Go Mighty Card

Stanford 41, Vanderbilt 23

When you look at the score from Stanford's comfortable 41-23 win over Vanderbilt, their sixth win in an unprecedented stretch of seven straight road games, it's easy to forget that it wasn't always comfortable. In fact, there were moments when it was downright uncomfortable.

Blogging with the Enemy: Vanderbilt Commodores

When defensive coordinator Derek Mason left Stanford following the 2013 season to take over the head job at 
Vanderbilt University, it seemed like a good decision. The team had reached its greatest heights in program history as James Franklin led them to consecutive nine-win seasons before leaping from his stepping stone to the Penn State head coaching position. Even though sustaining that level of success in the ultra-competitive SEC would surely be difficult, it seemed like Mason, with his experience recruiting players to another academically-minded program, would be a perfect fit.

It didn't work out that way. In his seven years at the helm, Mason took the Commodores to two bowl games, but never managed more than six wins in a season. He bottomed out in 2020, fired after losing the first eight games of the season (Vandy would finish 0-9), and ending his Vanderbilt career with an underwhelming 27-55 record, with only ten of those wins coming in conference. Mason is currently the defensive coordinator at Auburn, which somehow seems like a promotion, and Vanderbilt moved on.

The Clark Lea era began with a thud, a resounding 23-3 home loss to East Tennessee State, but the Commodores rebounded with a road win over Colorado State, 24-21. Lea has high aspirations for his program, but this certainly appears to be a long term restoration project, and the Cardinal might be arriving in Nashville at just the right time to grab the win.