THE 12-team playoffs has endowed two dozen teams with playoff hopefuls, filling the heads of alumni and boosters with previously unattainable dreams of championship glory…or, at least, relevance come December. But the 12-team playoffs also gave birth to a whole other class of their own: the Ruiners.
The more teams there are in pursuit of the postseason, the more likely it is that schedules, dreams, entire seasons will be blown to pieces thanks to an unexpected and chaotic opponent. Northern Illinois skewed the entire arc of Notre Dame. Arkansas brought Tennessee to its knees. South Carolina nearly eliminated LSU early, then blasted Texas A&M last week. Texas Tech just knocked Iowa State out of the playoffs. Cal brought the #Calgorithm to life and broadcast it on ill-fated shows all over the South.
But no program rejoices in its new ability to ruin things than the Harvard of the South, the landed aristocracy of Nashville, the Blue Bloods of Middle Tennessee… ladies and gentlemen, your Vanderbilt Commodores, the joyous and exuberant Ruiners of the year 2024.
Alabama’s 40-35 loss a few weeks ago was, for the moment, one of the most astonishing results in recent college football history. But as the season progresses, this victory – while no less impressive – feels less like a miracle and more like the end result of a long-planned strategy. Combine that with Vanderbilt’s close loss to Texas, which helped expose the flaws in the Longhorn program, and a Yellowhammer State earns victory over Auburnand there might just be something going on in Nashville besides bachelorette parties.
Although Vanderbilt was once a titan of Southern football — no, really, look it up — the program spent most of the last century as the SEC’s version of the nerd brought in to make the group draft. Aside from two nine-win seasons in 2012-13 that James Franklin parlayed into working at Penn State, Vanderbilt hasn’t won more than seven games in a season since 1982. Even in an era of bowl invitations are thrown as Halloween Candy, the Commodores have only played in six bowls in the last 40 years.
A little over two years ago at SEC media days, Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea proclaimed, “We aim to build the best football program in the country at Vanderbilt University , where we have the best school in the best city in the best country. conference with the best facilities on the horizon.
It was easy to smile and think, Sure, Clark, whatever. Maybe try to get to .500 before you start talking about winning stocks. The Commodores were coming off a two-win season in 2021, and they would post another two-win stinker in 2023.
Now, however, everything has changed, from the vibe around the program to the quarterback leading the charge. Diego Pavia, the portal transfer from New Mexico State who torments opposing defenses, embodies this new Vanderbilt mentality, afraid of no one and ready to challenge everyone.
Granted, Vanderbilt isn’t exactly challenging the conference leaders in any of the major statistical categories. But here’s the key: The Commodores aren’t in last place either. They’re solidly in the middle…which won’t get you any playoff invites, but it will boost your previously moribund campus for something other than basketball and baseball.
No SEC school is having fun anymore these days, because no SEC school is playing above its expected station anymore. Georgians, Tennesseans and Texasians are terrified of falling in the playoff standings. Alabama and LSU are one loss away from irrelevanceand Auburn and Mississippi State are counting down the days until their rivalry games. Vanderbilt is playing with house money…lots and lots of house money.
SEC Shorts, the social media sports and comedy collective, are all aboard the newly rich Vandy train. College football comedian Josh Mancuso captures the Commodores’ complete inability to talk trash…because when would they have started practicing?
This weekend it’s Ruiner vs. Ruiner, as South Carolina comes to Nashville. How will it happen? Who knows? Either team is capable of creating complete chaos, so it could be a 48-42 shootout or a 6-3 feather duel.
Vanderbilt is innovating a lot this year and carries a 15-game losing streak against South Carolina into Saturday. However, to hear Léa tell it, it’s never a problem.
“Honestly, it doesn’t occupy any part of my mind. I just don’t get hung up on those things,” he said, before humbly boasting for the ages: “I didn’t realize it was since 1955 that we beat Auburn and Alabama. These are things that are fun to find out after the game, but they are not part of our approach or our process.
After South Carolina, Vandy closes the season on the road against LSU and at home for the annual Tennessee rivalry. Depending on how the coming weeks go, either or both could be another opportunity for Vanderbilt to demolish a season. And winning two of the next three would give Vanderbilt only its second winning season in five conferences since – wait for it – 1935.
The Commodores will face tough questions about how to turn this year’s success into next year’s improvement. But that’s a problem for 2025. For now, it’s just a matter of which year they’re going to screw up next time.
