Vanderbilt Commodores Causing Exciting New Trend In SEC Play
Raise your hand if you had the Vanderbilt Commodores being good at football on your 2024 bingo card.
No, seriously, raise your hand; we have questions.
It has been a surprising turn of events for the Commodores and fourth-year head coach Clark Lea, as Vanderbilt has been an exciting team to watch for the first time in over a decade.
Coming into today with a 5-3 overall record, with a 2-2 record so far in conference play, Vandy has remained competitive, even in their losses, as their two SEC losses have come by an average of only 3.0 points.
This has been a big part of an exciting trend that has taken shape in conference play: the average margin of victory has drastically lowered this season, meaning that more conference matchups are competitive and not blowouts.
"All four of the team’s conference games have been one-possession games," writes Seth Emerson of The Athletic, "Compare that with last year, when they went 0-8 and the closest game was a 16-point home loss to Auburn."
The Commodores have yet to face the Auburn Tigers this season, but are gearing up to do so this week, and are surely looking for revenge after last year's contest, and are more than capable of doing so, even on the road.
NIL and the transfer portal have played a big role in bringing more parity to the SEC, and Vanderbilt has benefitted from those as well with senior quarterback Diego Pavia, who transferred in this year from the New Mexico State Aggies.
Pavia has been a big part of Vandy's success this season, throwing for 1,534 yards with 13 touchdowns to only three interceptions on 118 of 183 passing while adding 537 yards and four touchdowns on the ground off of 134 rushing attempts.
Even with the addition of Pavia, not many expected the Commodores to be as good as they are, having beaten the Alabama Crimson Tide, and taking the Missouri Tigers and Texas Longhorns to the limit, and the team now sits just one win away from being bowl eligible for the first time since 2018.
It has been an exciting year of college football across the nation with parity beginning to show itself at every level.
Vanderbilt being good again is not only good for Nashville, but also good for the SEC as it allows them to put on a much more entertaining product each and every Saturday.
