TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama’s football program surely wants some measure of revenge against Vanderbilt, even if players and coaches won’t acknowledge it.
The 10th-ranked Crimson Tide host the surprising and 16th-ranked Commodores on Saturday — and insist they won’t get blindsided again.
A year ago, the Tide followed a win over fellow Southeastern Conference power Georgia with a 40-35 loss at Vanderbilt as three-touchdown favorites. That stunning setback played a part in keeping Alabama out of the College Football Playoff despite its expansion from a four-team field to a 12-team bracket for the first time.
Coming off another victory against the Bulldogs — this one ended Georgia’s 33-game streak of home wins — Vanderbilt is up next again.
How is Alabama (3-1, 1-0) approaching this one?
“You’ve got to handle success and come back every single week in this league,” second-year Tide coach Kalen DeBoer said. “We didn’t handle success last year well. You can’t argue that. … Our success that we had (against Georgia), none of it matters. None of it carries over. Every game is its own game.”
Said Bama tight end Josh Cuevas: “We’re not too worried about last season. Last season’s last season. Just moving forward, taking the next step, this new year, just kind of keeping within the team and doing what we’re doing and playing our game.”
Vanderbilt’s situation is considerably different a year later. The Commodores (5-0, 1-0) may have been overlooked in 2024, but they sit near the top of the SEC standings after the first month of the season.
They’re off to the program’s best start since 2008, with each win coming by at least 20 points. Coach Clark Lea, in the fifth season of his return to his alma mater, and second-year starting quarterback Diego Pavia have led a campaign of a “New Vanderbilt” since last year, and now there’s evidence of a tangible shift.
“Last season was important for us in terms of getting some of those breakthrough moments to see, ‘Hey, this is something we can do,'” Lea said. “I think this season has been about the confidence to dominate, to have a dominant mindset when we take the field.”
Both teams are ranked in the AP poll for their matchup for the first time since 1937. Alabama won that Thanksgiving game 9-7, with the Tide ranked No. 4 and Vanderbilt No. 12 at the time.
Saturday’s game features the current two highest-rated passers in the SEC, with Pavia’s 184.6 efficiency rating topping the league just ahead of Ty Simpson’s 173.1. Both rank in the top 15 nationally.
Simpson has completed 82% of his passes over his past three games, with nine touchdowns and no interceptions. His 11 total touchdowns are third in the SEC, and he has zero turnovers.
Meanwhile, Pavia tied a Vanderbilt record with five touchdown passes last Saturday and ran for another. His 13 touchdown passes are tied for first in the SEC and rank fifth nationally.
Another area to watch will be the running game. Vanderbilt gashed Alabama for 166 yards on the ground last year and boasts one of the SEC’s best rushing attacks in 2025.
The Commodores rank first in the league with 6.49 yards a carry and 18 rushing touchdowns, and they’re second with 1,117 rushing yards for an average of 223.4 per game. Defensively, Vanderbilt has allowed the third-fewest rushing yards per game, having given up an average of 79.8.
Conversely, Alabama has one of the worst rushing offenses and defenses in the SEC. The Tide rank near the bottom of the league in nearly every rushing category on both sides of the ball.