The Alabama A&M Bulldogs and the Vanderbilt Commodores meet in week 1 college football action from FirstBank Stadium on Saturday.

Alabama A&M Team Preview

The Alabama A&M Bulldogs will hope to move forward from a disappointing 2022 season that saw the Bulldogs finish 4-7 on the year including 4-4 in SWAC play. The Bulldogs’ four wins came by a combined margin of 21 points. Xavier Lankford looks to be the guy leading the charge under center for Alabama A&M this season after throwing for almost 1,300 yards, 6 touchdowns and 7 interceptions in 2022. The Bulldogs will hope for a lot from their backfield, including Lankford who was second on the team in ushing behind Donovan Eaglin, who returns after rushing for 873 yards last season. The task will be rebuilding the receiving corps after losing top receiver Isiah Cox who had 425 receiving yards in 2022. On defense, it can’t get much worse after allowing 256 points in 9 games against FCS teams in 2022. Zareon Hayes is back after logging 3.5 sacks in 2022, but leading tackler Dre Terry is gone after logging 85 total tackles in 2022.

Vanderbilt Wins Nailbiter vs. Hawaii

The Vanderbilt Commodores had a chance to use Hawaii as a bit of a statement game heading into this one, but instead, they narrowly escaped with a 35-28 win over Hawaii in week 0 action. AJ Swann threw for 258 yards and 3 scores on 19 of 30 passing while Patrick Smith rushed for a team-high 30 yards and a touchdown on 7 carries. Jayden McGowan had a team-high 6 grabs for 72 yards while Will Sheppard added 6 grabs of his own for 68 yards and a touchdown. London Humphreys also had a 32-yard TD grab as well for the ‘Dores. McGowan logged a 97-yard kick return TD as well in the win. On defense, De’Rickey Wright had a pair of interceptions while CJ Taylor had a team-high 9 total tackles and a sack. Nate Clifton also had a sack for Vanderbilt while Linus Zunk and Aenead DiCosmo each combined for a sack in the winning effort.

Trends

Alabama A&M is 2-6 ATS in their last 8 games overall and 2-6 ATS in their last 8 road games. Vanderbilt is 6-20 ATS in their last 26 home games and 3-11 ATS in their last 14 September games while the under is 5-2 in their last 7 games overall.

Chris’ Pick

I’m sticking with Vanderbilt here. This is a big number for the Commodores, but Vandy’s offense looked pretty good against Hawaii and what I’ve learned from the Commodores in the past is that they rarely let a chance like this go by for a big confidence building win and cover. Alabama A&M wasn’t great to begin with last season and I don’t see them figuring it out here when the Bulldogs have had a history of being a stepping stone for the bigger boys. Give me Vanderbilt here.