Has anyone seen a documented top speed of Wright on the TD? He was MOVING!

Also, in case you missed it, CJ Taylor is a (once again) confirmed beast. Looking forward to the future with that guy.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — After leading the Vanderbilt football team to a 24-21 victory over No. 24 Kentucky, quarterback Mike Wright has been named SEC Offensive Player of the Week.

Wright posted a QBR of 94.6 while throwing for 184 yards and a touchdown and also running for 126 yards and a score in the win over Kentucky. It was Vanderbilt's first SEC win since Oct. 19, 2019, while it also marked the first SEC road win in 16 tries.

Wright and running back Ray Davis became the first Vandy duo to each exceed 100 rushing yards in the same game since 2002, while the 246 rushing yards as a team were the most since 2011.

With the honor, Wright is the first Vanderbilt player to win SEC Offensive Player of the Week since Kyle Shurmur collected the honor in the final week of the 2018 season. It marks the third weekly award from the SEC for the Commodores in 2022, following Freshman of the Week honors for AJ Swann (Sept. 19) and Jayden McGowan (Sept. 5).

The three weekly award wins mark the most for Vandy since the 2018 season.

In addition to the SEC honor, Wright was selected as one of eight Manning Award Stars of the Week. The Manning Award, sponsored by the Allstate Sugar Bowl, chooses eight quarterbacks per week to compete in a fan vote to be named Manning Award Quarterback of the Week. Fans can vote for Wright here.

The Commodores return to action Saturday when the host Florida at FirstBank Stadium. Kickoff is set for 11 a.m. Click here to purchase tickets.

Would be awesome to see the locker room celebration!! I'm sure they'll show something, but I do miss those Barca ones!

Login to view embedded media
Good news coming off his official visit to NC State, McBride is still committed to Vanderbilt. More good news, McBride will be back at Vanderbilt for the Tennessee game. It will be his first gameday visit to Vandy this fall.

Happy Birthday Chris! Hope it’s a great one, brother!

@Chris Lee

Question posed by Tony Reali. What says the board?
Login to view embedded media

I still think it is in the realm of possibility that AM, WVU and CJF reach an agreement that allows Fisher to return to his home state In a way that makes economic sense for all concerned.


Pete ThamelESPN
West Virginia has agreed to separate with athletic director Shane Lyons, who has been at the school since 2015.

A combination of budget issues and the school's struggling football program led to a change in direction. The school has not decided on coach Neal Brown's future, sources told ESPN.

Lyons' departure highlights Brown's uncertain status as he is 21-24 in four seasons and one loss from clinching the program's third losing record in his four years.

Brown toppled Oklahoma to snap WVU's nine-game losing streak to the Sooners, but at 4-6 the Mountaineers remain a long shot to reach a bowl game.
The school announced that Lyons has been replaced on an interim basis by Rob Alsop, its vice president for strategic initiatives. The placement of someone from university president Gordon Gee's executive staff indicates how distinctly the school wants to change directions.

The school said Gee plans to hire a new athletic director soon. The hire is expected to come quickly if the school does make a change at football coach. It has become a common trend in recent years to expedite a search and pair the new AD with a new coach they help choose.

Brown's buyout if dismissed after the regular season -- expected to be nearly $17 million -- looms over the departure of Lyons. Although there is offset language in the contract that could lessen that amount for WVU, there has been aggressive second-guessing of the school giving Brown an extension in April 2021, when he had a record of 11-11. That pushed his deal through 2026 and guaranteed a large portion of the contract.

If WVU moves on from Brown in this cycle, it will be a significant financial strain on the athletic department. One of the criticisms of Lyons is that he wasn't creative and aggressive enough in finding new revenue streams, so someone with a strong business background might be coveted in the search for WVU's athletic director.

Lyons is a well-respected administrator who came to West Virginia from Alabama, where he had served as deputy athletic director from 2011 to 2015. Lyons' career includes multiple prestigious appointments, as he has chaired the Big 12 athletic directors group and served on the NCAA Division I Council and its football oversight committee. He's also a part of the NCAA transformation committee.

Alsop, the interim AD, comes from a political background. He earned undergraduate and law school degrees from West Virginia. He has worked in various roles for Earl Ray Tomblin and Joe Manchin in their previous terms as state governor.

The podcast is presented by Dr. Jody Jones, DDS.

Today’s mailbag is sponsored by Sutherland & Belk, a family owned injury law firm. If you or a loved one has been hurt in an accident, give Taylor or Russell a call at 615-846-6200 to see what your rights are and if they can help.

The guest line is presented by Michael Kendrick of The Kendrick Group. Michael is a local carpenter and a lifelong Vandy fan. He builds bookshelves, cabinets, picture frames, furniture and made-to-order items, including a display case for my prized Dale Murphy jersey. I have seen Michael’s work and he’s a true craftsman. If you’re in the market for custom woodwork, give Michael a call at 615.830.9458.

We'll do this at 10 Monday morning.

The ladies are 3-0. Who saw this coming with all the injuries. Don't know how good the teams they played are, but I'm shockingly surprised. This maybe AD CSL best hire to date. Curious to see what CSR can do with a roster of her own players when they are SR and JR heavy. I will definitely be going to some games. @Chris Lee any plans on doing a story or two about them during the season?

So happy for this guy. As much as we want to win, this guy wants it more.

I'm still not sure he's the guy, but one thing that's very impressive and makes me lean in the direction of him being the guy is the fact that he's kept this team together.

Just look at everything involved in Lea's career as VU's HC so far.

Last year. 2-10, and two game winning FG's away from 0-12. Two inexcusable losses that rested squarely on Lea and his staff. Several players transfer out after the season.

This year. Struggle with Elon in the 2nd half. Lose pretty badly to Wake, bench your starting QB and team captain for a true freshman QB. Get absolutely destroyed by Alabama and Georgia, and beaten soundly by Ole Miss. Have your arguably 2nd best RB up and transfer in the middle of the season.

At this point, going into the Mizzou game, this team could've easily just quit. And honestly, I expected it. I saw nothing to indicate a reason for them to keep playing.

But, they did. They played hard at Mizzou, and could've won. They could've quit after that loss. They didn't. They played hard (not smart, but hard) against South Carolina, but came up short again. They really could've quit then. And honestly, I expected it. I watched yesterday's game fully thinking as soon as Kentucky got up two scores, I was turning the game off. It didn't happen, I watched the whole game, we did the improbable, we won.

Being a coach requires many things. One of them is keeping your team together through adversity. Apparently, Clark Lea excels at this.

Login to view embedded media
Behind SEC offensive Player of the Week Mike Wright, Vanderbilt pulled out a 24-21 victory at Kentucky, snapping a 26-game SEC winning streak. Perhaps more importantly, the Commodores could bring back most of the players who made it happen. Luke Wyatt provides perspective on a 24-21 win over 23rd-ranked Kentucky. Also, the basketball team suffered an awful loss to Southern Miss that exposed a lot of concerns.

Current UVA football player was killed along with 2 others. The perpetrator is a former UVA football player and current (soon to be former) UVA student. Awful situation.

Login to view embedded media
Since rivals sucks and won’t embed tweets anymore (thanks Elon), here’s a link:

Trent Sherfield had a great game for Miami, including a back of the end zone TD from Tua.

Login to view embedded media

A little King Arthur, anyone?

We finally get in on the fun!

Login to view embedded media

The administration announced the commitment to a major overhaul of our athletic facilities over eighteen months ago. When are they going to actually begin any of these projects? Our existing players need to see some of these improvements completed before they graduate. They need to break ground on the north end zone projects the day after the UT game.

We’ll done, man! Way to stay engaged in a tough situation and remain a leader. You got it done!

See how things go during the week, but the team’s mindset has to be good after Saturday.

Due to an ongoing heart health issue I'm not going to be able to make the game.

E
Row 8

3 seats...

50 each

I’m here and unfortunately I forgot my laptop, don’t want to type a bunch of updates from my phone but will write from home tonight. If anyone wants to post updates, I’ll do some but it’s harder from phone than laptop.

I try to make one road game a year, and since I live in Cincy this year it was UK (two years ago I was denied by Covid).

One rare treat of a road game is listening to the opposing team's radio on the drive out after a win. The lead and color guys started off and could not understand how UK passed so poorly against us - which I get. They particularly said in the early moments they would pick on Tyson Russel and I noticed Tyson didn't play very much yesterday.

Next in the post game that had on LB Jordan Wright, and he gave Davis a lot of credit as "a great tailback." He said a lot of weird things about the coaches just call plays and we are the ones in the game that actually play FB. I think he was trying to deflect blame off the coaches but it sounded like he was downplaying them the way he said it.

Then they wanted Stoops, but he didn't show. They actually called up the soccer coach and interviewed him for ten whole minutes before Stoops finally showed! He was utterly dejected. Kept saying how he just can't get through to this team. When asked if all the sacks got into Levis's head he said how could they not. Finally got around to giving us some credit, and said he was where we are now in building mode so he knows how that is. Thought you would enjoy me sharing some of their misery.

Used to love Commodore Reactions back when we used to win a game every now and then. I’d love to see if guys like Pimpton/Hight seem excited after a win like this.

Stack a couple more classes, Clark.

CCL told Howell to get off his butt and blitz from the first defensive play of the game till the end. For the first time we did this and we won a game.

The ladies played a great game today. Won going away and this bunch is a fun group to watch. Story may have a problem in the men’s program but she hired the right coach to run this program, I do believe.

A big 24-21 win for Vanderbilt at No. 24 Kentucky on Saturday. A 26-game SEC losing streak snapped. Excitement all-around. Let's hear from the commitments, shall we...

We'll continue to add more reactions as they come in

Login to view embedded media
"I thought the team played well and fought hard! I’m excited to join this team and help build this program. I believe in Coach Lea and can’t wait to get started."

Login to view embedded media
"Obviously, awesome game! It’s just the start of something huge, people played great and are only getting better it seems."

Login to view embedded media
"I’m very excited, I feel like that’s a huge step in their rebuilding process, just knowing that they can compete and win. It was just awesome to finally see some of the work they have did pay off. And it makes me so much more excited that what they are doing is finally showing and working."

Login to view embedded media
"Great team win and I’m fired up about it!"