Vanderbilt Football Knows It Hasn't Been Good Enough Yet. But, It Believes It Can Be – Sports Illustrated

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NASHVILLE—-As if Clark Lea’s postgame press conference in which he called Vanderbilt’s Saturday performance a slopfest wasn’t enough to get the point across, he hammered in the message in his first meeting following Vanderbilt’s miracle win over NC State. 
Lea led the meeting off by honoring Vanderbilt’s players of the game, then he flipped a switch. Lea honed in on the moments where he felt his team “wasn’t even close” to synching up and playing the level of football that he believes it’s capable of. Vanderbilt’s coaching staff ended the meeting with encouragement, but Lea acknowledges that the overarching intention of the meeting was to deliver a challenge to Vanderbilt’s players. 
As Lea took the podium Tuesday, he recalled the finish of the game when two Vanderbilt fans in the south end zone seating ran across the walkway and embraced each other. He recalled a fan in the same end zone that “removed” his shirt and waved it around. But, Lea also spent time listing off all the plays from a few days ago that still rub him the wrong way. 
Each of those plays isn’t monumental in itself, but they encompass a larger point. They bring to light the themes that have been mounting through Vanderbilt’s first three games in the post-Diego Pavia era. 
Those themes all boil down to the reality here. Vanderbilt football is 3-0, but it hasn’t been convincing whatsoever. 
It beat Austin Peay 28-9, a game that it was sloppy in and didn’t appear to have an identity in. A number of the areas in which it had unconvincing play in that game weren’t fixed when it beat Delaware 35-26 a week later. It won in week three against NC State, but it was a miracle away from losing and being subject to an entirely different narrative in regard to where it stands. 
Vanderbilt’s defense has shown flashes of excellence, but it’s left plenty to be desired–particularly considering its expectations. Lea clearly has his quarterback, but Vanderbilt hasn’t complemented Jared Curtis with a particularly productive and consistent running game. Vanderbilt’s offensive line seems to have some things it needs to fix, as well. 
3-0 covers up plenty, but there’s clearly an undercurrent brewing here. Now, it’s on Vanderbilt to make sure it doesn’t overtake its season. 
“We’ve got a lot to prove,” Vanderbilt defensive end Miles Capers said Tuesday. 
”We always feel like we’re the underdog, and we still got to keep winning to prove everybody wrong.”
Vanderbilt safety CJ Heard declared after Vanderbilt’s win over Delaware that this Vanderbilt team has an opportunity to be the program’s best ever despite its 10-win season in 2025, but it’s done nothing to indicate that there’s any validity to Heard’s declaration. Heard cited Vanderbilt’s connectedness as a reason why it can do what outsiders don’t believe it can, but its mistakes indicate that it isn’t as far along as it should be in that way, either. 
The good news for this Vanderbilt team is that everything it wants to accomplish is still possible. It finding a way to win its first three games made that reality. But, it still doesn’t appear to be on track to the seemingly impossible. For that to be the case, those have to be Vanderbilt’s worst three games of 2026. They may have to be the worst three by a significant amount. 
Time for this Vanderbilt team to find an identity. Time for it to play to said identity. Time for it to finally win a game in a convincing way. It’s got that opportunity Saturday against Auburn, and Lea isn’t running from the reality at play here. 
"The goal I have for this weekend is that we don't create the gaps, that we play Vanderbilt football,” Lea said, “[That] We're able to set a tone and an identity in the way we play and that we can play three phases interlocked and take control of the game that way.”
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Joey Dwyer is the lead writer on Vanderbilt Commodores On SI. He found his first love in college sports at nearby Lipscomb University and decided to make a career of telling its best stories. He got his start doing a Notre Dame basketball podcast from his basement as a 14-year-old during COVID and has since aimed to make that 14-year-old proud. Dwyer has covered Vanderbilt sports for three years and previously worked for 247 Sports and Rivals. He contributes to Seth Davis' Hoops HQ, Basket Under Review and Mainstreet Nashville.
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