Vanderbilt Commodores Can Clinch Best Season in Decade with Birmingham Bowl Win
Expectations were incredibly low for the Vanderbilt Commodores coming into the 2024 college football season.
The team had suffered through some miserable years, going winless in the SEC in three out of the last four campaigns. Something had to give, and head coach Clark Lea committed to overhauling the program following a 2-10 record in 2023, which started off 2-0 and ended on a 10-game losing streak
The results were magnificent.
Vanderbilt is in a position to finish a season with a winning record for the first time since 2013, the last year that James Franklin was head coach before taking the job with the Penn State Nittany Lions.
The last obstacle standing between them and that a reality are the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the Birmingham Bowl.
Lea and his squad will certainly be prepared and ready to go to end such a lengthy drought.
They will be looking to not finish the year on a lengthy losing streak again, as they hit a cold spell down the stretch.
After clinching bowl eligibility with their victory over the Auburn Tigers on Nov. 2 on the road, they lost their last three games of the regular season.
The red-hot South Carolina Gamecocks, reeling LSU Tigers and College Football Playoff-bound Tennessee Volunteers defeated them over those contests.
Prior to those struggles, the team was flying high, getting off to a 5-2 start.
hat includes a massive, 40-35, upset over the Alabama Crimson Tide on Oct. 5 when they were the No. 1 team in the country.
As shared by ESPN, it was the first time in 40 years the Commodores were able to pick up a win over their SEC rivals in what has been a lopsided series.
The time off between the Tennessee game and Birmingham Bowl will do Vanderbilt some good. They looked to be running out of steam down the stretch but should be motivated by their last chance to clinch a record over the .500 mark.
It certainly will not be easy since Georgia Tech had a very strong campaign of its own.
They have clinched winning at least seven games for the second time in as many years under Brent Key, who has star quarterback Haynes King leading the way offensively.
He had a historic performance in a wild 44-42 seven overtime loss to the Georgia Bulldogs, and he is talented enough to single-handedly carry the Yellow Jackets to victory if the Commodores cannot find a way to slow him down.
