Vanderbilt's improved redzone efficiency crucial to offensive turnaround

Oct. 5—OXFORD — Offensive turnarounds don't usually happen overnight. At Vanderbilt, there were certainly some growing pains.

In Year One under head coach Clark Lea, the Commodores (3-2, 0-1 SEC) averaged just under 16 points per game, third-lowest in the FBS. In 2022, Vanderbilt is scoring better than 34 points per game.

Vanderbilt has already surpassed last season's win total as No. 9 Ole Miss travels to Nashville to face the Commodores on Saturday at 3 p.m. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network.

As a team last year, Vanderbilt quarterbacks threw just 13 touchdown passes. And, while the yards per game from Commodores signal callers isn't significantly better this season (189.3 in 2021 and 198.6 in 2022), quarterbacks A.J. Swann and Mike Wright have already thrown a combined 12 touchdowns. Swann, a true freshman and four-star recruit in the 2022 class, has started the last two games. As a team, Vanderbilt is up nearly 80 spots nationally in passing efficiency.

Perhaps the biggest change in the Commodores offense, however, has been efficiency within the red zone. Simply put, Vanderbilt was putrid inside opposing 20-yard lines in 2021: 31 total trips, 16 touchdowns and eight field goals. That's 24 total scores — a 77.4 scoring percentage, ranking 104th in the FBS. Fast forward to this season, and Vanderbilt is one of just six teams to have scored on each of its red zone trips.

In 17 red zone trips in 2022, the Commodores have 15 touchdowns and two field goals, just one touchdown short of last season's 12-game total. While six of the red zone scores came against Hawaii in a dominant 63-10 season-opening win in Honolulu, Vanderbilt was 4 of 4 in the red zone in a loss to a ranked Wake Forest squad and in a 38-28 win at Northern Illinois.

The Rebels have been stellar overall on defense this season — seventh overall in scoring at just under 12 points allowed per game — and have been solid in the red zone, allowing seven touchdowns on 14 trips and 11 scores overall (79%).

Vanderbilt came down to earth in a 55-3 loss at now-No.1 Alabama, racking up 129 total yards and zero trips to the red zone. Fresh off a bye week and back home, the Commodores' red zone success could play a big role in how close their game against the Rebels ultimately ends up being.

In a tighter-than-anticipated 31-17 game against Ole Miss in Oxford last season, Vanderbilt was 2 of 4 in the red zone with a turnover on downs and an interception.

The Rebels are currently favored by 17 points Saturday, according to ESPN. But as the Rebels learned in last year's matchup, records and point spreads don't mean much come game day.

"We spent a lot of time this morning on that. Just like last week, we said, you've got to prepare the same regardless. Last week, everybody built up the game and everything. Told them, it's a faceless opponent," Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin said. " ... It's not just when you play a team that's not ranked and you're heavily favored with. It's both ways. That way you avoid playing like this. Hopefully they listened."

MICHAEL KATZ is the Ole Miss athletics reporter for the Daily Journal. Contact him at michael.katz@djournal.com.