Offense shows hope, but also room for improvement
Vanderbilt lost Saturday’s game with then-No. 14 Florida by a 37-27 score. But the play of running back Ke’Shawn Vaughn bred hope for better things.
Vaughn took the Commodores’ first offensive snap 43 yards over right end, a key play in a 98-yard scoring drive. About a minute into the second quarter, Vaughn took a screen pass behind the line of scrimmage 75 yards for a score.
Those were two of many recent big plays for Vaughn, who’s had the Commodores’ longest play from scrimmage the last four weeks. Those came against Georgia (a 43-yard run), Tennessee State (a 78-yard touchdown run) and South Carolina (a 27-yard pass).
Vaughn was injured about three minutes into the second quarter of the UF game and didn’t return. VU hopes to have him back for Saturday’s trip to No. 14 Kentucky. He’s averaged 6.9 yards per carry and leads Vandy with 626 yards from scrimmage.
Without Vaughn, the rest of the offense managed 205 yards on 50 plays. The Commodores failed to get the ball enough to their other two big play-makers, wide receiver Kalija Lipscomb (four catches, 64 yards, one rush for 15) and tight end Jared Pinkney (three catches, 25 yards, one score).
Mason estimated receivers dropped “five or six” balls against UF.
“I told our guys, right now, we have to perfect the details,” coach Derek Mason said on Tuesday. “Success is in the details. For us, we’re leaving way too much out there.”
Vanderbilt’s defense leaves little margin for error. In VU’s last 11 Southeastern Conference games, dating back to the beginning of last year, conference opponents have averaged 42.0 points and 494.8 yards.
With or without Vaughn, Mason’s looking for the rest of the team to step up.
“We’ve got other players,” Mason said.
“Ke’Shawn Vaughn is a dynamic player, and by all expectation, we’ll look to see Ke’Shawn. But when ‘Ke’ went down, people forget, (running back) Jamauri Wakefield took the ball down the field and put it in the end zone. We got behind on a couple of early pass downs with a couple of drops that really stagnated those drives, and so we got behind in the chains against a good Florida team.
“When they get you behind the chains, that’s what happens. … We didn’t get a chance to get back to Jamauri.”