“I Share Their Frustration”: Clark Lea’s Message to His Team After Penultimate Rankings Release

Vanderbilt football head coach Clark Lea talked about what he said to his team after being left out of the playoff bracket.

Vanderbilt football coach Clark Lea during the NCAA college football game against Tennessee on Nov. 29, 2025, in Knoxville, Tennessee. | Saul Young/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Vanderbilt’s magical season that was filled with high playoff hopes came to a sudden point of disappointment Tuesday night when the Commodores looked at the rankings and saw that not only did they stay at No. 14, but were jumped by 9-3 Texas for the No. 13 spot.

It is certainly not what Vanderbilt wanted. Vanderbilt did just about all it could down the stretch of the season to put itself in the best possible position to be put in this season’s College Football Playoff, but witnessed no positive movement in the rankings despite ending the season on a three-game winning streak, two wins of which came by 21 or more points while finishing the regular season with a 10-2 record.

Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea last met with his team the morning of Tuesday’s rankings, but he told the team how he honestly felt about how Tuesday night was going to go.

“I share frustration. We talked about the fact that the ranking was going to come out and I said my feeling is that it may not move very much just because I can’t seem to figure out what goes on in that room,” Lea said. “And if I can’t understand it I can’t predict it.”

Lea and certainly all the players felt like they deserve to be included in the playoffs. After all, a SEC team like Vanderbilt with a 10-2 record a year ago would have had a very strong argument and probably even would have gotten in whether it was the last spot or not. A 9-3 Alabama team narrowly missed the playoffs after SMU lost the ACC Championship to Clemson, but by a small margin.

But Vanderbilt is not giving up hope in case an opportunity arises. In a message board text on Vanderbilt’s 247Sports site, a user suggested that No. 14 Vanderbilt and No. 12 Miami should play a 13th game that would act as a play-in game for the 12-team bracket in which the Commodores and the Hurricanes would play the game in Hawaii due to a NCAA rule that allows for extra games to be played between teams if the extra game is played in Alaska or Hawaii.

It is obviously a long shot and would certainly be one of the wilder things college football fans have seen. But that does not deter Vanderbilt from continuing to fight.

“My challenge to them was to continue to fight. I told them to have their bags packed if a team calls us up and wants us to go play them on Saturday. If I have two days to prepare a team, we’ll get a plane and we’ll get there Friday night and play on Saturday,” Lea said.

Assuming a 13th game between Vanderbilt and what would likely be Miami is not played, Vanderbilt of course will be happy to play in whichever bowl is assigned to it. And once Vanderbilt finds out its opponent for its bowl game, the Commodores will take intentional time to prepare for whichever team is slotted to play them. Vanderbilt is going to use its opportunity to play in a bowl game to show the nation that it is indeed among the best teams in the country.

“If we’re not allowed in, then our job is to go and perform to the highest of ability in whatever game we’re put in. And these guys will do that because they care so much about this program,” Lea said.

Barring an unforeseen change in the rankings, Vanderbilt will find its bowl destination and opponent sometime Sunday afternoon after the playoff bracket reveal.