The Role the Vanderbilt Commodores Will Play in the College Football Playoff Race
The Vanderbilt Commodores continue their Cinderella season this week with a matchup against the South Carolina Gamecocks at home.
They enter that contest with a 6-3 record overall on the year, with a 3-2 record in Southeastern Conference play, and their six wins make them bowl-eligible for the first time since 2018.
The Commodores took the Missouri Tigers and Texas Longhorns to the limit earlier this year, with the Tigers needing overtime to get the job done and the game against the Longhorns coming down to the final minute before being decided, and they beat the (at the time) number one team in the country, the Alabama Crimson Tide.
The College Football Playoff Committee released the first official playoff rankings last night, with the entire college football world looking on to see what team was in and what team was out, and despite being ranked in both the AP and the Coaches poll, Vanderbilt was left on the outside looking in of the College Football Playoff rankings.
While it is a disappointing turn of events for Vandy, Seth Emerson of The Athletic believes that the program still has a role to play in the situation, especially when it comes to two of the teams that the Commodores have already played this year that are in that coveted top 25.
"Vanderbilt not making the rankings was notable because teams like Texas would like a ranked win, and Alabama would like a ranked loss," writes Emerson, "but the committee could at least give those teams credit for wins or losses to bowl teams, or with winning records, so Vanderbilt being good still helps."
With three losses already on the docket, and potentially more to come with games against the LSU Tigers and Tennessee Volunteers left to play, the odds of Vanderbilt crashing the tournament are slim to none.
Crazier things have definitely happened in college football, including Vandy beating the Crimson Tide this year, but the road is much too tough with far too many hurdles for the Commodores to be a part of the inaugural 12-team tournament.
Playing spoiler and being a key piece of other teams' resumes is nothing to shake a stick at, however, and this season could be laying the groundwork for many more seasons with much more success left to come.
Clark Lea and Vanderbilt are more than happy to play spoiler down the stretch or to just be a piece of someone's resume that they are proud of.
At this point in the program's history, it is highly likely that they are proud just to be thought of at all.
