Vanderbilt Commodores Can Help This Team's Playoff Chances with Win Saturday
There was a time this year when the Vanderbilt Commodores had a case for making the College Football Playoff.
They knocked off the No. 1 team in the country at the time, the Alabama Crimson Tide, took the Missouri Tigers to double overtime, and took the Texas Longhorns to the last 30 seconds of the game.
It has been a storybook season for the Commodores, but now at 6-5, their game against the Tennessee Volunteers on Saturday does nothing for them despite clinching a winning record should they win.
This is a feat they have not achieved since going 9-4 in 2013, the last year under head coach James Franklin.
While a win on Saturday will not have any CFP implications for Vandy, it can be a massive boon for another team looking to fight their way into the mix, the Clemson Tigers.
They enter the week with a 9-2 record on the season, and a 7-1 record in Atlantic Coast Conference play with only a non-conference game left on their schedule.
They currently hold the second position in the ACC, though the Miami Hurricanes are right on their tail and have a conference game against the Syracuse Orange this week, a matchup they should win to secure their spot in the championship game since they hold the tie-breaker over Clemson.
Assuming the Hurricanes do in fact win, that leaves the Tigers as the odd man out in the ACC, with Miami and the SMU Mustangs facing off in the conference championship game to determine who gets the first-round bye in the College Football Playoff.
And that is where Vanderbilt becomes important.
The Volunteers sit in ninth in the CFP rankings, while Clemson sits 12th and would be the first team out with the eventual Big 12 champion ranked lower.
If the Commodores can beat the Vols on Saturday in what would be another upset victory to add to head coach Clark Lea's resume, Tennessee would fall out of the top 10 in the College Football Playoff rankings, and potentially even out of the top 20.
This is all assuming, of course, the Tigers can win their matchup against the South Carolina Gamecocks on Saturday, with a loss making everything above moot.
But, even with it being nothing for them but a chance at clinching an above-.500 campaign, the CFP fate of a team rests in the hands of Vandy.
It has been a wild season across the college football landscape as a whole, and it is showing no signs of slowing down yet.
