NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt is not shying away from its current predicament.
Instead, the Commodores have vowed to meet their circumstances head on this week and beyond.
“I’ve been here for 30 years,” Vandy senior tight end Gavin Schoenwald said, facetiously. “I’ve been a part of a lot of teams and there’s been some times where teams I’ve been a part of in the past just lay down. That’s not what this team is and that’s not what it’s going to be next week and it’s not what it will ever be as long as coach (Clark Lea) is pumping his message into us.”
After a 3-1 start, Vanderbilt (3-5, 0-4 SEC) finds itself on a four-game losing streak that could have very well have allowed it to throw in the towel for the remaining four games on the schedule. Three defeats to Alabama, Ole Miss and Georgia, respectively, by a combined score of 162-31 were hard enough to swallow, then came a 17-14 setback Oct. 22 at Missouri in which the Dores felt like they missed a golden opportunity to steal a league road win.
Vandy was down 17-0 in that contest and, in a somewhat emblematic moment of the fight it claims to still harbor, pitched a second-half shutout on defense and got within three points before Missouri made a defensive stand to preserve the victory.
While it was a heartbreaking loss for the Commodores, they have had a bye week to recover mentally and physically and the second half momentum from the Missouri loss has seemingly carried over into practice as they prepare for a visit from South Carolina (5-3, 2-3 SEC) at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.
“No moral victories at all, I’m here to win football games and everybody is, but that’s what it is—the fight in this football team, that’s the stuff that’s born in the offseason through the summer and that’s what we got,” Schoenwald said.
Moving forward, on paper anyway, Vanderbilt’s schedule gets relatively lighter over the next four weeks than the previous four. The team’s following three matchups are against teams who are a combined 13-10 before a showdown with arch-rival Tennessee (8-0) the final weekend of the season.
Vandy’s previous four games came against opponents who are currently 27-5.
That should give the Dores some hope that fortunes could begin to swing their way, as long as they continue to fight.
“What I can see is a group of guys continuing to come out to work every single day. I see more cohesion, more execution, I see a cleaner game plan. I just see everything improving,” Vanderbilt defensive coordinator Nick Howell said. “The more we go the more the better we are getting. To this group’s credit, I’ve seen a group come out and practice and play hard every single game.
“The results haven’t gone our way in some of those instances, but what I’ve seen is a resilient, tough group come back and really battle after each tough loss. We’ve had some tough losses and after those tough losses you’ve seen a team come back and try to put their best foot forward. That says something about character and really the direction that coach Lea is turning the program.”
Culley Visits the Commodores
Former Vanderbilt student-athlete and trailblazer David Culley has been hanging out with the Commodores this week at the McGugin Center.
A Sparta, Tennessee, native, Culley became the first Black quarterback in Vanderbilt history during his playing career from 1973-77. He was recently the head coach of the Houston Texans in the NFL and has also been an assistant coach for six NFL teams and seven college programs, including Vanderbilt from 1979-81.
Salute to Service
Saturday’s game at FirstBank Stadium is Vanderbilt’s annual Salute to Service Game.
Game day activations include a Howitzer Display, a Nashville Army Display, a Salute to Service button giveaway and a Salute to Service rally towel giveaway. Brigadier General John Lubas will do the ceremonial anchor drop before kickoff.
For more information on all the day’s festivities, click HERE.
