NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The light at the end of the gauntlet is visible. The Commodores, however, have one last boss to face before they get there.
Vanderbilt takes a trip to Georgia this weekend to see how it matches up against the defending national champions and the top-ranked Georgia Bulldogs. The matchup is the third straight for Vandy against an opponent ranked inside the top 10 of The Associated Press Top 25.
“We’re looking for context right now as a program and that context for us is we’re 3-3,” Vandy head coach Clark Lea said. “We’re in position to achieve a lot. There’s a lot left for this team to do. We’ve lost to three opponents that are in the top 15, two of which are in the top 10.
“We’re in an historic stretch of games here for this program, this weekend, facing the third top-10 team in a row. So we’re getting measured against the best. We’re a program that’s developing, and while developing getting measured against the nation’s best. And that’s what we want to do.”
Lea’s squad is coming off a 52-28 loss to No. 9 Ole Miss on Saturday at FirstBank Stadium. It was a frustrating setback for the Dores considering it held a 20-10 lead in the second quarter and 20-17 lead at the halftime horn.
But 21 points by the Rebels in the third quarter, part of 28 unanswered overall, ruined Vanderbilt’s homecoming festivities and led to the teams first losing streak of the season. Now the Commodores (3-3, 0-2 SEC) have to take a trip to Athens, Georgia, the first of two consecutive road games ahead of an off week to finish the month of October.
“The results to the point are a reflection of where we are, not where we’re headed. I think even as we look at it, once you get past the sting of the result, you can see progress being made,” Lea said. “Our goal is to continue that progress, to keep the trajectory moving forward, to understand that in the end as we see the direction of the program we don’t back away from wanting to build the best program in the country, but to know we’re early in on that journey and we have to have some patience and some awareness and really just continue to pour in to the process we’ve started knowing that over time that we’ll deliver the results we’re looking for.
“This team’s excited about going to play the No. 1 team in the country this weekend. We’re excited to go down to Athens and play in a fun environment on the road. In the end, anxious to see if we can pull forward the positive things we’ve done so far to this point in the season, including the first half of the Ole Miss game where there were flashes of Vanderbilt football. If we can replicate Vanderbilt football over four quarters we’ll put ourselves in good position in Athens.”
No. 1 Georgia (6-0 3-0 SEC) has been on an incomparable run the last 3+ seasons. Head coach Kirby Smart has seen his squad go 40-5 in it last 45, win 25 conference games in its last 28 tries and won 15 home games in a row.
This season’s Georgia team has only allowed 64 points in six games while scoring more than 38 points per contest. Quarterback Stetson Bennett, tight end Brock Bowers and running back Zamir White highlight a Bulldogs’ offense capable of putting up big numbers on the scoreboard.
“This is a team that reloads,” Lea said. “They’re No. 1 in the country for a reason.”
Vanderbilt will be playing Georgia for the 82nd time in its history. The Bulldogs have won four in a row since a 17-16 Vandy victory in 2016 in Athens.
— Chad Bishop covers Vanderbilt for VUCommodores.com.
Follow him @MrChadBishop.
