For two teams that have played nine consecutive weekends without a bye, you gotta hand it to Arkansas and Vanderbilt battling it out with everything they had for four quarters before both programs got to their much-needed bye weeks.

It was clear that both of these teams took the field Saturday expecting to come away with their first conference win of the season. In the end, it was Vanderbilt that proved to want this one more, beating the Razorbacks in Fayetteville 45-31. Following this result, Vanderbilt improves to 4-5 overall and 1-4 in the SEC while Arkansas falls to 2-7 overall and 0-5 in league play.

With Ty Storey returning to the starting lineup after missing the Tulsa game, Arkansas came out strong, scoring on the opening drive of the game. The Razorbacks went 75 yards on nine plays and capped that drive with a five-yard run by Rakeem Boyd. Not to be deterred, Vanderbilt also scored on its opening drive of the game, thanks to a 63-yard touchdown scamper by Ke’Shawn Vaughn. That play finished a seven-play, 89-yard drive.

What looked to be a defensive contest entering the game quickly revealed itself to be an offensive shootout for much of the game. The tight ends for both teams really stood out with Vandy’s Jared Pinkney scoring multiple touchdowns (he finished with five catches for 93 yards and two scores) and Arkansas’ C.J. O’Grady leading the Razorbacks in receptions (6) and receiving yards (83) and one score.

While Storey’s return to the lineup was good news for the Razorbacks heading into this one, the quarterback threw a costly interception in the first quarter, his first of two on the day, which resulted in a Vanderbilt touchdown. After that play, Arkansas was forced to play catchup the rest of the game and never regained the lead despite the fact the turnover occurred at the end of the first quarter.

On a side note to this game, it was great to see Chase Hayden once again continue to progress and have arguably the best game of his career under Chad Morris. If you were unaware, Hayden’s grandmother passed away this week. Morris revealed this week that Hayden planned to stay in Fayetteville and return home to his native Tennessee during the team’s bye week to mourn with his family following the Vandy game. Hayden finished the game with five carries for 70 yards and a rushing touchdown and added five catches for 17 yards.

Being down at halftime is something that continues to haunt the Arkansas head coach, as Morris’ overall record when being down at the halftime break falls to 1-25 in his coaching career.

Storey’s return may have been the big story heading into this game but it was the return of Commodore running back Vaughn that proved to be the biggest factor in this contest. Vaughn busted out for 26 carries for 172 yards (a career high) and three touchdowns in the game. Credit Rakeem Boyd for doing his part in this game, as the Razorback running back has now reached the 100-yard mark on the ground in three consecutive SEC games — he had 99 yards last week against Tulsa. Boyd finished the game with 113 yards on 19 carries.

Facing the largest deficit of the game, down 31-17 into the fourth quarter, Storey led Arkansas down the field, gaining 75 yards in six plays and using up only 2:06 of game clock, to put the pressure right back on Vandy in the fourth but it was again Vaughn that ended any hopes that the Razorbacks had in this one.

The Commodores responded by going 75 yards in nine plays and capped that drive by giving Vaughn his third score of the game, which was all she wrote in this one. That score pushed the lead back up to 14 and gave the Commodores a 38-24 edge. The contest was officially sealed thanks to a Commodore defensive lineman snagging an incredible interception of Storey while falling and rolling on the ground.

Both teams added late meaningless scores to finish, to push the final to 45-31.