Alabama bears the headlines after stunning upset, but Saturday was about Vanderbilt and coach Clark Lea

The students rushed the field, the goalposts came down and later made their way down Broadway and the star of the day, quarterback Diego Pavia, couldn’t contain an excitable expletive from escaping his mouth about what was unfolding all around him.

Vanderbilt over Alabama?! Vanderbilt over Alabama!

In the most stunning Southeastern Conference upset in decades, a two-loss Vanderbilt team outplayed and defeated No. 1 Alabama 40-35 in front of a construction-impacted Firstbank Stadium that seemed to have more Alabama fans than Vanderbilt of the 28,934 in attendance. 

“Anything can happen in college football,” as SEC commissioner Greg Sankey told CBS Sports’ Brandon Marcello Saturday evening in the press box of another tight SEC game, Tennessee vs. Arkansas in Fayetteville. 

A lot will be made about what this means for first-year head coach Kalen DeBoer and Alabama. You can argue it’s a worse loss than Nick Saban’s infamous 2007 loss to Louisiana Monroe in his first-year in Tuscaloosa, especially considering all the talent DeBoer inherited from his predecessor. At minimum, DeBoer probably should avoid tuning into the Paul Finebaum Show on Monday or risk getting his first real taste of how “it just means more” is as much a warning as the SEC’s slogan. 

But ignore the ramifications in Tuscaloosa for a second to appreciate what this means for Clark Lea and Vanderbilt. 

If Vanderbilt isn’t the hardest job in college football, it’s certainly up there. As the only private school in the football-obsessed SEC, Vanderbilt has always stood out as an outlier. The school’s investment in football paled in comparison to its SEC peers for decades and fan support mirrored it. Newly minted television analyst Nick Saban even fired a recent shot saying…

Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/alabama-bears-the-headlines-after-stunning-upset-but-saturday-was-about-vanderbilt-and-coach-clark-lea/

Author : John Talty

Publish date : 2024-10-06 04:48:13

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