Why Vanderbilt Football Still Believes It's Set For Historical Season Despite Early Woes

NASHVILLE—CJ Heard started every game for the best Vanderbilt football team in program history. He made big plays for it in its biggest wins. He saw how it fell just short of his goal of making the College Football Playoff.

Heard isn’t naive enough to believe that what this Vanderbilt team has shown through two games is good enough to allow it to be considered in the same light as that team yet, but he has a message. Don’t give up on it.

Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea still says that his 2026 team is working to form an identity after two weeks and Heard appears to agree. How could he not? This Vanderbilt team still doesn’t have a starting quarterback named. It still has major issues on its offensive line. It put together a questionable performance on Saturday after the first few drives of the game. It’s yet to put together anything close to a complete game.

But, Heard remains steadfast in his belief that this Vanderbilt team could be better than the last one.

“We can be the best team to ever play Vanderbilt football,” Heard said after Vanderbilt’s 35-26 win over Delaware. “We’ve got so much potential. We’ve just got to keep working, keep staying together.”

Heard acknowledges that Vanderbilt has real ground to make up before achieving what that 10-3 team did a season ago, but he believes it’s got a chance. Lea said in the offseason that he believes this Vanderbilt team is his deepest and appears to be as confident in its defense as any he’s had in his six-year tenure. There’s some private optimism that standout freshman quarterback Jared Curtis raises Vanderbilt’s ceiling substantially, as well.

Perhaps what this Vanderbilt team has going for it more than anything, though, is a similar belief to that of the 2025 team.

Vanderbilt’s players echoed that they’re chasing the national championship all offseason. They paraded at SEC Media Days while declaring that their program is more than Diego Pavia. They’ve yet to demonstrate that there’s credence to those things, but they haven’t lost their confidence.

When Vanderbilt trailed Delaware 17-14 at the halfway point of Saturday’s game and left the field to boo’s, it demonstrated that practically. Before Lea could get in front of his team, Vanderbilt cornerback Martel Hight declared that Vanderbilt is better than what it showed in the first half of Saturday’s game. Vanderbilt edge rusher Miles Capers–who said Saturday was his best game as a Vanderbilt player–also used his voice to send a similar reminder. By the time Lea took the floor, Vanderbilt’s mind was already made up that it wasn’t losing on Saturday.

And, it didn’t.

For a stretch of Saturday’s second half, this Vanderbilt team provided a glimpse into what it can be. Curtis demonstrated that he’s got the capability to be well ahead of schedule. Vanderbilt’s defense did enough to hold up its end. Vanderbilt finally got the crowd behind it. Yet, it still feels as if there’s more out there for it.

Lea said a week ago that he hoped Vanderbilt’s showing in its opener against Austin Peay was its worst of the season. He’d likely admit that Saturday was a better one than his team had in week one, but has to know that Saturday’s performance wasn’t good enough to indicate this is his best team yet.

Vanderbilt still believes that can be true, though.

“I feel like there’s so much in the tank that we haven't shown as a team,” Vanderbilt tight end Jayvontay Conner said. “We’re coming together, man. People just need to be patient with us, man.”

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