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College Football
Preview
Vanderbilt at Louisiana State
When: 7:45 PM ET, Saturday, November 23, 2024
Where: Tiger Stadium, Baton Rouge, Louisiana

LSU and Vanderbilt are both 6-4 overall and 3-3 in the SEC as they prepare to meet Saturday night in Baton Rouge, La.

Those numbers mean very different things to the programs.

The Tigers have been ranked as high as No. 8, but enter the week unranked for the first time this season after losing three straight games.

The Commodores, who were winless in the SEC last season and three times in the last four seasons, are excited about being bowl eligible with a marquee win to celebrate. Vandy claimed the program's first victory ever against a No. 1-ranked team by beating Alabama.

Vanderbilt's surge moved head coach Clark Lea from the proverbial hot seat to coach of the year candidacy. He will be facing Brian Kelly, his former boss when Lea was defensive coordinator at Notre Dame.

The heat was turned up on Kelly after a 27-16 loss at Florida last Saturday.

"You have to examine everything that you do on a day-to-day basis and make sure that you're addressing those things that are most important to getting the right outcomes," Kelly said. "When you don't get the right outcomes immediately it's going to be, take this action, do this, bench this guy, fire that guy. For us it's much more about understanding that we have a process in place. We have to stick with that process."

The Commodores' success led to Lea being named one of five finalists for the American Football Coaches Association Coach of the Year on Tuesday.

"We're proud of the progress we've made," Lea said, "but we're not satisfied."

Vanderbilt, which lost 28-3 to visiting South Carolina two weeks ago, used an open date last week to let several players who were "banged up" heal, most notably star quarterback Diego Pavia, who has a lower leg injury but is expected to start against LSU.

"This is a great identity game where we need to be really good in all three phases," Lea said.

--Field Level Media

Stats and Records
Team Comparison
  W‑L Strk PF PA Home Away Grass Turf Conf
Vanderbilt 6-4 L1 28.0 21.7 4-2 2-2 2-0 0-1 3-3
Louisiana State 6-4 L3 29.1 25.1 4-2 2-2 5-4 0-0 3-3
Last Meeting
Vanderbilt Louisiana State
Date Away Home Tot Rus Pas Tot Rus Pas
10/3/20 LSU 41 VAN 7 266 153 113 498 161 337
Player Stats
Previous Matchup
Passing Player COMP % YDS TD INT
Vanderbilt K. Seals 44.0 113 1 2
Louisiana State M. Brennan 62.2 337 4 1
Rushing Player CAR YDS AVG TD
Vanderbilt J. Marlow 17 83 4.9 0
Louisiana State J. Emery Jr. 12 103 8.6 1
Receiving Player REC YDS AVG TD
Vanderbilt C. Johnson 3 63 21.0 0
Louisiana State T. Marshall Jr. 2 67 33.5 2
Touchdowns Player TD
Vanderbilt B. Bresnahan 1
Louisiana State J. Kirklin 2
Season
Passing Player COMP % YDS TD INT
Vanderbilt D. Pavia 60.6 1843 15 3
Louisiana State G. Nussmeier 62.1 3126 22 11
Rushing Player CAR YDS AVG TD
Vanderbilt D. Pavia 159 628 3.9 5
Louisiana State C. Durham 100 556 5.6 6
Receiving Player REC YDS AVG TD
Vanderbilt E. Stowers 42 557 13.3 4
Louisiana State K. Lacy 49 740 15.1 7
Touchdowns Player TD
Vanderbilt S. Alexander 6
Louisiana State C. Durham 8
Quickchart Matchup
Vanderbilt Vanderbilt Off vs  Louisiana State Louisiana State Def
Vanderbilt 331.3 yards
Louisiana State 364.4 yards
Vanderbilt 3.8 yards/rush
Louisiana State 4.4 yards/rush
Vanderbilt 7.8 yards/attempt
Louisiana State 7.7 yards/attempt
Louisiana State Louisiana State Off vs  Vanderbilt Vanderbilt Def
Louisiana State 431.5 yards
Vanderbilt 349.1 yards
Louisiana State 4 yards/rush
Vanderbilt 3.9 yards/rush
Louisiana State 7.4 yards/attempt
Vanderbilt 7.8 yards/attempt