SEC Round-Up: Can Vanderbilt capture its elusive third straight win?

Whether it be a hat trick, the triple crown, musketeers, stooges or tic-tac-toe, trios are often celebrated.

Except in Nashville’s West End during football season. There, trios are rarely celebrated because they rarely occur.

Vanderbilt has not posted three straight football victories since 2017, when the Commodores defeated Middle Tennessee, Alabama A&M and Kansas State in consecutive weeks.

But on Saturday, they could scratch their seven-year itch.

Vandy opened the season with a stunning 34-27 overtime victory over Virginia Tech. An anticipated 55-0 rout of Alcorn State followed.

The Commodores can make it three-in-a-row on Saturday at (1-1) Georgia State, a Sun Belt Conference foe that last week edged Chattanooga, 24-21.

“We’re obviously happy to be 2-0 and having a good result we’re coming off of,” Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea said. “We’ve got a big challenge this week going on the road for the first time. We need to take a mature team to Atlanta to give ourselves the best chance to play at our highest level against a good opponent. A well-coached team that is notorious for playing big in these types of games.”

Georgia State upset Tennessee in the 2019 season opener. The Panthers scared Auburn before falling 34-24 in 2021. They also fell to North Carolina by a touchdown in 2022.

© Denny Simmons / The Tennessean

Diego Pavia was named SEC Co-Offensive Player of the Week after throwing two touchdowns and rushing for a third in an overtime win against Middle Tennessee. Overall he completed 12-of-16 passes for 190 yards and also rushed for 104.

Vanderbilt’s success has been built around the efficient play of transfer quarterback Diego Pavia, who last season led New Mexico State to its first 10-win season since 1960.

Pavia has completed 76 percent of his passing attempts and has thrown two touchdown passes. He’s also Vandy’s leading rusher with 155 yards and two scores.

Pavia is the biggest piece to the NIL jigsaw puzzle Lea has put together.

“Building a team in the current landscape means that NIL is going to be a part of it,” Lea said. “We weren’t really participating at all in NIL prior to this year. We’re still not where our peers are in this respect, but man, have we covered some ground and set a course to cover more ground.

“That does not mean those resources are magically popping up. That means that we have a lot of people with their sleeves rolled up understanding the significance of it and working hard to improve it.”

A rare three-game winning streak would be a signal of that improvement.

Around the SEC

This week’s games: Texas A&M at Florida; No. 4 Alabama at Wisconsin; No. 24 Boston College at No. 6 Missouri; Tulane at No. 15 Oklahoma; UAB at Arkansas; No. 5 Ole Miss at Wake Forest; UTSA at No. 2 Texas; Vanderbilt at Georgia State; No. 1 Georgia at Kentucky; New Mexico at Auburn; Toledo at Mississippi State; Kent State at No. 7 Tennessee

Who’s hot: Tennessee’s defense is taking attention away from its offense. The Volunteers are fifth in the nation in total defense. Dating back to the Citrus Bowl game against Iowa last season, the Vols defense has allowed just six points in their last three games. In that span, Tennessee has scored three touchdowns via interception returns while not allowing a touchdown. The only touchdown scored on Tennessee this season was via an 87-yard interception return vs. North Carolina State.

Jamie Maury, TexAgs

Payton Thorne passed for 1,755 yards (162-of-265) with 16 touchdowns and 10 interceptions in 2023. Before joining the SEC, Thorne was a three-year letterwinner for Michigan State.

Who’s not: Losing gamblers have contacted Auburn quarterback Payton Thorne, requesting Venmo cash as reimbursement for his abysmal showing in a 21-14 loss to Cal. That’s not a joke. Thorne completed just over 50 percent of his passes and threw four interceptions in that loss. Unfortunately, that just continued his struggles from last season. In his last three games against Power 4 opponents Alabama, Maryland and Cal, Thorne completed 47.1 percent of his passes for an average of 113.3 yards with three touchdowns and seven interceptions. Not surprisingly, the Tigers lost all those games.

Keep an eye on: South Carolina’s pass rush has produced an SEC-leading 10 sacks. The Gamecocks, led by edge rusher Kyle Kennard’s 3.5 sacks, had five in both games against Old Dominion and Kentucky. That’s an impressive total regardless of competition. However, they next face LSU. Behind Will Campbell and Emory Jones, generally considered the best tackle tandem in the country, LSU has yet to allow a sack. South Carolina’s pass rush will be completely validated if the Gamecocks can get to LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier.

The pressure is on: The pressure is never off Florida coach Billy Napier. His job is in jeopardy after back-to-back losing seasons in his first two seasons in Gainesville. The Gators were annihilated by Miami, 41-17, in the season-opener. That was Florida’s sixth consecutive loss vs. Power 4 opponents. The Gators next play host to Texas A&M, which has endured 10 consecutive road losses. Napier desperately needs a win. Tennessee, Georgia, Texas, LSU, Ole Miss and Florida State remain on the schedule. A loss to the Aggies likely leads to a third-straight losing season.

Best matchup: Boston College’s running game figures to test Missouri’s “Death Row” defense. Mizzou hasn’t allowed any points yet, but BC is easily the strongest offense the Tigers will have faced. BC is ranked No. 9 in the country in rushing. That includes a 263-yard rushing output in a victory over Florida State. Missouri has allowed just 172 rushing yards in two games.