Texas suffered its first loss of the year this past weekend in a match against long-time conference powerhouse Georgia. Suffering this loss as the No. 1 team in the country dropped the Longhorns four spots to No. 5 in the AP poll. Now with a loss on its record, Texas must do everything in its power to win out, an easy task on paper, but no team is safe this year in the SEC. Texas must especially watch out for its next opponent, No. 25 Vanderbilt.

Not a single football fan, analyst or even player thought Vanderbilt would come into the 2024 season as not only a team with a winning record but a team capable of competing with some of the best football programs. It showed promise early on, splitting its first two games. In their fourth game, the team only lost to Missouri by three points. It wasn’t until it conquered then-No. 1 Alabama that the college football world realized that Vanderbilt may be the real deal.

Graduate student quarterback Diego Pavia, a transfer from New Mexico State, is determined to carry his team to even more wins after overcoming the Crimson Tide. Pavia’s stats are respectable, throwing for more than 250 yards in three games this season, as well as two or more passing touchdowns in five games. It isn’t incredible stats that Pavia brings to his team necessarily, but it is a drive of leadership. He is a quarterback who knows how to fire up his teammates and, now ranked for the first time since 2013, Pavia and Vanderbilt have something to fight for.

Though the clear favorite in this matchup, Texas cannot fall asleep at the wheel. After last week’s loss, it has most likely become apparent to the Longhorns the importance of treating every game like it is its biggest game. Already aware that Vanderbilt has the capabilities to take down powerhouse teams, head coach Steve Sarkisian was correct in saying the Longhorns face a gauntlet with both Georgia and Vanderbilt..

So far this season all but one of Vanderbilt’s games have been close matches, with five of them resulting in one score differences. Vanderbilt remains in the bottom half of the conference in total yards and yards per game but sits at seventh in the SEC in total points and points per game.

Though they may not be the most productive statistically, this underdog team will fight to the very end of every game they play in. The best way to determine who will win a game like this is to see who can limit its mistakes and who wants the win more. With the way Vanderbilt has been playing, it certainly wants these wins. The question is, will Texas help the Commodores by playing against themselves as they did against Georgia? Vanderbilt’s greatest asset this Saturday will be having home-field advantage over the Longhorns.