Vanderbilt Commodores Bowl Fate Revealed With Trip To Birmingham Bowl
The Vanderbilt Commodores bowl fate has been revealed with the arrival of selection day.
Vanderbilt will head down to Birmingham to face the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the Birmingham Bowl on December 27 at 2:30 p.m. CST (3:30 p.m. EST) at Protective Stadium, home of the UAB Blazers. Ironically, it's actually the site of the Commodores last bowl victory in the 2013 season, then known as the BBVA Compass Bowl, a game that was a 41-24 win over Houston.
The Yellow Jackets will present a stiff test for Vandy. With a 7-5 record that included a dominating week one victory over Florida State as well as a November victory over the Miami Hurricanes, Georgia Tech was one of the tougher teams in the ACC this year. They gave the SEC champion Georgia Bulldogs absolutely everything they could handle in the final week of the regular season when in Athens they took them to an eight overtime thriller that was one of the games of the season,
Three of the five losses for the Yellow Jackets came against ranked opponents in Syracuse, Notre Dame, and Georgia.
While the Commodores are still in the midst of the most special season for the program in a long time, they closed the regular season with three straight losses to South Carolina, LSU, and in-state rival Tennessee. Georgia Tech meanwhile ended with victories over Miami and North Carolina State before the heartbreak against Georgia.
Another interesting layer for Vanderbilt is playing a postseason game in a state in which they defeated the two powers during the regular season in Alabama and Auburn. Any neutral fans in the area who just go to the game as fans of football are likely fans of the Tide or Tigers and will get to see firsthand once again the program that defeated both of them in a historic 2024 season.
This game has been known as the Birmingham Bowl since 2014. Upon its inception in 2006, it was originally known as the PapaJohns.com Bowl until 2009 before switching to BBVA Compass from 2010-2013. It has been played at the brand new Protective Stadium since 2021, previously being played since 2006 at Legion Field.
