FAYETTEVILLE — Vanderbilt’s offense sprang to life for one quarter Saturday before the Commodores reverted to form in a 49-14 loss to Arkansas.
The Commodores needed just 15 minutes to double their point total of the past two games and led Arkansas 14-6 after the first quarter. Vanderbilt went more than 43 minutes without a first down after that.
“I’d have to see the film to see,” Vanderbilt Coach Robbie Caldwell said, when asked what happened to his offense. “That’s a great question. If I knew I wouldn’t have let it happen.”
Vanderbilt finished with eight first downs and 153 yards of total offense, both well below their SEC averages of 13.6 and 305.9 - figures that were the worst in the SEC.
It was Vanderbilt’s first game since running backs coach Des Kitchings was promoted to offensive coordinator to replace quarterbacks coach Jimmy Kiser. The change came with the Commodores (2-6, 1-4 SEC) ranked last in the SEC in several offensive categories, including averaging just 9.5 points a game.
The play-calling certainly worked in the first quarter as the Commodores had 7 firstdowns, 104 yards rushing and 14 points. In the next three quarters, the Commodores had 1 first down, 13 yards rushing and 0 points.
“It was the game plan for the whole four quarters,” Caldwell said. “They did a good job stopping it after that. Whether it was us stopping ourselves or Arkansas stopping us, we didn’t make plays after that.”
Caldwell said he thought his new offensive coordinator did a good job in his first game.
“We got points in the first quarter. That’s what y’all been complaining about,” Caldwell said. “We just wasn’t able to keep it going the next three. It’s proof in the pudding that it’s not always the play-calling.”
Vanderbilt quarterback Larry Smith said Arkansas’ defense didn’t do anything different than what the Commodores had studied during film preparation. That made the futile final three quarters all the more frustrating.
“It feels like it happens week in and week out,” Smith said. “It’s hard for us to move the ball continuously. They just whipped us out there man to man.
“It wasn’t nothing that wassurprising to us. We knew what they were going to do, we just didn’t do an excellent job executing.”
The downslide of Vanderbilt’s offensive game began on the Commodores’ first possession of the second quarter after Arkansas pulled within 14-13. Vanderbilt secondstring quarterback Jared Funk entered the game as had been planned before the game after he had a strong week of practice.
The idea was Funk’s passing might offer a change of pace from Smith’s running. Unfortunately, Funk threw an interception on the third play to Rudell Crim that the Razorbacks turned into a touchdown and a 20-14 lead.
Vanderbilt had more problems than one interception, though, in the second quarter. The Commodores had minus-18 yards rushing in the quarter and gave up points on a safety when Smith fumbled into the end zone after being sacked by linebacker Jerry Franklin.
Arkansas outscored Vanderbilt 26-0 in the second quarter. With no running game and a big deficit, Smith was forced to pass more and finished the game 4 of 12 for 25 yards and 3 sacks.
Funk played another series in the fourth and threw an interception that Jerico Nelson returned for a touchdown.
Sports, Pages 36 on 10/31/2010