commodores got off to a surprising 13–0 lead on a 10-play, 75-yard drive to open the game and a pick-six to end Alabama’s first drive. Vanderbilt never looked back, as quarterback Diego Pavia led the offense to four first downs in the final two minutes to secure the win.
Here are five wild stats from the Commodores’ biggest win in program history.
Rough start for DeBoer
Over four Vanderbilt-Alabama matchups in the Nick Saban era from 2007 to ’23, the Commodores managed to score a total of 13 points. They lost 55–3, 59–0, 34–0 and 24–10.
In the first Vanderbilt-Alabama clash of the Kalen DeBoer era, the Commodores scored 13 points in the first quarter.
Going streaking no longer
Alabama had won 23 straight matchups against the Commodores, dating back to Vanderbilt’s 30–21 win over the Crimson Tide on Sept. 29, 1984—just over 40 years ago. Current Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea was just two years old at the time.
Finally, a top-5 win
Heading into Saturday’s matchup, Vanderbilt was 0–60 in program history against top-five teams in the nation, the longest such streak in the poll era (since 1936). They are now 1–60 after dethroning the top-ranked Crimson Tide.
Unprecedented offense
The Commodores hadn’t scored over 20 points against Alabama in a single game since a 36–26 loss in Tuscaloosa in 1996—a drought of 11 straight games. The 40 points they scored Saturday were the most against Alabama since a 78–0 blowout win on Oct. 20, 1906.
Sedrick Alexander’s seven-yard score in the first quarter Saturday marked the first time Vanderbilt opened a game against Alabama with a touchdown since 2007.
Top dogs no longer
There have been many No. 1-ranked Alabama teams over the years. In fact, the Crimson Tide have been ranked as the top team in the nation for at least one week in 16 of the last 17 years, with last season being the one exception.
The loss to Vanderbilt marked just the fourth defeat for a No. 1-ranked Alabama team in 68 games against unranked opponents.
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