Grading the Vanderbilt football position group that nearly gave Hawaii path to victory
3-3 minutes 8/27/2023 Vanderbilt football survived a scare Saturday against Hawaii. The Commodores (1-0) played sloppy football and were outgained by the Rainbow Warriors (0-1) by nearly 100 yards at FirstBank Stadium, repeatedly getting burned deep in the secondary and struggling to get any pressure on the quarterback. But Vanderbilt made the big plays when it needed to and came away with its second straight season-opening win, 35-28.
AJ Swann played well at quarterback, completing 19 of 30 passes for 258 yards and three touchdowns, and the Commodores did not turn the ball over. But they face questions about their defensive prowess and offensive line play heading into their matchup Sept. 2 against Alabama A&M.
Offense: C This game was a tale of two offenses. The passing offense, led Swann, was relatively strong. He was on target with his throws and the receivers made several good plays, led by Will Sheppard.
The problem was the run game. Vanderbilt ran for just 65 yards all game, not including sacks, and Swann was sacked three times for 18 yards. Defense: D- The only thing keeping this from being an F was a few big red zone plays, led by two De'Rickey Wright end zone interceptions and a fourth-down red zone stop.
Vanderbilt made plays when it needed to but the defense was otherwise disastrous as the Rainbow Warriors threw for 351 yards and quarterback Brayden Schager completed 27 of his 34 pass attempts. The run defense was solid, allowing 58 yards (not including sacks). Special teams: A- The one area that was relatively strong was special teams.
Jayden McGowan made a difference with his touchdown off a 97-yard kick return, and Jacob Borcila made all three of his extra point attempts. The one knock was that the Commodores twice failed to down deep punts, leading to touchbacks. Coaching: C Although there weren't any egregious coaching errors, Vanderbilt also should have done much better against Hawaii, and that falls partially on the coaches.
Overall: D Vanderbilt won, so it's not an F, but the Commodores should have performed better. They will need to clean up their sloppy play and get the run game going if they want to beat any SEC teams. .