We’re in the midst of America’s best sports weekend in some time, a full slate of college football games, appealing matchups and beloved stadium scenes galore.
“Enter Sandman” at Virginia Tech. “Jump Around” at Wisconsin. Iowa fans waving to the kids at the Stead Family Children’s Hospital in Iowa City. Alabama fans shrugging apologetically to the fans of whichever team made the terrible decision to play Nick Saban’s team in a neutral-site opener. We haven’t had moments like this in nearly two years. We’re also in the midst of what Nashville SC play-by-play announcer John Freeman called “the greatest 48 hours of soccer in Nashville history” — that surging MLS club’s win Friday over New York City FC in front of 20,126 fans at Nissan Stadium, with Sunday’s USA-Canada World Cup qualifier potentially doubling that.
And yes, Vanderbilt is the “but” in this discussion. Also, the butt, of so many jokes to come. There’s really nothing that can be retorted to any of them after this contribution to the sports buffet. The Clark Lea era of Vanderbilt football began with a 23-3 loss to East Tennessee State on Saturday at Vanderbilt Stadium in front of an announced crowd of 22,029, an actual crowd of maybe 17,000, and an end-of-game crowd of a few friends, neighbors and family members. And the atmosphere was the best part for Vanderbilt.
“This is a tough result to stomach,” Lea, calm and measured as usual, said of his team’s performance. “But listen … as coaches and players, we understand that part of being in the arena of competition is you’re going to learn a lot about yourself. There’s going to be good results and bad results. You have to make the choice to win the response.”
As results go, this one was a doozy. It was the first loss for an SEC team to an FCS team since South Carolina lost to The Citadel in 2015. It also makes six FBS teams already this season that have lost to FCS teams, including upcoming Vandy opponents UConn and Colorado State — so get ready for more fun football ahead! — but there’s no solace to be found here. No apparent positives or excuses, either.
I also wouldn’t advise looking for meaningful commentary on Lea’s prospects as the coach at Vanderbilt, though that won’t stop some from doing so. This game did bring to mind the debut of the last Vanderbilt coach, Derek Mason, whose 2014 team lost 37-7 to Temple after a lot of lofty talk about Vanderbilt taking another step up from the James Franklin era. Incredibly, ETSU linebacker Jared Folks — an eighth-year senior (!) — was a true freshman on that Temple team. All Folks does is find more eligibility and ruin Vanderbilt coaching debuts, and he’s about out of eligibility.
Also incredibly, I think, the final score was an accurate reflection of the teams. Yes, the game got out of hand when a Ken Seals third-down pass instead turned into a fumble and return to make it 20-3 ETSU with 8:26 left. And the last field goal was set up by a tipped Seals pass and interception, though the final score would have been 27-3 if Karon Delince’s 99-yard return for a score wasn’t taken off the board because he taunted during the return. Vandy mistakes multiplied as things got desperate.
Things got desperate because coach Randy Sanders’ Bucs, coming off a 4-2 spring season with losses to Mercer and Furman, controlled the action up front. On both sides of the ball. The 189-119 edge on the ground for ETSU, and 4.8 yards per rush compared to Vanderbilt’s 2.7, helps tell that story. So does the frequency of pressure Seals and Mike Wright encountered in the pocket, compared with ETSU’s virtually untouched Tyler Riddell. ETSU running back Quay Holmes was the star of the game, running 23 times for 149 yards. The story of the game, as is often the case, was in the trenches.
The story of Lea’s first season, it stands to reason, will be his ability to keep an overmatched team with a bad record together. Mason got fired with one game left in an 0-9 season in 2020. He continues to own the rights to the last Vanderbilt football win, 38-0 over ETSU on Nov. 23, 2019. He may hold that distinction for a while longer. If Vanderbilt can’t beat awful UConn — which lost Saturday to Holy Cross — on Oct. 2, Lea’s got a shot at an 0-12 debut.
Based on what this team demonstrated Saturday, it’s not an overreaction to think this program could be on a run of 22 straight losses entering ’22. The Vanderbilt offensive line wasn’t struggling against a reborn defense during preseason camp, as it turns out; it was just worse than a rehashed defense. I didn’t think Vanderbilt suffered from a lack of effort Saturday — it suffered from a lack of ability. Recruiting for 2022 has gone well, in tandem with Lea’s arrival and newfound Vanderbilt investment in athletics. And it needs to continue to go well. And then it needs to go well in 2023, and so on.
It is an overreaction for a Vanderbilt fan to look at Saturday and fear that AD Candice Lee’s decision to hire Lea away from his successful tenure as Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator was a mistake. It’s fair to be upset with his first coaching performance, the reliance on low-percentage throws in too many situations, the inability to manufacture pressure, the slew of offensive line penalties, all of it. And Lea’s sideline demeanor — arms folded, almost impossibly serene from start to finish — is going to bother some people, especially when his team plays like that.
But that’s who he is, and it got him to the point in his career where another Power 5 program was going to lure him away from Notre Dame before long. Now we see how his approach works when ugly Saturdays threaten to undermine all the talk and work within the walls of the program geared toward building something new, something great.
“This is a learning moment as a program,” Lea said. “And an indication of where we are and where we need to start building from. I’ve got a locker room full of players that are disappointed. But we can’t do anything about what we experienced tonight. It’s about moving forward for us.”
It is, to quote Vanderbilt defensive end Elijah McAllister in repeating a Lea phrase, about “winning the response.”
The Commodores can do that and still not win any games. If they’re going to have any victory celebrations, it’s going to come down to quarterback play. Seals and Wright both had moments Saturday, and both have a lot of ability. The same is true of Vanderbilt’s receivers — Will Sheppard was targeted a whopping 19 times and had nine catches for 84 yards, following up on his excellence during the spring and preseason camp. Lea and his staff have to figure out who should quarterback and when, put whoever is out there in better positions to succeed, and probably take more gambles on defense.
I don’t know if any of that can be enough to produce positive results for this team, playing the schedule it faces. The only thing you can really count on with Vanderbilt football these days is for seats to be available.
