Vanderbilt offense putting up numbers not seen in over a century
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Vanderbilt was a perfect 4-0 with a sparkling No. 20 ranking in the AP Poll coming out of its Week 4 rout of Georgia State on Saturday night, but that doesn’t even begin to tell the story about the Commodores’ breakneck offense.
Vandy put up 70 points against Georgia State in the 70-21 victory, which was the most points scored by a Vanderbilt team since it beat rival Tennessee 76-0 in 1918.
Not 2018 — 1918.
So, the offensive explosion authored by quarterback Diego Pavia and Co. in Week 4 produced the most points by the Commodores in 107 years.
For Vanderbilt, the 70-piece it put up in Week 4 was just a continuation of its early season offensive fireworks. The Commodores put up 45 points in their season opener against Charleston Southern, then followed that with almost exactly the same offensive output, scoring 44 points in a road victory over Virginia Tech.
In Week 3, Vanderbilt didn’t score in the 40s again, but it sent its biggest message of the early season, going into Columbia and taking down then-ranked South Carolina, 31-7. That win vaulted the Commodores into the rankings themselves, and on Sunday they were poised to move up in the new rankings after Saturday night’s latest offensive showcase.
With its gaudy offensive point totals so far this year, Vanderbilt has scored 30-plus points in each of its first 4 games of a season for the first time since 1916 — 109 years ago.
Vanderbilt will try to keep the good times rolling on offense in Week 5 when it hosts Utah State in a 12:45 p.m. ET kickoff on the SEC Network.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
