Vanderbilt Football Appears To Be As Confident As It's Been Entering Ole Miss Matchup – Sports Illustrated

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NASHVILLE—-Vanderbilt enters its SEC home opener coming off of two losses and is a heavy underdog, but it doesn’t appear to be deterred. 
If Vanderbilt’s losses to Auburn and Georgia discouraged it in any way, it isn’t showing it. When Vanderbilt linebacker Bryce Cowan and receiver Ja’Cory Thomas took the figurative podium Tuesday, they kept singing the same tune that this Vanderbilt team has all along. 
They declared that this team is talented enough to win. Cowan actually declared that this is the best Vanderbilt team he’s been a part of. It’s just the little things holding this group back, they say. They’re getting closer, they believe. 
Vanderbilt still hasn’t proven those things, but it appears to believe it will Saturday. It appears to have a level of respect for Ole Miss, but doesn’t appear to be intimidated by any of its stars. 
“He's a pretty good quarterback. I mean, we got good quarterbacks, too,” Vanderbilt linebacker Bryce Cowan said in regard to Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss. “All we’ve got to do is cage him. 
He likes to roll out, and when he scrambles, he's gonna escape backwards first. I mean, all we got to do is keep him caged. Nothing too special.”
Cowan didn’t appear to be declaring that Chambliss is nothing special as much as he was outlining that Vanderbilt’s path to slowing him down won’t require a Herculean effort. He says that Vanderbilt’s rush will have to get there within two or three seconds and that if it does that, stopping Ole Miss can be more simple than it appears. 
That’s easier said than done, though, Ole Miss has scored over 30 points in all but one of its games and scored 41 against Louisville in its season opener. Vanderbilt’s defense gave up 38 points to Georgia on Saturday, although it did only surrender 21 against Auburn and 28 against NC State. 
As for the Ole Miss defense, Vanderbilt doesn’t appear to be all that concerned about it either. 
“I see a lot of grass out there,” Vanderbilt receiver Ja’Cory Thomas said in regard to what he sees from Ole Miss’ defense on film. “I feel like there’s a lot of plays to be made and I feel like we’re going to make those plays.” 
Vanderbilt’s offense has been held to 15 points or less in both of its SEC games thus far and freshman quarterback Jared Curtis’ status is up in the air entering Vanderbilt’s Saturday game, but Vanderbilt’s players have insisted that they’re close to an offensive breakthrough. When Lea took the podium after Vanderbilt’s loss to Georgia, he also appeared to be relatively optimistic in regard to the steps its offense had taken. 
Lea was dejected as he took the podium Saturday afternoon, but he appeared to have an extra jolt of energy to him Tuesday as he met the media after what he said was Vanderbilt's best practice day yet in regard to speed. Lea said five players eclipsed the 21 mile per hour mark, nine were over 20 miles an hour and estimates that 19 were over 19 miles per hour. Lea declares that his team has learned some important lessons about what it’s going to take to win in the SEC, and is optimistic that now is the time in which it can turn those lessons into wins. 
“I'm excited to go through this week with them and to find higher levels of performance,” Lea said. “I think this is where we say as coaches, trust the process, you know, trust the people, trust our instincts, let's see things very clearly. Let's not be drunk off emotion, let's not get called into the waves of emotion that sometimes kind of disorient you. And let's step into our belief, we say in our program over and over that belief is a practice.”
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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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