Vanderbilt Football Mailbag: Answering Questions During Vanderbilt’s Bye Week – Sports Illustrated

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Vanderbilt football is on a bye this week and will return to action Nov. 7 for a matchup against Mississippi State. There, the Commodores will look to snap a five-game losing streak and win their first SEC game of the season.
It has been a tough stretch for Vanderbilt, who is trying to turn its season around. The Commodores have gotten off to strong starts in the last couple games, but have not been able to put a complete four-quarter game together.
With Vanderbilt being on a bye, it is a quiet week in Nashville. So we figured it would be a great week to have a mailbag story. Tuesday, we asked what questions you guys had about Vanderbilt football and you guys answered!
Let’s take some time answering some questions you guys had about where the program is right now!
While Curtis has shown some significant promise, what is a bright spot I can use to get me to next season?
Great question! I think outside of Jared Curtis, it can be difficult right now to see much light at the end of the tunnel. I do think another bright spot to get you to next season would be thinking about the future of the Vanderbilt secondary.
The Commodores have a couple really young pieces in their secondary right now between Davin Chandler and Mason Lewis. Chandler was moved from safety to cornerback during the week of practice leading up to the game at Georgia. Since he had made that position change, it has been so far so good for Chandler and Clark Lea seems to be really impressed by his play at corner as well. You could even make the argument that Chandler has been the best cornerback for Vanderbilt in recent weeks.
Lewis has had a phenomenal year as a true freshman. I liked him during fall camp and I figured he would see the field this season, but I didn’t even think he would be the starter at STAR already. Even though he could be viewed as undersized, he has been great with tackling and hitting opponents. 
Also, here is an important reminder to hang your hat on for next season: Vanderbilt’s secondary will add four-star safety Omarii Sanders. He is the most exciting recruit Vanderbilt will have coming in next year. Assuming Chandler and Lewis stick around for next year, Vanderbilt has a really nice core in its secondary that will grow together.
Bob Shoop interim DC role? Can Clark fix it or do we need a clean sweep?
I think if Clark Lea made a change at defensive coordinator during the final weeks of this season, Shoop would probably be one of the first to be considered for the interim role.
However, I do not think Lea is going to make an in-season change in terms of firing staff members. I think at that point, Vanderbilt would almost be waving the white flag on this season and I don’t think Lea is that type of coach. I would not be surprised if he did make changes after the season. I don’t think there would be an interim during the season, however, I acknowledge I could be wrong.
I think Clark Lea can fix his defense, but that may require at least some sort of change. If by “clean sweep” you mean firing the entire defensive staff, I don’t think that is necessary. But I do think Lea has to do something in terms of the structure or the playcalling of his defense to fix this issue. Obviously, I am not calling for anybody to be fired. But there does have to be some element of change defensively to fix what has been going on.
I wonder how Vanderbilt compares re-valuation of team cost/win totals. If it’s a three-win season, is that $10 million per win?
That’s a great question! Honestly, I don’t know the exact amount of money the program invested into this team. Maybe a 3-9 season would equate that, maybe not. I don’t know.
What I do know is that a 3-9 season with the amount of investment the program put into the roster is nowhere near the return on investment the coaching staff was hoping to get out of this team. Whatever the budget was, it was not meant for a 3-9 season or even a 4-8 season if Vanderbilt were to win one more game this season.
This team had aspirations of kicking down the door that it was left just outside of a year ago. At minimum, reaching a bowl game was an expectation, but that is looking extremely unlikely right now. So whatever the budget is, the team has not played well enough to make the budget worth investing in.
In your opinion, is it going to take rosaries of novenas being said to turn around Vandy’s season? Or do we have to resort to voodoo and witchcraft?
I guess whatever your heart compels you to do!
In all seriousness, it will take a lot for Vanderbilt to turn its season around after the bye week. The Commodores have to win three out of four to make a bowl game. That is obviously very difficult to do, so I think what you’re looking for is some sort of positive momentum to take into the offseason.
Right now, I think Vanderbilt as a team, is what it is at this point. The trends this team has shown over the past few weeks is consistent. Vanderbilt has gotten off to solid starts, but things start to fall apart about midway through the second quarter. Sure, things can change, but for this whole season to turn around would be something unforeseen.
What does Steve Gregory need to do to recover from the lows his defense has fallen to?
The thing that sticks out to me is playcalling. The issues Vanderbilt has been dealing with defensively is not because it lacks talent.
Vanderbilt has plenty of talent and veterans that were on the roster just a season ago. From CJ Heard to Bryan Longwell to Nick Rinaldi and Bryce Cowan to Miles Capers. Heck, Vanderbilt even got Issa Ouattara back this year, who missed all but a few snaps of the 2025 season. 
To me, what Steve Gregory needs to do is adjust his game planning. I’m not a coach and I know I do not know as much as Gregory does, but I think Vanderbilt has to adjust the play calling on defense. I understand the idea of being a defense that brings a lot of pressure. The problem is that type of defense can become vulnerable when the pressure does not get home. What I think would help Vanderbilt bounce back defensively would be to dial back the pressure and focus more on defending the middle of the field and the boundaries and blitz when it feels necessary.
Again, I’m not a coach so maybe it’s not the greatest idea on my part, but the point is that I think the timing of what plays are called are important. Sometimes it’s okay if there isn’t a ton of pressure being brought.
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Graham Baakko is a writer for Vanderbilt Commodores On SI, primarily covering football, basketball and baseball. Graham is a recent graduate from the University of Alabama, where he wrote for The Crimson White, WVUA-FM, WVUA 23 as he covered a variety of Crimson Tide sports. He also covered South Carolina athletics as a sportswriting intern for GamecockCentral.
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