Vanderbilt pulled off one of the biggest upsets in SEC history on Saturday, downing No. 1 Alabama 40-35 at home. This is Vanderbilt's first win against a top-five opponent, and its first win against Alabama since 1984. The Commodores' 40 points are also the most they've ever scored against a top-five team, and the most they've put up against Alabama since a 78-0 win in 1906.
Entering Saturday's game as a 23.5-point underdog, the Commodores jumped out to an early 13-0 lead thanks to a litany of mistakes from Alabama -- including a pick six thrown by quarterback Jalen Milroe -- and extended that to a 20-7 advantage on a scoring drive that saw Alabama gift the Commodores two free third-down conversions with 15-yard penalties.
But the Crimson Tide roared back in those crucial minutes between the end of the second quarter and the start of the third. Alabama scored on both its last drive in the first half and its first drive in the second half to cut Vanderbilt's lead to 23-21.
Just as it seemed momentum was swinging away, the Commodores buckled down. Quarterback Diego Pavia completed a gutsy 36-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Junior Sherrill on fourth-and-1 in Alabama territory, bringing the lead back to two possessions at 30-21.
From there, the Commodores matched every blow that Alabama threw at them, and Pavia was special down the stretch. His 6-yard touchdown toss to Kamrean Johnson with just over 5 minutes left put the game out of reach for Alabama, even though the Crimson Tide battled back late.
He also passed for a first down and rushed for another on Vanderbilt's final drive of the game, which allowed the Commodores to drain almost 3 minutes off of the clock and eventually kneel out the win. Pavia finished with 309 total yards of offense and two passing touchdowns.
- In addition to Vanderbilt setting a record for points scored against a top-five team, this is just the second time it has ever scored at least 30 points against such an opponent.
- Prior to Saturday's result, Vanderbilt was 0-60 all-time against the top five. Fifty of those 60 losses were by double digits.
- Vanderbilt was also 0-10 all-time against AP No. 1 teams and were outscored by 267 points in those 10 games.
- Vanderbilt was outscored 100-0 in its previous two meetings against top-ranked Alabama.
- This is just the fourth time in program history that Alabama has lost to unranked team as the No. 1 team in the nation.
CBS Sports will update this story shortly with takeaways from Vanderbilt's stunning win over Alabama below.