Langford’s TD only real highlight for Vanderbilt

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Rashard Langford said he read the quarterback’s eyes when he intercepted a pass and returned it 42 yards for a touchdown Saturday in Vanderbilt’s 20-10 loss to Tennessee.

George Smith said he saw it in his mind’s eye well before it actually happened.

“I told myself (Friday) night that he was due for one,” Smith said. “And he got me one. It was a great play, and he made it for us.”

That moment – with 4:20 to play in the third quarter – was one of the few bright spots for the Commodores, who failed to generate any real momentum prior to, or in the wake of that play and thus failed to capitalize on the positive feelings created by the victory at Kentucky a week earlier.

“I know we’ve done some good things this season, but I think that’s kind of a side story to this season is what we’ve let slip away,” quarterback Mackenzi Adams said. “This is one of the first times playing at Vanderbilt where we go into games expecting to win and we’re predicted to win. We’ve let some of those games slip away.”

Langford’s interception got the Commodores, who trailed by 20 at halftime, within 10. The defense then held again and forced a punt, but with the opportunity to cut the deficit to a touchdown or less, the offense sputtered.

Adams, who replaced starter Chris Nickson with just over a minute to play in the first half, missed his next four pass attempts to conclude a stretch of nine straight incompletions over all or part of three possessions. It was not until fewer than five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter that the offense even crossed midfield again.

“We had plenty of time (following Langford’s interception),” coach Bobby Johnson said. “They don’t allow you to get too much momentum with their defense. They’re very good on defense. It was rough sledding all the way, but (Adams) came in and did some good things. When we got behind, I’m sure they figured we’d throw the football a good bit.”

It was similar to the manner in which the Commodores opened the contest.

VU’s Myron Lewis intercepted a pass on the second play from scrimmage and set up the offense at the UT 34. The Commodores failed to take advantage, however, when four plays resulted in zero net yards.

Vanderbilt’s only first down of the 29 minutes was the result of a penalty. Over that same time the Commodores had committed two turnovers, one of them an interception that was returned for a touchdown.

“We were trying several different things, trying to find our niche in the game plan,” Nickson said. “There wasn’t much working. I made a few mistakes in there, and they were costly mistakes. You can’t make mistakes like that against Tennessee’s defense.”

VU players and coaches were at a loss to explain some of the things that happened in their fifth loss of the season, this one to a team that had just one SEC victory coming in and had announced nearly two weeks earlier that it had fired its coach.

Some said they lacked the same emotion they showed a week earlier when they jumped out to a 24-7 halftime lead.

“I was trying to figure out what we were doing wrong and see if we could get it corrected,” Johnson said. “I wasn’t trying to gauge our intensity. I think our guys were ready to play.

“Sometimes it just doesn’t work.”

There were times when it did. Langford’s interception was one.

“We played the technique our coaches taught us,” Langford said of the play. “We practiced well this week and did what we had to do. I just had the chance to make a play and I just did what I had to do.”

As a whole, though, the Commodores did not do what they needed.