Why Vanderbilt football's defense gets failing grade again vs. Florida
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Vanderbilt football extended its losing streak to five after falling at Florida, 38-14.
Graham Mertz completed 30 of 36 passes for 254 yards, and the Gators (4-2, 2-1 SEC) averaged 7 yards per play. The Commodores (2-5, 0-3) rushed for just 69 yards, not including sacks, and went 1-for-10 on third down.
Things get only harder from here, as they face top-ranked Georgia next week and also have road games against South Carolina and Tennessee.
Though Vanderbilt put up 334 yards, that translated into 14 points, as both sides of the ball shouldered blame.
Here's how we graded the loss:
Offense: C-
The good news is that Vanderbilt had just one turnover, and a handful of explosive plays were real highlights.
The bad news is pretty much everything else about the offense was discouraging as the Commodores struggled to consistently move the ball, and once again got nothing going in their run game. Two failed fourth downs and the one turnover coming on a successful fourth down didn't help matters, either.
Defense: F
Vanderbilt gave up 495 yards of offense, which was the second-worst this season behind its performance Missouri. But the Tigers have a better slate of skill-position players; Florida was down several contributors on the offensive line and its top running back.
Several members of the secondary were once again out with injuries, but that doesn't excuse a second straight performance where nothing went right for the defense.
Special teams: B
Matt Hayball had a strong day punting, averaging 46.4 yards per punt, including one that went for 60 yards. The rest of the special teams didn't have to do much; Vanderbilt did not attempt any field goals. While the special teams were perfectly fine, there was nothing game-changing here.
Coaching: D
Though the coaching staff couldn't do anything about the number of defensive injuries, the fact remains that whether the primary culprit is recruiting or in-game coaching, the staff hasn't put Vanderbilt in the best position to win through a lack of depth and a conservative approach early in games.
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Overall: F
Though not the worst-played game Vanderbilt has had this season, this was still part of a stretch of games that was was supposed to be winnable for the Commodores, who for various reasons hasn't been able to win any of them. That's the true failure, beyond simply what happened in Gainesville.
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: How we graded Vanderbilt football's loss to Florida
