Vanderbilt Coach Clark Lea Shares His 'Expectation' vs. Texas Longhorns

The Texas Longhorns will visit the Vanderbilt Commodores in a ranked SEC matchup.

Zach Dimmitt | Oct 23, 2024

Jul 15, 2024; Dallas, TX, USA; Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea speaking at Omni Dallas Hotel. Mandatory Credit: Brett Patzke-Imagn Images / Brett Patzke-Imagn Images

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AUSTIN -- The Vanderbilt Commodores know that the Texas Longhorns will enter Saturday's matchup in Nashville fired up after suffering their first loss of the season.

Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea said Wednesday that he expects the No. 5 Longhorns to be ready for a ranked battle against the No. 25 Commodores but made it clear that his team has to focus on their own internal motivation.

“My expectation is that they are going to come in here ready to play, and what we need to do in response is not match their energy, but set the tone and dictate the energy on our end, again, to be the best representation of our program we can be,” Lea said.

The Commodores have clearly benefitted from staying focused on themselves this season. Vanderbilt heads into Saturday on a three-game winning streak, which has come as a result of dominating time of possession and minimizing turnovers.

But against a motivated Texas defense that forced three Georgia turnovers last week, the Commodores will have arguably their toughest challenge when it comes to staying true to their formula.

“What I know about Texas is that they have a really good team and they’re really well coached, and I’ve got a ton of respect for Sark and I know he’ll have those guys ready,” Lea said. “This is a team that has all the aspirations that they should have with respect to playoffs, and national championship, and they were close a year ago.”

Texas and Vanderbilt will kick off at 3:15 p.m. CT on Saturday.