Vanderbilt Commodores Fall Outside AP Top 25 Following Loss to Texas Longhorns
The Vanderbilt Commodores have fallen outside the recent rankings.
On Sunday, the Associated Press released its updated Top 25 Poll after Week 9 of the college football season. As expected, the Commodores have dropped out of the rankings following the 27-24 loss to the Texas Longhorns.
The team just missed the final rankings, failing to remain in the poll by only three votes. They received 41 votes from the AP committee, just behind the 25th-ranked and SEC rival Missouri Tigers, which had 44.
It was a bad week for ‘Anchor teams’ as both Vanderbilt and Navy fell out of the Top 25 after losing to top-ranked teams over the weekend. Both Washington State and Colorado make their way into the rankings.
Texas's close win against the Commodores moved them outside the top five. The Miami Hurricanes jumped them and pushed them to number six in the nation.
Heading into this week of games, Vanderbilt will play two ranked opponents across its final four games of the season. They will play the LSU Tigers, who fell eight spots to 16th after their loss over the weekend to the Texas A&M Aggies. They will also face the Tennessee Volunteers in the final game of the year. The Vols remained seventh after not playing this past weekend. Both the South Carolina Gamecocks and the Auburn Tigers, whom the Commodores play this week, are not in the rankings. South Carolina did receive one vote as a potential Top 25 candidate.
The team will look for a win against Auburn on the road at Jordan-Hare Stadium this Saturday. They hope to get back in the win column and possibly back into the poll the following week. The more significant concern would be reaching their sixth win of the season. Doing so would clinch bowl eligibility for Vanderbilt for the first time since the 2018 season.
A win against the Tigers on the road would likely put the Dores right back in the poll with three games left on the schedule. The team is currently tied for eighth inside the SEC, a massive improvement from last year’s 2-10 (0-8 in conference) season.
