Everything Vanderbilt Head Coach Clark Lea Said After Vanderbilt’s Win Over Auburn

Vanderbilt won in overtime against Auburn. Here is everything Clark Lea said postgame.

Nov 8, 2025; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Vanderbilt Commodores head coach Clark Lea paces the sideline against the Auburn Tigers during the second half at FirstBank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images | Steve Roberts-Imagn Images

NASHVILLE – It was not pretty, but it sure was exciting.

Vanderbilt came away with a 45-38 win over Auburn Saturday night in overtime. The two offenses went back-and-forth for the entire second half. The two schools were trading touchdowns and field goals throughout the half before ultimately going to overtime.

In overtime, Vanderbilt scored a touchdown on its first possession and the Commodore defense came up with a big stop on 4th and 7 to win the game in the extra period. After the win Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea spoke to the media. Here is everything Lea said.

Opening Statement

“Well, certainly it wasn't what I expected. And just really proud of our team. We're finding different ways to win games. Obviously, I think first, just a credit to DJ and to Auburn for showing up, playing a great game. I thought their quarterback played lights out. I thought offensively, they found a rhythm. Defensively, they're really challenging. They forced us to adjust, kind of our personality and our identity. But I've got a really resilient team and for the start to go the way it did. I never felt like the sideline ever lagged energy. I never felt like a unit took the field that wasn't expecting to come up with a big play or stop. And I'm really proud of those guys and thought the crowd was great. I appreciate everyone that showed up. That east side of the stadium is starting to get a little more black and gold in it, which is good to see. I think the students are so consistent in their support, that's so appreciated. But it feels like we're growing something here which is exciting. And what is there to say about Diego Pavia? I mean the guy took the game. I've said it at this podium before, but in our minds, he's the best player in the country. We found a way to win a game for us tonight. I credit Tim Beck too, but I mean, Diego made it happen. I thought our receivers had an incredible, incredible day, and tight ends, obviously, too, and defense came up with the last two stops. And I think that can't be missed on a day where the story is offense. Our defense had my back on the fourth and one call and got us out of the Hail Mary situation there to end regulation, and then came up with that final stop when we needed it. And I think I've got a psychologically mature team. These guys are never daunted. The moments, never too big for them. They're never down. They stayed focused, and they found a way to gut it out and win on a tough night. So I'm proud of them, and I'm happy to answer any questions.”

You mentioned Diego. Is there anything he can do to surprise you at this point? I think 489 combined yards, and he just keeps finding ways, aside from the fourth and one, to make the plays that you have to have in these games.

“I'm not surprised by anything. I think when the ball's in his hands, we have a chance. And so it's just this confidence that you know when he's back there. We get the ball back to him, we're going to win. And we talked about that at halftime. I felt like the two possessions leading into half were big for our defense. There were two field goals, one was off the turnover, one was on the final possession there. And that was big, just because we kind of got our cleats in the ground finally, but then coming back out. It was just about, how do we generate a stop and eliminate points and get the ball to our offense? Because the feeling was that we kind of got some tempo going at the end of the first half, and maybe that was going to be the formula, that was going to be the answer. And sure enough, we got the three and out to come out in the second half. We drive down and score a touchdown. And I mean, by my count, we had four possessions on both sides of the ball in the third quarter. I think that all the last offensive possession ended in the fourth quarter like in the first minute. But that never happens at Vanderbilt. You know, that's not who we are, but we needed to adjust our approach to win a game, and we did that. And I think that says a lot about our staff, and it says a lot about our team, and certainly Diego leads the way in that respect.”

 

You mentioned the psychologically mature team that you have at this time of year. Is it difficult to ignore the playoff talk?

“We don't ignore that. We embrace it. I mean it, not even embrace it. I mean, that's our talk. Like we own that, because we've talked about it since January 7. So that's something we embrace, and we were striving for. And I said this to the team today in the hotel. I mean, that we're out of opportunities. I mean, everything's at stake, and the mission is winning. So if at some point we're dealt a blow, we'll still be on mission, but until otherwise, we're aiming for those playoffs, and that's important to us right now. It's going to be the best bye week we've ever had. Let's get freshened up and get rested. Then we'll shift our attention to Kentucky, and obviously got a two two game stretch run here at the end to close it out. But yeah, we own those words.”

What went into the decision to not kick the field goal there on that fourth down? And also, how much different were they offensively without Hugh Freeze, and why did it give you guys so much trouble? And only ask given the fact they'd struggled a lot offensively this season.

“It feels good to get a question like, hey, I made a decision and it didn't work out the way you wanted it. That happens, but they had used all their time outs. It was fourth and one. It was a really tight one. And, I mean, obviously I've got all the confidence of Brock Taylor. I just felt like we were going to convert and in the game in regulation, and we were going to drive down. It's a slide at five situation. We won't score a touchdown there. We'll deal the ball out and kick a field goal to win it. I did not want to return possession because of what you just said. I felt like offensively, they had a lot of rhythm, and so in my mind, if it had been fourth and two or anything other than that tight one, we would have kicked it and kicked off and played defense. But I wanted to give our guys a chance to convert. We didn't. And fortunately, the defense had my back at the end of the game, and obviously in overtime, too. And we're not risk averse. I think to win games, you have to put the ball in the hands of your playmakers. We did that in that situation, which came up short. Fortunately, we were able to get it out at the end of the second part of your question. I thought they did a really nice job. Obviously, the quarterback played really well. I thought formationally, they were a little different. They were using tempo and empty to get us into checks and the emotion and back out of empty they challenged us. I thought there was some sloppiness that we needed to get organized on defense. And I'm not saying that some of it was really good play by them, but there were times where I felt like there were chunks and we were out of position, or we didn't all have the same call, and that kind of stuff drives me crazy. It's sloppy and I communicated that at halftime, I felt like we came out in the second half and played with a little more confidence. It still was imperfect, but I know that is a very skilled offensive football team, and I thought they played as well as they played at the quarterback position and then in the front, and his ability to extend and find routes, his ability to extend and run the ball, hurt us. And I just felt like sometimes in the first half, we were chasing it down. There's elements of that that will control, that we need to address, and that that starts with me and the coaching staff so we can play with more consistency. And there's elements that

that you got to give them credit. But I think for me, the overarching feeling I have is just we were here a couple weeks ago and played a game that was a defensive gridlock against Missouri, and we won it. Tonight, we were on the freeway scoring points all over the place. We found a way to win this one. I mean, I think that's a testament to our adaptability. And it was the offenses day.”

You guys had two receivers go for over 100 yards tonight. Just what have you made of their performances? And it seemed like you guys had a lot of explosive plays, particularly in the passing game. So how do you view those? 

“I thought we got their defense on their heels and that opened some guys up. Eli, first tight end in program history with back to back 100 yard games. First tight end in program history, 10 plus catches. Tre, I think, had 123 on three catches. 124 on three catches in the touchdown. I mean, that's really explosive.The guy, to me, though, that also needs credit, is Junior Sherrill. I mean, it's 75 for a touchdown, but he's some huge moments for him, huge catches, and also just what he does physically on the perimeter. He is a different guy. I challenged him this week. And I was pleased that he responded. So Diego makes it go. Those guys made plays on the ball in critical moments. You can't say enough about them. And I'm really happy with our wide receivers. The performance. Richie Hoskins had a couple great catches too. I mean, those guys really stepped up in moments where we needed them too. Proud of him.”

With a couple weeks in a row where the defensive performance has not been as good, is there anything over the bye week schematically that you guys are going to look at doing to try to fix that?

“Yeah I mean, we will certainly look to evolve as you know. It's less about creating new things, more about like, what have we done? Well, sometimes there's too much on the sheet. Sometimes we're carrying a call over that we need to eliminate. I mean, I want to stop short of turning this into a negative response, because that defense stood tall when they needed to, and won tonight for us. We played against two really skilled offenses, and we haven't necessarily played to our standard, but those guys found a way to win tonight. We'll make our adjustments and look to focus on the things that we do well, eliminate things we don't, keep this thing moving forward. We'll probably do a little less work this week, honestly, just because it's so late in the season. So maybe a couple practice opportunities rather than three, and we'll get to work next Sunday for Kentucky.”

Eli Stowers took that big hit over the middle and then went on the sideline for one play, came back in the game, popped up, and went back into the fight. Was that kind of a microcosm of what it took to get it done today?

“It was. He took a bunch of hits, and he's a warrior, and he's tough. Yeah, I mean, I'm

just in awe. And I think what he's doing there is absolutely a representation of Vanderbilt football. You know, that's who we are. So he gutted it out and helped us win a big game.”

First one on the tempo. Is that as fast as you guys have gone, especially on that one drive when you when you got the coverage bust, is that as fast as you guys have executed tempo in a game? And then the other one on the last play, it looked like CJ was lined up on the line, and then he dropped back. And do you think that that threw the quarterback off on that play?

“So when we practice, it's a period we call NASCAR, and we do it every week. This week, we did it twice, not because we anticipated the game going like that. It just keeps us in rhythm, and this is where the offense is going to line it up and snap. They're using their like first menu, they're going to line up and snap it as fast they can. And they'll go for four reps, and then the next group comes on, and it's the way we start practice. It keeps us fresh, and it gives us the ability to rep those calls. And so we haven't had to use it. I mean, we've used it at times here and there, but tonight, we needed it to win the game, and I think the time we've put into that in practice showed up for us tonight, so that probably is the fastest we've gone this season, especially in back to back drives. But something we're really accustomed to doing in the way we train the final play we knew obviously number eight had given us problems on the touchdown and two point conversion. Really good player, and Steve called a defense that allowed for doubles, and it was going to show pressure early. We wanted to try to kind of get them into a situation where they're throwing up what they believe is a one on one shot safety's bailed out, and CJ doubled the rate, and I felt like it forced the quarterback to clutch, and then he sent it long. So good call. Well executed. Good heads up by CJ. No one who was to the side, and I think it was Jordan Matthews over there, did a nice job as well.”

You guys had over 300 yards after halftime. Just schematically from Auburn's defense, what did you see that allowed your offense to succeed so well and score almost seemingly at will after halftime?

“First of all, that is a really good defensive box, and maybe the best we played in terms of the middle of their defense. So they made big plays and big moments too. I mean for us, those short yardage situations and the goal line situations, those were hard yards for us, but what helped us there was the tempo, and spreading them out and getting them on their heels gave us space. And when we got space, Diego did a great job attacking it. I thought a couple times we were able to puncture their pass rush lanes for chunk gains. And again, those things, you get the opponent on their heels, I felt like we were able to kind of wear them out a little bit. And that only works when you execute. And we executed, and then it led to a couple times where we had guys cut loose, and Diego found them and we capitalized. So it's just good adaptability by our offensive staff, our offensive players and we found a way to win.”