Goalposts in a river last time: No. 7 Alabama heads back to Vanderbilt

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Alabama and coach Kalen DeBoer can't escape the memories of the Crimson Tide's last visit to Vanderbilt even with all the roster changes in the transfer portal era.

Not this week.

The last time the Crimson Tide played on Vanderbilt's home field, the Commodores posted an upset so historic fans celebrated by tearing down the goalposts and dumping them in a river two miles from campus.

“This is a different team than we had last year, which is different than the year before, too,” DeBoer said ahead of Saturday's game. "So, we gotta take our experiences from what we’re going through right now and apply them.”

No. 7 Alabama (7-2, 5-2 Southeastern Conference) is coming off a 31-13 win at LSU that pushed the Crimson Tide up to third in the College Football Playoff rankings . Alabama is second in the SEC standings behind only Georgia thanks to the head-to-head tiebreaker over Kentucky.

DeBoer has plenty of coaches and players back who were part of that 40-35 loss to Vanderbilt in 2024. It was the Commodores' first win ever over a No. 1 team after losing their first 60 games against AP top five opponents.

Alabama routed Vanderbilt in Tuscaloosa last season and dominates this series with a 64-19-4 all-time record, including 30-13-2 in Nashville.

Vanderbilt (4-5, 1-5) has freshman quarterback Jared Curtis this season. He has started six games after flipping his commitment from Georgia to his hometown program, and the Commodores are coming off their first SEC win this season, 25-23 at Mississippi State.

Coach Clark Lea said his Commodores have to prove they can protect the ball and are resilient.

“If we can do that we can win but we're going to have to do that,” Lea said.

The Alabama quarterback finished the win over LSU despite an injured ankle sending him to the medical tent. That ankle had him day to day preparing for Vanderbilt, and DeBoer said Russell has to be able to play at the level needed to help Alabama win. Russell has thrown for 2,263 yards with 18 touchdowns and only five interceptions.

“I’d expect him to do everything he can to get on the football field,” DeBoer said.

Martel Hight wanted to be a two-way player for the Commodores. Now he's only on the depth chart at wide receiver; he was listed at cornerback going into last week's win at Mississippi State but only played on offense.

The senior who also returns kicks had a career-high four interceptions last season and has one this season for eight in his career. Hight has caught eight passes for 67 yards as well with one for 3 yards at Mississippi State.

One area that remains a sore spot for Alabama is the ability to run the ball. That hadn't been much of an issue at a program that pumped out Heisman Trophy winners Mark Ingram and Derrick Henry. Now the Crimson Tide ranks 87th nationally averaging only 143.8 yards per game.

Penalties haven't helped wiping out productive runs. Coaches are trying to scheme better ways to attack opponents to help, and DeBoer said staying on the field more will help give Alabama more chances to run.

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