Vanderbilt’s Offensive Line Flips a Switch After Half

BLACKSBURG, Va. - Anybody who watches football knows that in order to have any success and win games, the offensive line plays a major role. Heck, in order to simply score, an offensive line has to do its job against the defensive line.

In the first half of Vanderbilt’s win over Virginia Tech, the offensive line was not winning in the trenches for the majority of the half. Other than a run for 21 yards by running back Sedrick Alexander and another 15-yard run, Vanderbilt had trouble creating room for its running backs to run through and time for quarterback Diego Pavia to throw the ball.

But then something happened. Coming out of halftime, Vanderbilt received the ball in what felt like a must-score possession. A three-and-out or an empty possession would have put the Commodores close to the danger zone of losing. 

Fortunately for Vanderbilt, the opposite of that happened. The Commodores marched down the field for an 11 play, 84-yard touchdown drive to pull within three points of Virginia Tech. Of the 11 plays, seven of them were chunk runs ranging from five to seven yards each carry.

The offensive line had suddenly opened up big rushing lanes, even Pavia was running down the field for his teammates and opened up lanes. The second half offense continued for the rest of the game as Vanderbilt scored on all five of its possessions in the second half as the Commodores left Lane Stadium with a 44-20 win.

So, what changed? Was there an entirely new offensive gameplan created during halftime? Turns out it was just an old-fashion grind-it-out-type mentality that eventually overwhelmed Virginia Tech.

“Sticking to the plan. I mean the run game is like body punches, and it doesn't always sell tickets. You can't always see the impact, but there comes a point where the opponent gets tired of the body punches,” Lea said.

Vanderbilt went into the locker knowing it was capable of playing much and it felt that its offensive line especially should have been getting push against the Virginia Tech defensive line. All it took was patience.

Nonetheless, offensive coordinator Tim Beck did get to work during halftime. Lea felt like Beck was able to find soft spots, but ultimately it was the attitude of the line that really loomed large.

“I think Tim did a great job kind of identifying maybe some soft spaces in the line of scrimmage, or plays or leverage points where we could attack. And so as the game went, I felt like he got a good feel for how they were lining up,” Lea said. “But I felt like the o-line had the right attitude at the onset. And again, the penalty stuff we have to clean up, but the way they blocked, I thought, and also protected in situations where we need to get shot plays up that they were the difference for us."

Saturday’s second half showed the country that this Vanderbilt team not only feels different, but showed that it is different. It all starts with the guys up front on the offensive line. Rather than panicking, the team followed the mentality of the offensive line. 

With the game ball in his hands as he approached the podium in last night’s press conference, offensive lineman Jordan White gave a simple answer of the expectations of the position room going forward.

“I mean, this is Vandy. This is what you’re going to expect now,” White said simply.

The new standard of the offensive line is set. Now, it is time for White and the rest of the offensive linemen to maintain it.

: