Forty names, games, teams and minutiae making news in college football, where sudden-onset injury syndrome seems to be afflicting the Mississippi Rebels at certain times. First Quarter: Twelve Angry Men.
Second Quarter: The Last Doormat Has Arisen
To fully appreciate the improbability and rarity of the Vanderbilt Commodores (13) defeating the Alabama Crimson Tide on Saturday, you have to understand where the 'Dores have been. Specifically, rock bottom. By every measurement, they’ve been the most outclassed power-conference program in the history of the sport.
The disparity between Vandy and its Southeastern Conference peers has been glaring for decades. The league historically has been too hard, the 'Dores too soft. Or, if you want to put it another way, Vandy has retained a perspective that others have not.
Vanderbilt and the rest of the SEC were essentially pursuing mutually exclusive missions—one small, private, elite academic university trying (kind of) to keep up with massive state schools that pursued football with an it-just-means-more zeal. The academic differences—in admissions, in majors, in overall rigor—are a separator. So is the corresponding fan fervor.
That’s how a program can go 0–60 all-time against AP top-five competition. Until Saturday.
Even in comparison to the other smart kids schools that belong to major conferences, Vanderbilt has been the least successful football program. The numbers:
Vandy’s all-time winning percentage in SEC games is .243, a record of 141-458-18. The Commodores have never won an SEC conference or division title. Among current SEC members that have been in the league since prior to 1990, Vandy is the only one not to have won a title of any kind.
Duke Blue Devils (14): 175-313-8 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, a winning percentage of .361. (The Wake Forest Demon Deacons are actually below the Blue Devils at .321.) Duke played in the ACC title game as recently as 2013, and has won at least a share of the ACC championship seven times, most recently in 1989. Wake played in the ACC championship game in 2006 and ’21, winning it in ’06.
Northwestern Wildcats (15): 301-518-21 in the Big Ten, a winning percentage of .371. As is the case with Duke in the ACC, there is a less-successful long-term Big Ten member than Northwestern—Indiana, which checks in with a .302 winning percentage. Thanks to the privilege of playing in the late, rarely great Big Ten West, the Wildcats made the league championship game as recently as 2018 and ’20. Over the last 30 years, Northwestern won or shared Big Ten titles in 1995, ’96 and 2000.
Stanford Cardinal (16): 361-372-21 in the Pac-12, a winning percentage of .479. Aside from Notre Dame, Stanford has been the most historically successful elite academic school. The Cardinal won 15 Pac-12 titles, including three this century (2012, ’13 and ’15). Colorado, which was a Pac-12 member from 2011 to ’23, has the worst winning percentage in that league at .250. For longer-term members, Oregon State is lowest at .385.
Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea appeared to be a smart hire in 2021. He’s an alum who understands the job and had been a successful assistant at a big-time program (Notre Dame). But prior to this season, the results had been Same Old Vandy: a 9–27 record, 2–22 in the SEC.
Now, Lea has two statement wins in five games, upsetting Virginia Tech to open the season and then the shocker Saturday. Of course, there also was a loss to Georgia State in between, the kind of backward step that seems to afflict Vanderbilt. But beating Bama rendered that disappointment fleeting.
Times have changed drastically in terms of the timetable to build something, but consider this in regard to Lea: It took Northwestern savior Gary Barnett four seasons in Evanston to break through. He was 8-24-1 before going 10–2 and famously taking the Purple to Pasadena.
We’ll see what carryover comes from the landmark upset in Nashville. Vandy (3–2) is working hard to literally cash in on the moment, but there has to be carryover on the field. The 'Dores are 1–1 in the SEC, so nothing is off the table yet. More realistically, their first bowl bid since 2018 seems like a good minimum to shoot for.
The Power of the Proper Transfer Quarterback
With the robust quarterback transfer market, getting the right one for your program is essential. The Dash takes a quick look at six places where it is working out well so far:
Diego Pavia (17), Vanderbilt
Where he came from: New Mexico State.
There’s no way the Commodores would have gotten it “f---ing turnt” around without him, to use Pavia’s own phrasing. The Albuquerque Tinkler was a winner at New Mexico State, which is a hard place to win. He has carried that over to another hard place to win.
Pavia has had his two highest pass efficiency ratings in Vandy’s two biggest victories. He’s currently 13th nationally in efficiency, having yet to throw an interception this season. He’s also the team’s leading rusher, averaging 18 carries per game. He is the engine.
Cam Ward (18), Miami Hurricanes
Where he came from: Washington State, and before that Incarnate Word.
What Ward did to drag the Canes back from the brink of disaster in Berkeley was fairly epic. He produced 277 yards of total offense and three touchdowns in the fourth quarter alone, slicing up a gassed California Golden Bears defense with the game on the line.
Ward is a full-spectrum QB experience, which means he will turn the ball over enough to put his team in bad situations—see both the Virginia Tech and Cal games. But with everything on the line, he made plays both spectacular and routine to bring the Canes back. Ward currently leads the nation in total offense, passing yards per game and passing touchdowns.
Kurtis Rourke (19), Indiana Hoosiers
Where he came from: Ohio.
The Hoosiers are 6–0 for the first time and haven’t yet trailed in a game, a testament to the brassy vision of first-year head coach Curt Cignetti. But Rourke is the on-field catalyst, leading an offense that is third nationally in scoring and 11th in yards per game. He’s fourth nationally in pass efficiency, developing immediate rapport with a previously unfamiliar group of receivers.
“You could just see he knew how to play quarterback,” Cignetti says of Rourke.
Eli Holstein (20), Pittsburgh Panthers
Where he came from: Alabama.
He’s led the Panthers to their first 5–0 start since 1991, playing especially well in crunch time. His fourth-quarter pass efficiency rating is a whopping 214.86, which has been quite important in comeback wins against Cincinnati and West Virginia, not to mention pulling away from a tie game against North Carolina on Saturday. A capable runner as well, Holstein is fourth nationally in total offense at 366.4 yards per game. Pitt could well be 7–0 heading into November.
Dillon Gabriel (21), Oregon Ducks
Where he came from: Oklahoma, and before that Central Florida.
Nobody has been around the college quarterbacking block longer than Gabriel, who is on pace to set the FBS record for most career starts; he’s at 154 and counting. Gabriel’s numbers aren’t as big yet as they were at Oklahoma, but they haven’t needed to be. Oregon has run the ball effectively enough to be a balanced offense that is not completely reliant on Gabriel chucking it. That equation might change this week with Ohio State coming to Eugene.
Will Howard (22), Ohio State Buckeyes
Where he came from: Kansas State.
Howard was highly prized in the transfer portal, but still something of a wait-and-see addition to a loaded roster in Columbus. So far, so good. He made a few mistakes against Iowa on Saturday but also threw four touchdown passes and ran for a score, giving him 16 total TDs in five games. It’s a lovely luxury having the likes of freshman Jeremiah Smith and veteran Emeka Egbuka to throw to; they have combined for 53 catches and 11 touchdowns.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Forde-Yard Dash: Vanderbilt’s Rise From Rock Bottom, Power of Transfer QBs.
