The Vanderbilt defense came up tall on the final Hail Mary against Missouri, holding back the Tigers as they had all day. That made for a Commodores win, their second in a row at home against a ranked opponent.

Ahead of the showdown between the two SEC teams at DKR on Saturday, the Vanderbilt head coach gave his thoughts on the two Longhorn signal callers, given that he could up against either one of them in Austin.

The only reason for Clark Lea to leave Vanderbilt, in 2025, is if he doesn’t think the current run is sustainable and wants to get out before he starts going 2-10 again. But that would say much more about Clark Lea than it would about Vanderbilt.

Within the gauntlet that is the Southeastern Conference, the Vanderbilt Commodores have long been considered the weakest link of the league, opposing teams unfazed by their presence on the schedule.

Coaching legend Nick Saban sent a strong warning to the Vanderbilt Commodores and their fans about coach Clark Lea.

The revival of Vanderbilt's football program began in a Sunday school classroom with Clark Lea and Barton Simmons many years ago

Lea and quarterback Diego Pavia are two big reasons for Vanderbilt's success, but they aren't the only people behind its sudden transformation from SEC also-ran to legitimate College Football Playoff contender.

That’s always in the back of the mind for coaches: It’s still a profession, and it could still go south. Ralph Friedgen coached Maryland for 10 years before his alma mater fired him. He was offered the Georgia Tech job in 2002, after his first year at Maryland, and said later that, in hindsight, he should have taken it.