Column: A Near Flawless Response is Required From Vanderbilt Football – Sports Illustrated

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NASHVILLE — There was an apparent feeling of disappointment and feeling of being defeated in the voice of Vanderbilt football head coach Clark Lea in his opening statement following his team’s 52-17 loss to No. 9 Ole Miss.
Between the disciplinary penalties and the turnovers and all the other mistakes that contributed to what was an embarrassing loss, it would be reasonable for one to think that there would be a little more passion and fire in the tone of Lea. Part of that could be his natural demeanor. But the disappointment could be heard in his voice as he accepted the reality of the spot Vanderbilt currently is in and where it needs to go.
“This counts as one game, not two. So it’s a loss and we’re a 3-3 football team. Need to get our feet back in the ground and get back to work and find some traction towards being the team we can be,” Lea said as he closed his opening statement, looking to move on from Saturday night. “I’ll be excited to go back to work.”
Yes, Vanderbilt needs to get back to work. That is an understatement after what Vanderbilt put on the field against Ole Miss. Getting back to work has been a work in progress since the night the Commodores lost to Auburn a couple of weeks ago.
Right now, Vanderbilt has more than just things to “clean up” as Lea and many coaches in the sport would say after a loss. The Commodores have been more than just losing in the margins, they have been getting beat convincingly in the margins.
And the “little things” Vanderbilt has to clean up are more than just small issues. It is one thing if Vanderbilt was struggling with 5-yard penalties and pre-snap stuff. But it is a totally different thing when Vanderbilt is making grave mistakes during the play and even after plays with personal foul penalties. And that is where the team is at currently. Those are what made up the large margin Saturday. 
Now, Vanderbilt is looking to respond. And it needs to. Vanderbilt is 3-3 at the midway point and needs to find three more wins to get to bowl eligibility to salvage its season. But with the teams left on the schedule, that feels like a mountain too steep to climb.
Vanderbilt has to go to a really hot Kentucky team, Mississippi State and Florida. The latter two of those have had their struggles lately, but Vanderbilt has had some bad struggles itself. At home, the Commodores take on Arkansas next week before playing Alabama and Tennessee in November.
So what kind of response does Vanderbilt need? A flawless one. A response that eliminates the disciplinary penalties. A response that eliminates the dropped or tipped passes from its most reliable pass catchers. A response where the defensive talent Vanderbilt has puts on a performance on the field worthy of matching the talent. A response where Vanderbilt’s offensive playmakers are who they believe they are in the running and passing attack.
A response that not just shows but proves that this is still the disciplined, focused and tough Clark Lea-coached program it showed the world it was in 2024 and 2025.
And news flash: that is not going to be proven by next week, especially against a team like Arkansas. That is going to take weeks to prove, but it has to. That does not mean Vanderbilt has to win out to prove it, but at least show life in its toughest games from here on out while also finding ways to win three more to play that extra game in December.
How Vanderbilt responds from Saturday night is more important than whether Vanderbilt wins or loses any game the rest of the season. The upcoming preparation for Arkansas is more than just a get right week. It is a week where Vanderbilt has no choice but to return to the identity of toughness and scrappiness it showed the previous two seasons.
There should be honest conversations amongst the players about what the response is going to look like.
“You can’t play that type of game and expect to win,” Vanderbilt defensive lineman Issa Ouattara said. “It’s looking ourselves in the mirror and asking the hard questions. And it’ll take confrontation, it’ll be addressed.”
Vanderbilt held itself to a high standard in the offseason. There were talks of going a step above the history the program made in 2025 and doing something that was never thought possible not too long ago. At this point, that standard is not achievable this season. Vanderbilt has to focus on responding to just reach the expectations people outside the program had in the offseason, which is a team that makes a bowl game and has something encouraging to build on for the 2027 season.
“Really disappointed,” Lea said. “And anxious to get back to work, but certainly not proud of how we played. Now we need to clean it up.”
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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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