Know Your Foe: ‘Giant killer’ Vandy tries for second straight upset of UK in Lexington

Scouting Kentucky football’s next opponent, the Vanderbilt Commodores:

Game details

Kentucky (3-2, 1-2 SEC) will come off its first open date of the 2024 season to play Vanderbilt (3-2, 1-1 SEC) at 7:45 p.m. EDT on Saturday, Oct. 12, at Kroger Field (seating capacity of 61,000) in Lexington, Ky.

The game will be telecast by the SEC Network.

Coach Clark Lea’s Commodores shocked No. 1 Alabama 40-35 Saturday in Nashville.

History and trends

Kentucky leads the all-time series with Vanderbilt 49-43-4 — which is a bit misleading.

From 1896 through 1945, Vandy went 19-1-2 vs. UK. Since 1946, Kentucky has gone 48-24-2 against Vanderbilt.

As UK coach, Mark Stoops is 8-3 against the Commodores.

Vanderbilt head man Clark Lea is 1-2 vs. Kentucky.

Under Stoops, UK is 5-9 in games that immediately followed a regular season open date — and the Wildcats have lost their last three such contests.

However, in the Stoops coaching era, the Cats are 3-0 vs. Vanderbilt in games that immediately followed a Kentucky open date.

Most recent meeting

On Sept. 23, 2023, Kentucky cornerback Maxwell Hairston returned two interceptions for touchdowns and former Vanderbilt star Ray Davis ran for 78 yards and two TDs to lead UK to a 45-28 win over Vandy at FirstBank Stadium in Nashville.

The first of Hairston’s pick sixes, from 29 yards out, put UK ahead 14-0 with 8:49 left in the first quarter.

Hairston’s second interception return for a TD, from 54 yards out with 4:15 left in the game, put UK ahead 45-21 and sealed the Wildcats’ fourth straight victory vs. Vandy in Nashville.

Pride of the program

A relatively unheralded recruit out of Madison, Alabama, Jordan Matthews became one of the cornerstones of the ascension in Vanderbilt’s football fortunes during the James Franklin coaching era (2011 through 2013).

A 6-foot-3, 206-pound wide receiver, Matthews departed Vandy after the 2013 season having set SEC career records for receptions (262) and receiving yards (3,759). Over his four season college career, Matthews caught 24 touchdown passes, a Vandy school record.

With Matthews leading the way, Vanderbilt went to three straight bowl games from 2011 through 2013. The Commodores won the 2012 Music City Bowl, 38-24 over North Carolina State, and the BBVA Compass Bowl that was played following the 2013 season, 41-24 over Houston.

In four career games (2010 through 2013) against Kentucky, Matthews caught 24 passes for 351 yards and five touchdowns.

While leading Vandy to a 3-1 mark vs. UK during his playing career, Matthews caught at least one TD pass in every game he played vs. the Wildcats.

Three things to know

1. Before Diego Pavia became a national folk hero by quarterbacking Vandy to its stunning upset of Alabama, he had already built an estimable portfolio of college football success.

In 2023, Pavis quarterbacked traditionally football-challenged New Mexico State to a 10-5 mark that included an emphatic 31-10 road demolition of Auburn. It was only the Aggies’ second double-digit win season since 1931.

While leading the Vanderbilt offense, Pavia has not missed a beat. First, he led Vandy to a season-opening upset of Virginia Tech, 34-27 in overtime. Pavia and the Commodores also produced a double overtime near miss in a 30-27 loss at then-No. 7 Missouri.

Last Saturday, Pavia directed Vandy to its first win over a team ranked in the top five of the AP poll ever with the victory over then-No. 1 Bama.

A dual threat, Pavia completed 16 of 20 passes for 252 yards and two touchdowns against Alabama while also running for a net of 56 yards on 20 carries.

On the season, the 6-foot, 207-pound Pavia has completed 66.7 percent (70 of 105) of his passes and has thrown for 973 yards and eight touchdowns. The Albuquerque, New Mexico, native has not thrown an interception through five games.

On the ground, Pavia has run for a team-high 335 net yards with two TDs.

Last season at New Mexico State, Pavia threw for 2,973 yards and 26 touchdowns vs. nine picks and ran for 923 yards and seven TDs.

2. Two seasons ago, when Vanderbilt stunned Kentucky 24-21 in Lexington to snap a 26-game losing skid in SEC contests, the key play was made by Vandy wideout Quincy Skinner Jr.

With the Commodores facing fourth-and-11 from the UK 49-yard line, Skinner caught a 40-yard pass that gave Vandy a first-and-goal at the UK 9-yard line. The play set up the game-winning score, an 8-yard pass to Will Sheppard from Mike Wright with 32 seconds left.

Of the players who made those crucial plays for Vanderbilt during 2022’s game-winning drive vs. Kentucky, only Skinner is still with Vandy.

Sheppard is now catching passes from Shedeur Sanders at Colorado. Quarterback Wright, who played for Mississippi State in 2023, is now at Northwestern.

Now a senior, the 6-2, 205-pound Skinner, a product of Pompano Beach, Florida, is second on the Commodores team with 12 catches. He has 170 receiving yards and a touchdown.

3. For whatever reason, Kentucky has recently had a much more difficult time against Vanderbilt in games played in Lexington than in Nashville.

In its last four meetings against Vanderbilt in the Music City, UK is 4-0 with an average margin of victory of 22.75 points a game.

Conversely, in the last four contests with Vandy in Lexington, UK is 3-1 with no win of more than seven points.

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