Clark Lea, Vanderbilt Football Hope For Home Environment, Monumental Win Over LSU

Clark Lea may not have said it this bluntly as he took the podium on Tuesday afternoon, but he’s sick and tired of looking up at the FirstBank Stadium stands and seeing anything but waves of black and gold.

The Vanderbilt head coach has seen the stadium that was once all but guaranteed to be filled with opposing fans filled to the brim with Vanderbilt fans. Those days could be over for now, though.

As LSU rolls in to Nashville on Saturday afternoon, it has the potential to bring an army of fans that will line the visiting sideline. Lea doesn’t know exactly what to expect as he looks across the field, but he wants it to indicate progress.

“I’m excited to see what the stadium looks like on Saturday,” Lea said on Tuesday. “We’ve had these games in the past where it feels like a road game when you’re at home. I hope our fanbase is ready to show up and cheer loud for the home team.”

Sep 27, 2025; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Vanderbilt Commodores head coach Clark Lea talks with the referee against the Utah State Aggies during the first half at FirstBank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images | Steve Roberts-Imagn Images

It’s likely that LSU’s fanbase overtakes a significant portion of FirstBank Stadium on Saturday, but it doesn’t mean imminent disaster like it often has for this program in the past.

This Vanderbilt team doesn’t feel as if it needs the crowd behind it to succeed. It doesn’t need it to go into Saturday afternoon with the appropriate level of motivation, either. Vanderbilt knows what a win over LSU would do for it.

“It’d mean a lot for this program, a lot for this team,” Vanderbilt running back Sedrick Alexander said. “I mean, we try to take it week by week. We want to go 1-0 each and every week. So for us to come out here and beat LSU would be great for our team and our university.”

If Vanderbilt is to pull it off on Saturday afternoon, it would be its first win over LSU since 1990 and would snap a 10-game losing streak for this program against that one. It would validate the perception that it no longer has to be an underdog in this type of game.

A game like Saturday’s is one that Vanderbilt has so often lost over the years. It’s one in which it faces a historical disadvantage, its head coach is the mentee of the opposing head coach and it’s one in which it appears to face a talent gap.

That’s not discouraging it, though. That adds to its edge.

“It would mean the world to us,” Vanderbilt defensive lineman Zaylin Wood said of a potential win. “We've been working so hard ever since fall camp, since the spring. We’ve just been grinding, really just worried about it one game at a time. Beating LSU, obviously, would mean the world to us. You know, we just got to continue to continue to prep for this week and continue to get after it.”

Wood and Vanderbilt aren’t backing down from this LSU team despite its No. 10 ranking in the AP Top 25, the Vanderbilt defensive lineman says his defense is aiming to shut out Garrett Nussmier and the LSU offense.

Alexander says that if his group plays “Vanderbilt football,” then it can knock off anyone. It didn’t do so against Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Now, it feels as if it’s got a chance to avenge itself with an improved mindset.

“Maybe some of us were complacent,” Wood said. “I feel like it [the loss] took the complacency out of us as well. I feel like the Alabama game was what probably made us more hungry. We got a six game stretch right here, so we’re just trying to go 6-0.”