Vanderbilt didn’t just beat NC State on Saturday. It survived a finish that had every ingredient of a gut-punch loss, then somehow walked out with a 35-31 win.
The last seconds were chaos. Jared Curtis had already thrown the interception that should have sealed it for NC State, but the game still had one more twist. Miles Capers got the punch, Cayden Daniels got to the loose ball, and Vanderbilt turned a near-certain defeat into a win that pushed it to 3-0 and put bowl eligibility in view.
It took a chain of events for the Commodores to pull it off. NC State had to choose not to just take the safety and bleed the clock.
CJ Bailey had to make a mistake while time was winding down. His knee had to not be down.
Vanderbilt’s field-goal block call had to work exactly as drawn up, with every player racing straight to the ball. Capers had to land the punch cleanly.
Daniels had to react fast enough to beat everyone else to it.
He did.
“When you play Vanderbilt, you’re gonna have to play four quarters-and that’s till the end,” Daniels said. “Through all four quarters, we play.”
That quote fit the night. Vanderbilt could have folded when the game seemed to be slipping away, and there was plenty in its performance that would have made that understandable. Instead, it kept hanging around, kept believing, and kept itself alive until the final horn.
“I’m proud of our program,” Lea said. “This has become a program that finds a way to win, and I think that can't be undersold in this moment, that certainly there are plenty of teams that find a way out of that game and yet our guys found a way in.”
Curtis was the center of everything, for better and worse. He turned it over three times, including the interception that looked like it should end the game.
But he also kept Vanderbilt within reach. He finished 20-for-34 passing for a career-high 277 yards, added 64 rushing yards and accounted for three total touchdowns.
The freshman mistakes were real, but so were the throws and the runs that made the comeback possible.
It wasn’t a clean performance, and it wasn’t a masterpiece. Still, Curtis showed enough to make one thing clear: Vanderbilt has a quarterback it can build around now and later.
The bigger concern is that he needed so much help. The rest of the offense didn’t make life easy.
Vanderbilt was flagged seven times for 90 yards. Receivers dropped chances they had both hands on.
The run game never really settled in. And the defense kept putting pressure back on the offense by failing to get the stops it needed.
That defensive side of the ball has problems, even if the numbers on paper looked promising coming into the season. The results haven’t matched that billing, and Saturday was another reminder. NC State piled up 446 total yards, including 166 on the ground, and produced 10 “Big” plays for 213 yards.
Still, the Commodores won, and that changes how the day gets remembered.
One bright spot on defense keeps showing up no matter what else is going on. Nick Rinaldi was around the football again, finishing with five tackles, one sack, one pass breakup and one tackle for loss.
He looked like the most reliable piece on that side of the ball and the kind of versatile player Steve Gregory can move around. There’s been quiet buzz about him in NFL circles, and Saturday only added to it.
Vanderbilt has real issues. That much is obvious. But it also showed something harder to fake: it stayed in the fight, and when the moment finally arrived, it found a way to win.
In Other News...
Jared Curtis Just Raised Vanderbilt's Biggest Quarterback Question
Jared Curtis did more than survive his first start at Vanderbilt. The five-star freshman quarterback helped engineer a 17-point comeback against NC State, earning SEC Freshman of the Week honors in the process and giving the Commodores a glimpse of what their future might look like under center. He finished 20 of 34 for 277 yards with three touchdown passes and two interceptions, a line that reflected both the promise and the occasional rough edges that come with a young quarterback making his first real statement.
Clark Lea said Curtis showed growth throughout the game, and that may be the part Vanderbilt will watch most closely moving forward. The performance gave the staff evidence that Curtis can handle big moments, but it also sharpened the bigger question now hanging over the position: how quickly can Vanderbilt turn one impressive debut into something more stable as the season goes on? [Read more 🡒]
Vanderbilt Gets An Early Reality Check Before SEC Pressure Hits
The Commodores are about to get an early test on the road, with Vanderbilt set to face Miami in a preseason exhibition Friday, Oct. 23, at the Watsco Center in Coral Gables. It is the kind of matchup that can tell a team plenty before the games count, especially with both programs coming off strong seasons and carrying spots in ESPNs Way-Too-Early Top 25.
For Vanderbilt, the timing makes the trip even more interesting because the SEC grind is still ahead, and early games like this can help reveal what needs tightening before the pressure ramps up. Miami coach Jai Lucas has already pointed to the value of tough preparation and the need for challenging games before his team opens the season against Florida, which gives this exhibition a little more edge than the usual fall tune-up. [Read more 🡒]
Vanderbilt Had Several Performances SEC Teams Should Notice After This Win
Vanderbilts win over NC State offered more than just a good result for the resume, because several players gave SEC opponents something to file away. The defense made one of the biggest early statements when EDGE Miles Capers forced a fumble that cornerback Cayden Daniels recovered, and Capers added three tackles and a tackle for loss to a disruptive outing.
On the other side of the ball, Sherrill kept building his case as a reliable target by leading the Commodores with six catches for 108 yards and two touchdowns, a sign that his timing with quarterback Jared Curtis is starting to look more natural. Freshman Mason Lewis also turned heads in his first start at STAR, tying for the team lead with eight tackles and giving Vanderbilt another young defender worth watching as the schedule gets tougher. [Read more 🡒]