Well, we came into Saturday night expecting a blowout. What we got was a game in which Vanderbilt was sort of overmatched but managed to keep the game within striking distance.
Let’s start with the Vanderbilt defense. Derek Mason’s defenses in 2015 and 2016 — when he was running the defense — weren’t particularly efficient but were pretty good at preventing big plays and bowing up when the other team got into the red zone. There was some of the latter on Saturday night — Texas A&M had four drives that got inside the Vanderbilt 40, with one resulting in a complete disaster for the Aggies with one of three fumbles on the night (all recovered by Vanderbilt) and another ending with a field goal after the Aggies had a 1st-and-10 at the Vanderbilt 15.