Why Vanderbilt Isn't Worried About Alabama Sizing It Up

Vanderbilt and Alabama football face off at Bryant Denny Stadium on Saturday. Alabama says it's not overlooking Clark Lea's team, but Vanderbilt isn't worried about that.

Oct 5, 2024; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Kalen DeBoer and Vanderbilt Commodores head coach Clark Lea talk during warmups at FirstBank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images | Steve Roberts-Imagn Images

NASHVILLE—Even Kalen DeBoer can’t stand up there and definitively say it. 

As a reporter suggests that Vanderbilt’s 2024 win over the Crimson Tide was partly a result of DeBoer’s team overlooking Clark Lea’s after a win over Georgia sent it to No. 1 in the AP Top 25, the second-year Alabama head coach wasn’t exactly forthcoming. He stood up there, nodded his head and threw his hands up, though. 

“I’m not going to argue against that,” DeBoer said. “You’ve got to handle success and you’ve got to come back every single week in this league. Every coach I talk to at midfield, that’s what the conversation’s about is here you go again. You’ve got to reload mentally, physically, emotionally to during the week get prepared at the highest level you possibly can and go play ball.”

If there was any truth to DeBoer’s team overlooking Vanderbilt last season, Lea’s team made it pay for it as it played a nearly flawless game and took down the Crimson Tide 40-35. By the end of that night, DeBoer was answering the difficult questions and Vanderbilt’s students were carrying the goalpost out of the south end zone of FirstBank Stadium while immersed in a seemingly endless euphoria. 

Alabama’s players still recall how they felt that night and are out to change the narrative regarding this series–which they’ve often dominated. 

Sep 27, 2025; Athens, Georgia, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Ty Simpson (15) talks with ESPN sideline reporter Holly Rowe after defeating the Georgia Bulldogs at Sanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images | Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

“I wasn’t playing but I was on the team and so I felt how it was last year,” Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson–who was Alabama’s backup quarterback as it visited FirstBank Stadium–said. “The mentality in the locker room this week is ‘we remember what happened last year and what are we going to do about it?’ Even though it’s not about last year, it’s about us, we’re not gonna make the same mistake again.”

Lea doesn’t know whether his team got Alabama’s best a year ago and doesn’t appear to care all that much about whether his team did or not. That doesn’t change the result–that Lea says generated belief within his team’s locker room–or how Vanderbilt prepares for its trip to Tuscaloosa. 

He didn’t operate as if Alabama was going to overlook Vanderbilt last season and he’s not going to again this season. He’ll “honor the question,” as he often does respectfully, but he’s not considering its premise. Enough said. 

It was the rare decisive answer from the mostly considerate, thoughtful Lea. The fifth-year Vanderbilt coach addressed the question, but had a point to prove as he addressed it. 

“We don’t put too much energy into thinking about how they’re thinking of the game,” Lea said. “We just expect them to show up and play their best. We understand the things that make them good and the things that maybe are weaknesses. So, we try to build a gameplan around those things and ultimately that’s where our focus is going to be.” 

Alabama says its“mindset is different” this time around, but it doesn’t appear as if this Vanderbilt team is taking those comments at face value.

It didn’t celebrate its win over No. 1 Alabama worrying at all about whether DeBoer’s team could’ve brought more intensity and whether that made its win less impressive. It won’t do that this season if the result goes its way, either. 

Perhaps Alabama’s approach will change, but Vanderbilt believes that’s something that’s inconsequential to focus on. It believes it’s going to bring it. 

Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia (2) celebrates after defeating Utah State at FirstBank Stadium in Nashville, Tenn., Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025. | Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

“I know we’ve got to bring it. That’s for sure,” Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia told On3's Chris Low. "But we just gotta play within the white lines. If we do that... it won't be close."

Perhaps Pavia’s confidence is over the top, but it appears to be genuine in this case. The Vanderbilt quarterback has been tamer than usual this season, yet still made a more grand declaration ahead of Vanderbilt’s matchup with Alabama than he did last season. 

Who knows how it all ends, but this Vanderbilt team isn’t backing down from DeBoer’s. It’s not giving it any excuses, either.

“We expect a great game,” Lea said. “This is a mature group and a group that takes very seriously the mission we're on, and so we can get really excited for a game in a great environment against a great opponent.”