Take a Look Tuesday: Week 0

Zach: sorry for getting this up so late, y’all

Welcome back to Take a Look Tuesday, a recap of each of the other games involving SEC teams from each week. The SEC season kicked off with the second leg of the Vanderbilt-Hawaii home-and-home in Nashville. Last year, the Commodores derailed the Rainbow Warriors 63-10 in a dominating performance. This year, though, Hawaii played a much tighter game.

Vanderbilt got the scoring going on their first drive with a 21-yard Patrick Smith TD run, but they botched the extra point attempt. Hawaii capitalized with a TD drive of their own and a successful extra point to take their only lead of the game. Jayden McGowan housed the ensuing kickoff 97 yards and Vanderbilt converted a two-point conversion to take a 14-7 lead. 12 seconds into the fourth quarter, London Humphreys caught the Commodores’ final TD of the game to set up a 35-14 lead.

Hawaii did not go down without a fight, though. They scored a TD to bring the game back within 14 on the next drive and got within seven with fewer than five minutes remaining. Hawaii came close to recovering the onside kick after that, but the retriever was out of bounds when he touched the ball. The Rainbow Warriors forced a punt afterward, but De’Rickey Wright snatched the game-winning pick on the second play to seal a tight battle and a 35-28 Vandy win.

A.J. Swann was 19/30 for 258 yards and 3 TDs on the night in a game dominated by passing. That exposed some potential weaknesses in the Vanderbilt secondary, ones Clark Lea and his staff will need to patch if they want to improve on last year’s success. The Commodores host FCS Alabama A&M on Saturday at 6:00 p.m. The game will be streamed on SECN+ and ESPN+.