Vanderbilt pushed for 13th game in last-minute fight for College Football Playoffs – WSMV

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – The No. 14 Vanderbilt Commodores are refusing to be left out of the College Football Playoff following their historic regular season, which ended with an emphatic victory over conference rival Tennessee in Knoxville.
Coach Clark Lea, quarterback Diego Pavia and more have continuously pushed for the Commodores to be able to compete for a national championship in the CFP.
With that came a push for a 13th game to be played during conference championship Saturday for Vandy to give the CFP committee one last look at what they’ve got to get in. The school’s athletic department confirmed that logistical and legislative constraints made the last-minute game impossible.
Vandy’s athletic department released the following statement to WSMV4:
“We explored the 13th-game option for one reason: this team has earned the chance to keep fighting. Coach Lea has said he’ll play anytime, anywhere, and our guys would have stepped on the field with a phone call’s notice. The logistics and legislative constraints didn’t make it possible, but nothing changes the truth — a 10–2 Vanderbilt team forged in the nation’s toughest conference, finishing its best football in November, deserves a chance to compete for the championship.”
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If the unprecedented 13th were real, few opponents come to mind that make sense for the game to matter for both. One thing is certain, it would most likely need to be a school also on the outside of the CFP looking in, possibly such as:
The university has not mentioned with whom they were hoping to compete against.
As the Commodores celebrated a successful early signing day, Lea was candid about his disappointment at being left out of the CFP and clear about the team’s desire to prove themselves one last time:
“Um, I share frustration. I share with the group. And to be honest, the last time we were together as a team was yesterday morning. So it was before. And we talked about the fact that the ranking was going to come out. I can’t seem to figure out what goes on in that room, you know, and if I can’t understand it, I just, I can’t predict it.
My challenge to them is, and was to know that we will continue to fight. I told them to have their bags packed. If a team calls up and wants us to take a flight to go play them on Saturday, we’re going to go play them on Saturday. That’s still true.
If I have two days to prepare a team, we’ll get a plane. We’ll get there Friday night. We’ll play on Saturday, and I’m happy to do it. And the team is happy to do it as well.
If we’re not allowed in, then our job is to go and perform to our highest of ability in whatever game we’re put in. And these guys will do that because they care so much about this program. Those things are out of our control now. We were a couple of plays away in the Alabama game from making it really interesting. We were probably six inches away from, in the Texas game from recovering a kick to put us in position for a tying field goal or a game winning touchdown. And we came up short. And so in those moments, that was the last control we had over it. We’ll deal with whatever comes and we’ll attack what’s in front of us.”
If the CFP were to be set in stone on December 4, the following teams would be in and seeded:
Vandy’s offensive leader, QB Diego Pavia, has even reached out to President Donald Trump to expand the CFP by way of an executive order.
Popular football content creator Brooks Austin suggested that the CFP expand to 16 teams:
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