"Our Margin For Error is So Small," Vanderbilt Football Knows It Has To Improve Quickly After Georgia Loss
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ATHENS, GA—For a second, Clark Lea cut the positivity and got back to declaring that this Vanderbilt football loss wasn’t a moral victory merely because it’s difficult to beat Georgia in its own building. He acknowledged that his answer had been long winded, but he had to get a few more things off his chest before he moved on.
He declared that he was frustrated with Vanderbilt’s second half play Saturday against Georgia, then he doubled down and declared that he was even more frustrated with its fourth-quarter play–which led to it being outscored 10-0 and outgained 159-19 by Georgia. Georgia was as dominant in that quarter as Vanderbilt was competitive in the first two.
In that way, Lea’s team learned something Saturday. They learned how quickly this can all flip. They learned that if they slip, things will get out of hand against teams like they played Saturday.
“Our margin for error is so small and we as a team have not yet learned to play the game in a manner that gives us a chance on that field today,” Lea said. “There are just things that this team needs to do to close that gap in performance, that goes beyond anything we're going to do in adding players to the roster as we go to next season. Our [focus is] growing players within our roster. Our focus right now is just cleaning up the football, and we believe that when we do that, that that outcome can be different.”
Vanderbilt will have more margin for error in every game the rest of the way than it did Saturday against Georgia, but not all that much more. In some metrics, Vanderbilt has the most difficult remaining strength of schedule in the country. All but one team remaining on its schedule is ranked in the AP Top 25 and will be favored against Vanderbilt–which is 3-2 and hasn’t played anywhere near a complete game yet.
When Lea met the media a week ago following Vanderbilt’s loss to Auburn, he tipped his hand while discussing special teams and declaring that Vanderbilt couldn’t afford mistakes like it made that day this year. Lea never said it directly, but he indicated that his team still has a significant gap to close relative to the top of the SEC. Vanderbilt has an inexperienced quarterback on the field at all times. It lost plenty from its 10-win team a season ago. It has as hard of a schedule as it’s had. The razor-thin margins make this look like a rebuilding year, but Vanderbilt isn’t willing to accept that it is one.
Lea declared postgame that Vanderbilt had “no joy” in its locker room after falling to Georgia on Saturday and that it isn’t taking Saturday as a moral victory. Vanderbilt doesn’t appear to be discouraged after two-consecutive losses, but it’s not viewing a competitive first half with Georgia as a success.
“We felt like we let that get away,” Vanderbilt receiver Junior Sherrill said. “We felt like we were supposed to win that game, and we fell short. So obviously, we were disappointed in the way we played and the loss, I mean, the result of the game, but we got to come back Sunday and Sunday and Monday and during the week and just get better.”
Sherrill recalls Vanderbilt’s 2023 loss to Georgia in which it fell 37-20 at FirstBank Stadium and declares that this Vanderbilt team has a significantly different mindset than that one did coming out of that game–in a positive way–but doesn’t appear satisfied with the way the program has grown mentally. This group wants to win, and they appear dejected at the premise that they haven’t done it since picking up a miracle win against NC State at the buzzer.
They know they’re more talented than that 2023 team, but they know they still need to show that. They know they have to cut the crap with the penalties. They know they have to support their quarterback better with a strong running game. They know they have to stop losing on special teams and giving away free points that way. They know that at some point, their emphasis points have to turn to action.
“There's no room for slip ups,” Vanderbilt safety CJ Heard said. “You got to figure out how to win small margins, man. It's gonna be key for us. I mean, in all three phases, so we're gonna do it. We're gonna keep practicing, keep getting better, it's gonna happen.”
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Joey Dwyer is the lead writer on Vanderbilt Commodores On SI. He found his first love in college sports at nearby Lipscomb University and decided to make a career of telling its best stories. He got his start doing a Notre Dame basketball podcast from his basement as a 14-year-old during COVID and has since aimed to make that 14-year-old proud. Dwyer has covered Vanderbilt sports for three years and previously worked for 247 Sports and Rivals. He contributes to Seth Davis' Hoops HQ, Basket Under Review and Mainstreet Nashville.
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