The Vanderbilt Commodores took on a tough road test on Saturday, traveling north to South Bend, Indiana, to take on Notre Dame.

The Commodores struggled offensively, especially early, but managed to make it a competitive game against the No. 8 team in the country, as the score was 22-17 midway through the fourth quarter.

However, at the end of the day, the Irish managed to hold on for a narrow 22-17 victory over the SEC East Commodores.

Still, it was a solid effort from coach Derek Mason’s squad, and it’ll be interesting to see how this team fares moving forward. Here are a few quick takeaways from Saturday’s tough loss:

Not a bad day defensively

The offense struggled mightily on Saturday afternoon (more on that later), but the defense held its own against Notre Dame’s offense.

QB Brandon Wimbush had a tough game, struggling to complete even half of his passes against the Commodores. However, the Irish did find some success on the ground, with Wimbush and RB Tony Jones Jr. putting up some big numbers.

Still, the Commodores have a defense that can compete in the SEC. Now, it’s just up to the offense to hold up its end of the bargain.

Kyle Shurmur misses Ralph Webb

The Commodores don’t have much of a running game this year without Webb, and it’s definitely taking its toll on QB Kyle Shurmur.

Shurmur didn’t have a bad game by any means, but it was a fairly pedestrian effort since the ‘Dores couldn’t get anything going on the ground.

Some of the blame goes to the offensive line, too, but guys like Khari Blasingame and Ke’Shawn Vaughn are going to have to step up if the Commodores are going to compete during SEC play.

There were some late flashes of brilliance, but that’s going to have to become more consistent in the coming weeks if the Commodores are going to get back into the win column.

Never give up

Trailing 16-3, the Commodores closed the gap to 16-10 heading into the fourth quarter. When you have a chance to win entering the fourth quarter, you’ve played a good game. They also closed the gap from 22-10 to 22-17 late in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t enough.

The Commodores will obviously have to work on their closing ability, but this was definitely a step up from what last year’s squad managed to do against tough opponents.

Vanderbilt hosts South Carolina next week in its SEC opener. We’ll see if the Commodores can continue to put up hard-fought games.