How College Gameday Evaluates "Unicorn" Vanderbilt Team

NASHVILLE—-Kirk Herbstreit had to think for a second.

The idea of comparing Vanderbilt football’s ascension to anything that he’d previously seen was completely foreign to him. Herbstreit has made a living off of dissecting college football’s best narratives, but this one appears to be different than anything he’s seen to this point.

“This is like a unicorn,” Herbstreit said. “It’s one of one to me, to be a doormat for decades and then now to be there right with Alabama, be right there with Texas. That’s as good as it gets here in the SEC.”

Herbstreit eventually landed halfheartedly on the turnaround Bill Snyder conducted at Kansas State—which Herbstreit says “didn’t have a pulse” before Snyder’s arrival—years ago as well as what Matt Campbell had done at Iowa State, but he still wouldn’t directly compare those builds to this one.

Perhaps that would do Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea and what he’s done at Vanderbilt some level of injustice in Herbstreit’s mind. The idea that this is all a result of Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia and what he’s added to Vanderbilt’s program certainly is in Herbstreit’s mind.

The College Gameday analyst believes that one player can’t dictate a 6-1 start or top 10 ranking like Vanderbilt has. It has to be due to something more. Perhaps it could be moving forward, too.

Pat McAfee, right, talks to Kirk Herbstreit on the set of ESPN College GameDay prior to the NCAA football game between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Texas Longhorns at Ohio Stadium on Aug. 30, 2025. | Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

“I think this is a program that isn’t going away,” Herbstreit said. “Hopefully Clark Lea stays here for a long time, I feel like with NIL and the portal they’ve been able to become a team that doesn’t just have one guy. Diego Pavia gets the attention, if you don’t know Vandy you’d think it’s Diego Pavia. If you’re from here and you follow this program, it’s Clark Lea and what he’s built. Even when Diego Pavia has to leave, there’s going to be another guy that’s gonna come in here because of what's built around that position.”

Herbstreit is a Nashville native, had two kids go through Lea’s high school Montgomery Bell Academy and one go through Christ Presbyterian Academy–which produced Vanderbilt linebacker Langston Patterson–as a result, he feels as if he knows the ins and outs of this program and how it’s become successful.

Gameday’s crew says the goal of its show is to celebrate the stories of programs and to give fanbases an opportunity to step out and support what their program has done in order to be successful, it’s the first time the crew has come to Vanderbilt’s campus since 2008. It’s a stage like no other for Lea’s program.

The show’s most prominent faces appear to believe that this may not be the only time that they step on to West End, meet the large contingent of local media–which Gameday appears to believe is among the show’s largest crowds in recent memory–Herbstreit’s three dogs run around on the lawn and they step on to the Gameday stage.

“Time will tell, but I’m not totally sold that it’s lightning in a bottle,” Gameday host Rece Davis said. “I think you can sustain. Now, maybe you’re not going to win 10 games every year, but I’m not sure anybody is anymore because things are going to be more cyclical.”

For now, this Vanderbilt team and campus is still in uncharted waters. A walk on Vanderbilt’s Wyatt Lawn on Friday afternoon includes running into a big, orange, immovable object as well as around 10 students camping out in lawnchairs nearly 24 hours prior to Gameday’s crew takes the stage. It’s playing it’s first game as an AP Top 10 team since 1947. It’s got a chance to make the College Football Playoff for the first time in program history.

Herbstreit wants those viewing this Vanderbilt program around it to remember its habits and what it took for Lea to build this thing, too. It may be a unicorn, but this build wasn’t magic. This was more about a long string of investment and faith through a process in which the results weren’t often visible.

That’s why the Gameday analyst flew in from calling the Los Angeles Chargers game to meet the media on Friday. That’s why this program deserves the spotlight, he says.

“It just feels different,” Herbstreit said. “I know Diego Pavia gets a lot of attention and he should, but if you really follow them, they play great defense, they’re physical on the line of scrimmage, offensive line, one of the top in the entire country. Diego creates a belief, but I think Clark Lea, the facilities, what they’ve done–considering they’re landlocked–considering what they’ve done and the whole thing has kind of come together.”