Why College Gameday Was Drawn To Vanderbilt Football's Storylines
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TUSCALOOSA, AL—-ESPN’s Steve “Stanford” Coughlin vividly remembers sitting in an airport after College Gameday’s appearance at California’s first ever ACC home game and the frenzy that occurred in the moments leading up to his flight.
Everyone in the building that day was looking to flip the channel to SEC Network to find Vanderbilt’s matchup with No. 1 Alabama. In the moments following the channel flip, Clark Lea and his Vanderbilt team continued a nearly flawless effort to seal a 40-35 win over the Crimson Tide.
A seemingly supernatural euphoria hung over Vanderbilt’s FirstBank Stadium that night while those in the California airport felt something in their own regard.
“Everybody lost their minds after that,” the ESPN star said Friday on Alabama’s campus ahead of Vanderbilt’s College Gameday appearance. “That was the story of that weekend, for sure.”
A year later, Coughlin and all that comes with College Gameday are surrounding Alabama’s Lloyd Hall and the media contingent it brought out discussing the same program that stunned them this time a year ago. College Gameday’s crew is viewing them as more than a Cinderella of sorts nowadays, though.
As Coughlin and Gameday’s Rece Davis discuss this Vanderbilt team, they discuss it differently than they did a year ago. They believe it’s better on the perimeter and on the offensive line, they believe it’s more capable of winning with less margin for error.
They believe this Vanderbilt team is a better story than they were a year ago because of those things, but also because of the charm they haven’t lost.
“Vanderbilt is a great story,” Davis said. “Everybody loves the underdog, right? Everybody tends to, unless you’re an Alabama fan and you’re rooting for the continuation of the dynasty. Most people who don’t have a dog in the fight, if you’re watching a movie, the movie’s normally built around the underdog.”
Vanderbilt will still have the underdog label Davis speaks of as it makes the trip to Birmingham on Friday night and arrives in Tuscaloosa on Saturday morning, it’s still subject to Alabama being a double-digit favorite. It’s still fighting for respect and looking to rewrite history, but it’s got a chance.
Perhaps Theo Von will be the only person on the panel in Tuscaloosa to pick Vanderbilt, but nobody who appears on the show on Saturday morning will view it in the way that they’ve viewed it in the past. They believe this is a different Vanderbilt.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t be where they were on Friday morning.
“I just think ‘undefeated and ranked, you watch them on tape and they’re legit,’” Coughlin said. “The offense is better than it was last year. We’re getting in October now, man. Everything’s going to rise to the top, right? Vanderbilt definitely deserves the praises again.”
Who knows what happens Saturday as Vanderbilt takes the field at 2:30 P.M. central, but it will be noteworthy. That’s what happens when a stage like College Gameday surrounds a top 20 matchup in one of college football’s greatest cathedrals. It’s what happens when a program like Alabama meets one like this Vanderbilt team.
Coughlin says Gameday was intrigued by the potential for Vanderbilt to rewrite some history on Saturday night and that they fit with what Gameday is trying to create. It could win, it could lose. It’s on Gameday and it did it on its own, though.
“If Vanderbilt wins and becomes bowl eligible in the past, maybe they threw a parade,” Davis said. “Tomorrow if they become bowl eligible, they’re going to go ‘that’s great, we’ve got bigger aspirations.’”
“Vanderbilt is a fascinating storyline.”
_(1)-b3e453dfe426b2dd4b83a12540ebdb37.jpeg "Joey Dwyer")
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, Southeastern 16 and Mainstreet Nashville.
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