What a sweet, sweet beautiful moment for long-suffering fans of the Vanderbilt Commodores. Anything can happen in the SEC, and we saw that ring true on Saturday, as the ‘Dores went on the road to upset the 24th-ranked Kentucky Wildcats in Lexington. Mike Wright hit Will Sheppard with 32 seconds left in the game to secure the upset and win a game in SEC play for the first time since October of 2019. Three years! Wright looked like the Heisman contender we claimed he was in Week 0 (albeit maybe that was juuuuust a tad bit tongue in cheek). Vanderbilt fought tooth and nail to pull that off.
We laughed at Clark Lea for his unbridled optimism this past offseason. His talking about becoming the best program in the nation sounded downright absurd, like the ravings of a mad man. But, I’ll tell you this – that program is a whole hell of a lot closer to being the best program in the nation now than we thought they were back in August. So, maybe Lea was on to something! At the very least, it’s a checkpoint for Lea, who was given what feels like an impossible job to begin with in turning this program around. But, why just live in this moment?! Why stop at one SEC win?!?!
Vanderbilt has an opportunity to pull off the unimaginable on Saturday – win a second SEC game. I would’ve been burned at the stake if I typed that back in August, but here we are. The Commodores will host the Florida Gators Saturday morning in Nashville, and while the line currently has the Gators favored by two touchdowns, I think this is an opportunity for Vanderbilt to continue to stun the college football world.
For one, I still don’t really know how great Florida is. Sure, they’re 6-4 and they have a damn good win over Utah, but that feels like it was ages ago. They’re coming off of a couple of downright convincing wins over Texas A&M and South Carolina, but I don’t know how good either of those teams really are either. They also only beat Missouri and lowly South Florida by a single possession. I don’t know about this program. That’s all I’m saying.
For another, it really sounds like the weather is going to be a factor for a Gators program that is certainly not used to playing in freezing temperatures.
As the Gators reconvened Sunday to begin preparing for the Commodores following the team’s 38-6 win a day prior, Napier divulged the news to the team that they should begin preparing – mentally and physically – for the potential of freezing weather in Nashville.
The full report sure seems like it’s going to impact Florida. I mean, you have Billy Napier talking about how he’s not going to talk about it because they can’t control the weather (would’ve been an awesome moment to say you DO control the weather, actually), and then his players start talking about the weather. It’ll be the coldest game they’ve played in all season, and the fact that it’s something 247Sports deemed worthy of a full-on journalistic article tells me that it’s probably going to come into play here. So, could Vandy actually run the ball and win with another gutsy performance?! Inquiring minds want to know.
Am I getting a little too crazy? Maybe. To that, I would say “let me indulge my fantasies, haters.” I know Anthony Richardson presents a distinct problem for Vanderbilt, but they did pretty well against another supposed first round draft pick at quarterback last week. And, what happens if the Gators just can’t get over the cold? People don’t realize how absurdly stupid the football weather here is in Nashville. You never know with this city – it could be a heat wave, or the ground could be frozen. Maybe it’s a pleasant middle ground, but the point is that it’s unpredictable. Guarantee you there are some Gators that thought this would be a warm weather game when the schedule came out and now they’re like “hold up, what?”
Also, man…if Vandy had found a way to win that Wake Forest game, we’re talking about a potential bowl team here. They’d be 5-5 going into this game with a chance to beat Florida to get to bowl eligibility. Maybe Clark Lea isn’t so crazy after all. He definitely has this program heading in the right direction, but maybe he’s got ’em a little closer to competing than we’re giving him credit for.
Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.
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