Vanderbilt returns senior All-American candidates in receiver Kalija Lipscomb, whose 87 receptions last season ranked first in the SEC, and tight end Jared Pinkney, whose 50 catches last year were the second-most of all returning tight ends in the FBS. So it appeared the Commodores’ passing attack could very well keep the Georgia pass defense on its toes tonight at Vanderbilt Stadium.

Instead, the Commodores proved to be no passing fancy against the Bulldogs’ suffocating secondary in Georgia’s 30-6 season-opening victory.

“I thought [Georgia’s defense] did a good job of playing top down, not wanting to give up anything on the outside early,” said Derek Mason who, before tonight, had won his last two season openers in a row as Vanderbilt’s head coach. “It became that type of ball game, where roll coverage sort of found Kalija most of the day, in terms of what it looked like. They (Georgia) were going to play over the top and try to single everybody else and make everybody else have to stand up.”

Engaged in a two-way quarterback battle throughout fall camp, graduate transfer Riley Neal started under center for Vanderbilt. In four seasons at Ball State (2015-2018), Neal had completed 60 percent of his pass attempts for 7,393 yards, 46 touchdowns, and 25 interceptions. Tonight, he was held in check. Although not intercepted as he completed a respectable 14 of 25 passes, Neal passed for only 85 yards and no scores.

“Generally, you just try and take what the defense gives you,” said Neal when asked about his tendency to check down against Georgia. “Each play is different, so it's hard to tell exactly what's going on in each one.”

In relief of Neal for the Commodores’ final offensive possession, junior Deuce Williams completed his first two passes for 24 yards before missing on his next four attempts. As far as the quarterbacks’ supposed primary targets, Lipscomb and Pinkney combined to catch five passes for a mere 19 yards. The pair averaged 130 receiving yards per game last season.

In all, Vanderbilt passed for only 109 yards on 16-of-32 passing, actually averaging fewer yards per throwing attempt (3.4) than the pass-happy Commodores averaged per rush (3.9).

“There were a couple of times with Riley—I mean, he did a great job with his feet getting out of the pocket, but there were times he had to climb the pocket as well,” Mason said. “We've got to be better. We need it more—and we didn't function very well.”