How Vanderbilt football, Clark Lea plan to fix mistakes from Wake Forest loss

For Vanderbilt football coach Clark Lea, the loss to Wake Forest last week brought to mind a similar defeat to South Carolina last season.

It spurred something for the Commodores, who won the next two games against Kentucky and Florida.

Lea and Vanderbilt hope that a similar trend holds when the Commodores (2-1) play at UNLV (1-1) on Saturday (6 p.m., CBS Sports Network). Not everything from Winston-Salem was bad: Vanderbilt rated better than Wake Forest at both yards per play and success rate, a measure of efficiency. But the Commodores simply shot themselves in the foot far too many times via turnovers, penalties, bad snaps and special teams mistakes.

Vanderbilt, at least in its official depth chart, has not made sweeping changes. Corners BJ Anderson (two pass interference penalties) and Trudell Berry (a personal foul) are still listed in that order. Will Sheppard, who fumbled a punt return that was returned for a touchdown, is still listed at that position. Julian Hernandez, who muffed two snaps, is still listed as the starting center − though Lea's depth charts haven't always been 100% accurate at foretelling snap-count distribution in games.

"We want to have patience and give people plenty of room to make mistakes on the field," Lea said Tuesday. "When it comes to things like not running the right route or not communicating the right way up front, when your play as an individual starts to impact the other 10 players on the field, there has to be some attention given to, what's the best chemistry what's the best form that we can have here in terms of personality that gives our team the best chance to execute."

Sheppard has identified the biggest issue with his punt return: a miscommunication with Tyson Russell on the punt coverage team and that he probably should've fair-caught the punt. The offense as a whole, Sheppard said, hasn't been consistent enough.

AJ Swann, who threw two interceptions against the Demon Deacons, is one of those players who needs to be more consistent. But he's not the only one, as the offensive linemen have sometimes not properly executed their blocks and the receivers haven't always run the right routes, Sheppard said.

"I'd say right now we're pretty streaky and inconsistent at times," Sheppard said. " ... Just, everybody's gotta be on the same page: just quarterback, receiver, o-line, everybody just playing, knowing what we're trying to execute, just being on the same page."

For linebacker Ethan Barr, the biggest issue has been the tackling, and that's the main reason he feels Vanderbilt allowed 302 rushing yards to Wake Forest. UNLV uses a lot of two-running back sets with some option looks, making run defense even more vital.

"I think it's just tackling, wrapping up in tackles and getting rid of some of those extra yards that Wake Forest was able to get on us after contact," Barr said.

Ultimately, some of this falls on Lea and his staff, and he admitted as much when it comes to the pass interference penalties. Although the Commodores have been one of the least-penalized teams in the SEC throughout most of Lea's tenure, the pass interferences have been a persistent issue in the secondary.

MAILBAG How long a leash does Vanderbilt football QB AJ Swann have and other questions answered

Of all the issues, the special teams snafu seems the most fixable. Vanderbilt's special teams played at an elite level in the first two games, and under coordinator Justin Lustig the special teams have seen more good than bad.

Ultimately, identifying the issues is the easy part. On Saturday, it will be up to the Commodores to make sure that they don't beat themselves.

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

Get the latest news and insight on SEC football by subscribing to the SEC Unfiltered newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Here's how Vanderbilt football plans to correct mistakes vs UNLV