Upon Further Review: Vanderbilt 45, Charleston Southern 3

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Who would have thought the man who scored Vanderbilt’s final touchdown of the night was a guy who was not even listed on the depth chart ahead of the game.

Jamezell Lassiter, the fourth running back Vanderbilt used in its 45-3 win over Charleston Southern, scored a 35-yard touchdown the one time he touched the ball to put his team up 45-0. It was a moment that nobody saw coming and a play that shows how deep Clark Lea’s running back room can go.

Vanderbilt as a whole ran for 201 yards on the ground. Sedrick Alexander, the team’s leading back, ran for 83 yards on 12 carries. Through the air, he also caught a 26-yard touchdown from quarterback Diego Pavia. Pavia played efficiently in the season-opener as he threw for 275 yards and three touchdowns on 20-for-25 passing.

Play of the Game: While there were quite a few plays that could be considered the play of the game, it has to go to Sedrick Alexander’s athletic touchdown grab in the end zone. Not only was it a great catch, but his touchdown ended up putting Vanderbilt up four touchdowns and buried Charleston Southern before halftime even arrived.

Player of the Game: Honorable mentions to Alexander and Pavia, but wide receiver Tre Richardson was the player of the game. In Richardson’s first game as a Commodore, he led the team in receptions with five. Four of his receptions came in the first quarter as he helped Vanderbilt get off to a strong start and leave its opponent no chance to give themself reason to believe.

Stat of the Game: Despite having similar possession time (28:19-27:51), Vanderbilt had 13 more plays than Charleston Southern (59-46), yet averaged almost six more yards per play (8.2-2.9).

10 things you may not have noticed

1. Gunner Givens: Offensive lineman Gunner Givens saw a lot of actions early on at the quick guard position. Givens, who was listed in the rotation at strong guard behind Chase Mitchell. But in the first half, he was in the quick guard rotation and saw plenty of snaps when Cade McConnell was the projected starter.

2. Kayleb Barnett: Made an impact and got involved early and often as well. It seemed as though Clark Lea made it a point to get Barnett involved in the pass game and possibly see how deep his receiver room can go. The freshman from Tulsa, Oklahoma got three catches for 30 yards and a touchdown in his debut

3. The environment: Everyone knew that the game was going to be sold out. In recent years, FirstBank Stadium has been taken over by the fans of the opponent. Saturday night was totally different. The stands filled up quickly about 20-30 minutes before kickoff. In fact, around 95 percent of all ticket purchasers attended the game.

4. Renovated FirstBank: Saturday was the debut of the renovated South end zone at FirstBank. The construction of the new suites and seating area finished right before the season started and gave fans a new experience to watch the game.

5. Big Rushing Plays: Vanderbilt had plenty of explosive plays on the ground. The Commodores had six runs of at least 10 or more yards. None was bigger in terms of yardage than Jamezell Lassiter’s 35-yard scamper to the end zone. Alexander was responsible for three of the six runs of at least 10 yards.

6. Speaking of Explosive: Vanderbilt’s offensive onslaught was through the air as well. It had eight passes that went for 15 or more yards down the field. The longest pass of the game was Pavia’s 41-yard strike down the sideline to tight end Eli Stowers. The pass set Vanderbilt up squarely in the red zone for its second touchdown of the night.

7. The Scoring Rate: Vanderbilt’s offense had 11 drives during the game. Of those 11 possessions, the Commodores scored on seven of them, which translated to a 64 percent scoring rate for the game and a touchdown rate of 55 percent.

8. A Streak Continues: Vanderbilt’s win was the fourth consecutive year it has started the season off 1-0. The last time the Commodores had a season-opener winning streak this long was when they won six consecutive season-openers from 1970-1975. It was Vanderbilt’s 84th win all-time in Week 1.

9. Short Drives: Vanderbilt’s offense wasted no time all night. Only one of the 11 drives lasted more than 4:50, on its third touchdown drive. Additionally, five of the seven scoring drives happened in under two-and-a-half minutes.

10. Closing Out Possessions Well: Vanderbilt was a perfect five of five in the red zone scoring-wise. Four of the five red zone drives resulted in touchdowns with the fifth being a field goal, totaling 31 points. Showing an ability to come away with points every trip to the red zone could be a good sign of things to come when the schedule turns challenging.

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