Ranking Vanderbilt football's biggest areas of concern in three-game losing streak

Vanderbilt football has some major issues to rectify following its third loss of the season.

AJ Swann had three interceptions in a 45-28 loss to Kentucky, including two that were returned for touchdowns and a third that nearly was. The Commodores (2-3, 0-1 SEC) simply have not been playing clean football for the past three weeks and it has cost them, giving up a high rate of points off turnovers.

With these types of issues, the whole team is at fault to an extent, as is the coaching staff. However, there are some position groups that have bigger concerns than others. Some of that is due to performance and some is due to injuries and availability.

Going into its matchup with Missouri (4-0) on Saturday (2 p.m., SEC Network) at FirstBank Stadium, here are Vanderbilt's five biggest areas of concern:

5. Kicker

You could do worse than Jacob Borcila, who at least is 102-for-103 in his career on extra points and a perfect 7-for-7 on field goals within 30 yards. But Borcila has very little range. He's just 21-for-38 in his career (55%) on field goals over 30 yards, making Vanderbilt's chances with them slightly better than a coin flip. No wonder the Commodores go for it on fourth down so often.

4. Safety and 3. Cornerback

While the secondary hasn't been great, it also hasn't been the main problem in the three losses. Especially against Kentucky, the secondary actually made some plays, which is even more impressive considering that it was extremely short-handed − down its top three safeties and erstwhile starting corner BJ Anderson.

The main objective for the secondary currently should be to get healthy. Particularly at safety, having Jaylen Mahoney, De'Rickey Wright and Savion Riley back will provide a boost, and Anderson at corner will provide more depth.

Corner ranks ahead of safety here because both Mahoney and Wright have had their moments when available, and Mahoney at least should be available for Missouri. At corner, there are no clear solutions as none of the options have played particularly well.

2. Offensive line

The offensive line has struggled in both run and pass blocking. As much as the pass game has been inconsistent at times, it's still performed better on both a total and rate basis than the run game, which has averaged just 3.6 yards per carry.

In the passing game, though, Swann has been consistently under pressure. While much of the decision-making still falls on Swann, it certainly doesn't help him to have rushers in his face when he drops back. It could also be a source of Swann's injury issues − both his current injury and his injuries from a year ago were suffered on sacks.

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1. Quarterback

The issue here isn't just Swann's performance but also his health, because those two things go hand in hand. Coach Clark Lea said Swann was dealing with an elbow contusion against Kentucky. He completed only 40% of his passes and threw three interceptions.

Swann's performance this season has been inconsistent, but what he did against Ketncuky was significantly worse than in his earlier games, where he had turnover issues but also made his fair share of highlight plays. With Lea indicating that Swann might not be at 100%, that creates a quandary: is a diminished version of Swann worth playing, or is backup Ken Seals a better option?

Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on Twitter @aria_gerson.

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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Ranking Vanderbilt football's biggest areas of concern in losing streak