Inside Clark Lea's Mind After Vanderbilt Football's Ole Miss Loss, One Of The Worst Of His Tenure – Sports Illustrated

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NASHVILLE—-With a downpour beating down on his upper body and Barton Simmons as well as a number of Vanderbilt football staffers flanking him, Clark Lea stood there stoically. He was staring out at the field, working to come to grips with what he was about to finish watching. 
Lea’s team that paraded around all offseason declaring that they had national championship expectations was embarrassed in a 52-17 loss to No. 9 Ole Miss. Vanderbilt never had a chance to win this thing after two late first-half Ole Miss touchdowns and it certainly didn’t in this moment, as Blaze Berlowitz was in front of him leading a late, meaningless touchdown drive. 
When it wrapped, Lea followed the lead of a few Vanderbilt staffers and slapped Berlowitz’ hand as he returned to the sideline. Lea wasn’t bouncing up and down in excitement by any means, but any glimpse of joy he did show in that moment was a facade. 
“I’m just really disappointed,” Lea said. “If we don't clean up the football up, we're not going to have a chance at the results we want. The league’s too hard [for that].  I haven't yet been able to find that formula to get these guys playing better football.”
Lea declared in the moments in between those statements that this program hasn’t felt the way it did Saturday in a long time. He didn’t say it, but he likely wouldn’t blame anyone who labeled Saturday one of the worst losses of his Vanderbilt tenure. Lea admitted that this one was about execution and all around poor performance rather than his group being overwhelmed by a significantly more talented and physical one. 
As Lea spoke for 14 minutes and 16 seconds from the podium Saturday, that appeared to be what bothered him the most. Lea still thinks about some of his worst early-tenure losses, but only a few of them came against teams that his team had similar talent to. This one did, and Vanderbilt never really had a chance to win. 
Lea was particularly disappointed with Vanderbilt having 11 penalties for 92 yards and appeared to be exasperated by the idea that it’s still the most penalized team in the SEC. He believes it gave away 32 points because of penalties and turnovers. Lea appears to be fine with taking the turnovers related to freshman quarterback Jared Curtis’ growing pains and freshman running back Evan Hampton’s youth, but appears to be more concerned with drops from Vanderbilt veterans Cole Spence and Junior Sherrill that turned into interceptions. 
He knows plays like that can’t happen and shouldn’t happen. He knows deep down that they’re indicators that this Vanderbilt team isn’t close to what it hoped it’d be at this stage. It had a good week of practice, he said, but it was still lost on this Saturday. 
“I think the uneasiness I feel is just knowing that we have to get this redirected to get the results we want,” Lea said. “I think early on in my time here, we were doing the best we could. This group has more for it. 
And I think coaches, staff and players all have to work together to find it. The responsibility is ultimately mine, but we all need to elevate.” 
Lea got that message across to Vanderbilt’s players often throughout the afternoon, particularly when addressing unsportsmanlike conduct penalties that cost Vanderbilt 30 yards and at least a few points, but he appears to be giving his team–which he notes is taking its fair share of lumps because of its relative inexperience. 
When Lea addressed Vanderbilt in the locker room postgame, he let them know their performance wasn’t acceptable while taking accountability for his part in the loss. That didn’t surprise Vanderbilt’s players, but they quickly refute the idea that this was on their head coach. 
“It really wasn’t him,” Vanderbilt running back MK Young said postgame. “We’ve got to play better football at the end of the day. It came down to that and we’ve got to have his back like he has ours.” 
Lea declared Saturday that Vanderbilt will double down on its process and will get back to work Sunday in an effort to find a higher level of play. The good news for Vanderbilt is that Lea appeared to have genuine belief that doing that is plausible. The bad news is that he’s been speaking the same way for the last six weeks, and he knows it. 
As a result, he left the press conference as the turf pellets fell off of his shoes and his black jacket wrestled up against itself knowing what was ahead. He will likely be up all night wondering how to fix this, if he can fix this.
“This isn’t rocket science,” Lea said, as if he was trying to convince himself. “How we respond and how we play cleaner is gonna be the challenge.” 
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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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