Ho-hum. Another season, another bowl.
This is getting routine at Vanderbilt. On Saturday, the Commodores punched their ticket for a third straight bowl appearance, hitting the six-win threshold with a 22-6 victory over Kentucky, all the while acting like it was no big deal.
At game’s end, there was no wild emotional scene on the sideline or in the stands. Commodores coach James Franklin was not subjected to a Gatorade shower. The closest thing to a celebration came from senior defensive tackle Jared Morse, who walked into the locker room holding up the pinky, ring and middle fingers on his left hand and shouting: “Three, baby!”
This change of tone is because of a change in culture on James Franklin’s coaching watch. These days, the Commodores expect to keep playing into the postseason. Why not? Under Franklin, Vanderbilt has almost doubled its number of bowl appearances. The Commodores went to four bowls in the first 121 years of the program’s history and now are 3-for-3 with Franklin as coach.
“Coach Franklin has an overall and general philosophy as to what will happen if we do what he asks and do what he says,” said quarterback Austyn Carta-Samuels, who played for the first time since suffering a knee injury against Georgia a month ago. “Those things just happen to come true when we listen to our coach. … I’m actually really excited that we got to that threshold because now we can focus on beating our next opponent.”
In case you were wondering, Vanderbilt’s next opponent is Tennessee. With UT sitting at 4-6, the Commodores would eliminate the Vols from bowl consideration for the second year by beating them at Neyland Stadium next Saturday night.
For now, though, there must be a sense of accomplishment for the Commodores, whether they admit it or not. While Franklin talks constantly about trying to go 1-0 each week, there’s something to be said for going 1-0 at least six times in three straight seasons.
Food for thought: In the powerful SEC, only six teams — Alabama, Georgia, LSU, South Carolina, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt — are assured of going to a bowl for the third straight year. Mississippi State and Florida might yet get there but neither has six wins yet.
“When you beat an SEC team and you handle your business, we couldn’t be more excited,” Franklin said. “We love the fact that we’re 1-0 this week. … At the end of the year, we’ll come in here, and if you guys tell us we’ve been invited to go somewhere, there’s nobody that will be more excited than us.”
Franklin might be treating “bowl” like a four-letter word, but the rest of the Commodore Nation isn’t. Within an hour of the game’s conclusion, Vanderbilt’s official athletics website had a link where fans could make deposits on tickets to a bowl game, whichever that bowl might be.
Against Kentucky, the Commodores simply took care of business. And it wasn’t pretty. Aside from Jordan Matthews’ 12 catches for 141 yards, including receptions of 41 and 34 yards, the offense struggled.
Franklin said they “grinded it out.” Another way of looking at it: Vanderbilt kept plugging while trusting that the Big Blue would blow it.
And that’s what the ’Cats did. Their only touchdown was followed by a blocked extra point kick, which Vanderbilt’s Steven Clarke returned for two points. In addition to four interceptions thrown by Jalen Whitlow, the ’Cats were stuffed on a fake field goal and managed only 93 second-half yards.
For those keeping score, Vanderbilt now has won seven November games in a row over three seasons and is 8-2 in the past three Novembers. In the decade before Franklin arrived, the Commodores were 3-32 in November.
Now 6-4 and with a bowl berth secured, Vanderbilt has a shot at a second straight nine-win season. Prior to last season, the Commodores had not won nine games in a season since 1915.
“We have expectations — internal expectations of how to play and how to conduct our business, and we’re going to keep focused on them,” Franklin said. “It’s done us well over the last couple of years so we’re not changing.”
And there’s no reason to change now.
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