Vanderbilt 42, Elon 31: Well, the brakes work, at least

Here’s why I’m not alarmed by the box score: through Vanderbilt’s first drive of the third quarter, when the Commodores needed just 2:34 and five plays to go 75 yards to extend the lead to 35-10, the offense had a success rate of right at 50 percent (both rushing and passing) and the offense was averaging 8.8 yards per play. On the other side, the defense had held Elon to a 34.4 percent success rate, and while Elon was averaging 6.6 yards per play, that was heavily skewed by a 75-yard touchdown pass. Outside of that, the Phoenix were averaging 4.