The Alabama Crimson Tide and Vanderbilt Commodores do battle Saturday in week 4 SEC college football action at Bryant-Denny Stadium. The Vanderbilt Commodores look to build on their solid 3-1 start. The Alabama Crimson Tide look for to start 4-0 for a seventh straight season.
The Vanderbilt Commodores have lost 4 of their last 7 road games. AJ Swann is completing 63 percent of his passes for 452 yards, 6 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. Will Sheppard and Jayden McGowan have combined for 557 receiving yards and 8 touchdowns, while Devin Boddie Jr. has 3 receptions. The Vanderbilt Commodores ground game is averaging 220.5 yards per contest, and Re’Mahn Davis leads the way with 269 yards and 2 touchdowns. Defensively, Vanderbilt is allowing 28.5 points and 414.5 yards per game. Anfernee Orji leads the Vanderbilt Commodores with 39 tackles, Myles Cecil has 1 sack and De’Rickey Wright has 1 interception.
The Alabama Crimson Tide hasn’t lost a home game since November 2019. Bryce Young is completing 68.2 percent of his passes for 644 yards, 9 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. Traeshon Holden and Jahmyr Gibbs have combined for 313 receiving yards and 5 touchdowns, while Kobe Prentice has 9 receptions. The Alabama Crimson Tide ground game is averaging 237.3 yards per contest, and Jase McClellan leads the way with 167 yards and 1 touchdown. Defensively, Alabama is allowing 8.7 points and 225.3 yards per game. Jaylen Moody leads the Alabama Crimson Tide with 22 tackles, Will Anderson Jr. has 2 sacks and DeMarcco Hellams has 2 pass deflections.
The Commodores are 5-0 ATS in their last 5 road games and 6-2 ATS in their last 8 games overall. The Crimson Tide are 16-5 ATS in their last 21 home games and 1-4 ATS in their last 5 conference games. The over is 5-0 in Commodores last 5 games overall. The under is 4-1 in Crimson Tide last 5 games overall. The Commodores are 1-4 ATS in their last 5 meetings. The road team is 4-1 ATS in their last 5 meetings.
The Vanderbilt Commodores are better than this line suggests as they’re off to a fine start, have a solid ground game and just beat NIU in the underdog role last week. However, we know Vandy and its limits, and a 20-pint loss to Wake Forest isn’t encouraging going to Alabama. A possible look ahead game for the Alabama Crimson Tide with Arkansas on deck, but they’ve also covered 6 of their last 8 games when favorites of 35 or more points. Vanderbilt will have issues scoring double-digit points in this game. I have no choice but to lay the chalk.