DALLAS (FWAA) – The Vanderbilt Commodores earned the Cheez-It National Team of the Week earlier this season celebrating their first win in two years over a team receiving votes in the national polls. Saturday night the Commodores climbed the scales and took down No. 1 Alabama in a thrilling 40-35 home win. For the program’s first win over a top-ranked team, Vanderbilt has again earned the Cheez-It National Team of the Week award for games played the weekend of Oct. 5, as selected by the All-America Committee of the Football Writers Association of America.
The Commodores (3-2) took the honor in this season’s first full slate of games with a 34-27 overtime win over Virginia Tech the weekend of Aug. 31. Prior to that, it had been 11 seasons since the last Vanderbilt honor in the weekend of Nov. 9, 2013, when it won at Florida for the first time since 1945. This is the fifth time overall for the Commodores to be the team of the week and Vandy is just the second team to earn this honor twice in the same season.
The historic win is the first in 11 tries for Vanderbilt against a top-ranked team and led to students taking one of the goal posts on a tour of downtown Nashville before being tossed into the Cumberland River. Alabama had ascended to No. 1 after earning last week’s Cheez-It National Team of the Week with a win over then-No. 1 Georgia. It is also Vandy’s first win over a top-five team, ending an 0-60 run against top-five teams heading into the matchup, and snapped a 23-game losing streak to Alabama dating back to 1984.
Quarterback Diego Pavia collected 308 total yards and threw for 252 yards and two touchdowns. It is the fourth game this season that Pavia, a graduate student who transferred to Vandy during the summer from New Mexico State, has accounted for multiple touchdowns, and the second time he has thrown for more than 250 yards in a game for the Commodores.
Vanderbilt outrushed Alabama, 166-84, and controlled the clock for most of the night, holding the ball for 42:08 compared to the Crimson Tide’s 17:52. Sedrick Alexander, a sophomore, led the way with 64 rushing yards and added a pair of scores on the ground, his first game with two touchdowns this season. His first score finished a 75-yard drive to open the game and was the first touchdown scored against Alabama in the first quarter this season.
Pavia’s check-downs to tight end Eli Stowers were also a constant force, with Stowers catching a game-high 113 receiving yards on six receptions. A pick-six by Randon Fortenette gave Vandy a 13-0 lead and it never trailed from there, consistently answering Alabama’s scoring punches with their own in the second half. The Commodores were 12-of-18 on third down, extending multiple drives.
“That’s a really good football team,” Vandy head coach Clark Lea said. “This is the dream right here and for the next 12 hours, I am going to enjoy the dream. We got more ahead of us but this is what Vanderbilt football needs to be about. Big wins on big stages. We are going to get some more.”
Alabama’s 35 points was a season low.
Vanderbilt goes to Kentucky on Saturday for a 7:45 pm ET kickoff on the SEC Network.
Since 2002, the FWAA has named a National Team of the Week. Coming into the 2023 season, 284 teams have been honored, including 101 different Division I programs. Each honored team will receive a custom Cheez-It "care package" along with a hand-crafted game ball made in America by Dallas-based Big Game USA, the nation's leading manufacturer of custom footballs.
The other National Team of the Week nominees for the weekend of Oct. 5 were:
- Arkansas (4-2): The Razorbacks overcame a 14-3 third-quarter deficit to notch their first win over an AP top-five team since 2007, taking down No. 4 Tennessee, 19-14. The Hogs had lost 18 straight against such teams entering Saturday. It was also Arkansas’ first home win over a top-five opponent since beating the No. 3 Volunteers in 1999. Malachi Singleton, the backup to starting quarterback Taylen Green, scored on an 11-yard run with 1:17 remaining for the game-winner after Green exited the game with an injury.
- Miami (6-0): The Hurricanes rallied for a 39-38 win over California on Saturday night, stunning the Golden Bears and their raucous sellout crowd at Memorial Stadium with a comeback for the ages. Quarterback Cam Ward led the ‘Canes to touchdowns on their last four possesions while throwing for 249 yards in the fourth quarter alone. His five-yard scoring toss to tight end Elijah Arroyo with 26 seconds left tied the score and Andy Borregales’ extra point put Miami on top. Ward completed 35 of 53 passes for 437 yards and two touchdowns with one interception and also had a 24-yard scoring scamper.
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ABOUT FLORIDA CITRUS SPORTS
Florida Citrus Sports is a not-for-profit event management organization dedicated to positively impacting the Orlando region while enhancing the quality of life in Central Florida through world-class events, including the Camping World Kickoff, the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl, the Pop-Tarts Bowl, the Florida Blue Florida Classic and the Florida Cup & FC Series. For more information, visit FloridaCitrusSports.com.
Founded in 1941, the Football Writers Association of America consists of 1,100 men and women who cover college football. The membership includes journalists, broadcasters and publicists, as well as key executives in all the areas that involve the game. The FWAA works to govern areas that include game-day operations, major awards and its annual All-America team. For more information about the FWAA and its award programs, contact Steve Richardson at tiger@fwaa.com.
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2024 FWAA All-America Committee
Kirk Bohls, Houston Chronicle (Chair)
Frank Bonner, Daily Memphian
Travis Brown, KBTX.com
Ken Capps, Freelance
Angelique Chengelis, Detroit News
Brett Ciancia, Pick Six Previews
Scott Dochterman, The Athletic
Bryan Fischer, FOX Sports
John Hoover, All Sooners
Mike Huguenin, Freelance
Shehan Jeyarajah, CBS Sports
Emily Leiker, Syracuse.com
Ben Portnoy, Sports Business Journal
Sean Reider, Albuquerque Journal
Tony Siracusa, Last Word on College Football
Phil Steele, Phil Steele Magazine
Dusty Thibodeaux, Rivals: Warhawk Report
John Wagner, Country News Review (Minn.)
Jon Wilner, Bay Area News Group