Vanderbilt Commodores Football Coach Receives Major Praise From Analyst
Coming into the 2024 college football season, not much was expected from the Vanderbilt Commodores.
In a loaded SEC, they were projected by many to finish at the bottom.
The program has taken up permanent residence there in recent years, recording a losing record for 10 straight seasons.
But, those predictions could not have been less accurate.
The Commodores have had some head-scratching performances, such as their loss to the Georgia State Panthers who haven’t won a game since, but they have defied all expectations.
They are 6-4 with some impressive victories on their resume with the biggest being the upset they pulled against the Alabama Crimson Tide at FirstBank Stadium despite being massive underdogs.
Throughout the year, they have played up to the level of their competition.
Given how deep the SEC is, that has meant some very strong performances, even in the games they fell just short.
The Missouri Tigers and Texas Longhorns both received all they could handle from Vanderbilt in their matchups. The LSU Tigers and Tennessee Volunteers are going to face the same over the last two weeks of the regular season.
Those performances have been enough for head coach Clark Lea to receive praise from Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated.
In a recent piece highlighting the Coach of the Year in each conference to this point, the Commodores' leader was recognized as Forde's runner-up.
“The Dores have beaten Alabama and Auburn in the same season for the first time since 1955. They’ve also beaten Kentucky and Virginia Tech. Picked a distant last as usual, they’re tied for eighth in a 16-team league and going bowling for the first time since 2018.”
The coach who beat Lea out in Forde’s opinion is Mike Elko of the Texas A&M Aggies, who is in his first season with the program after replacing Jimbo Fisher.
This has been a special campaign for the school, but there is still work to be done that would allow them to make history.
Nine wins is the single-season record for Vanderbilt in program history which has been accomplished four times in 2013, 2012, 1915 and 1904.
If they win out, that total can be matched with a bowl game victory.
Each win Lea and his squad produce moves them one step closer to history.
