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Clark Lea confirms Vanderbilt attempted to play 13th game for CFP resume, lists specific teams they would have played

Untitled design (2)by: Sam Gillenwater1 hour agosamdg_33

Of all the teams still campaigning to be in the College Football Playoff, almost none are doing as much right now as Vanderbilt. That includes even wanting to play another game just to prove that the Commodores deserve to be in the CFP.

Appearing on ‘Wake Up Barstool’ on Friday, Clark Lea confirmed that Vanderbilt prepared itself and had attempted to play a 13th game. He said he and his team want to prove themselves once more against anyone, anywhere, saying that Vandy was willing to travel to play any of the at-large teams like No. 10 Notre Dame, No. 12 Miami, or No. 15 Utah.

“Well, it’s true. I mean, and I told the players on Tuesday when we met. I just said, you know, have your bags packed and be ready, and this call could come at any point in time,” Lea said. “And I’ve said publicly, I mean – anybody that they want us to play, we’ll go there. We’ll go to Utah, we’ll go to Miami, we’ll go to Notre Dame to play them, because we believe in our team, you know.

“And, look, we’ve done all we could to find, you know, what is the location that allows us to get a thirteenth game exempt, and all those things and gone through the logistics of it. It’s not going to happen, but it’s not because we haven’t tried to make it happen.”

This wasn’t just the approach of the Vanderbilt football program, either. Lea said everyone involved in the school’s leadership at the university and in the athletic department was willing to do what it took to give the Commodores that additional chance, even if it’s not going to happen going into the field’s selection on Sunday.

“The cool thing has been, you know, that could certainly be a coach’s mindset, but this is our chancellor’s mindset, this is our athletic director’s mindset,” Lea said. “What I love is, from top down, our chancellor’s been working on this, our athletic director’s been working on this. Sometimes, as a coach, man, you come in, and it’s like, I want to do it, and you may want to do it. But, A., wait a second, pump the brakes. I walk into my office the other day and, out in the little lobby there, I’ve got our director of compliance sitting in there – this is on Tuesday – working on a plan to get us to a game in Puerto Rico. What an unbelievable statement that is about the attitude of this department, the attitude of this program, the attitude of this university. We want to be disruptors.”

Vanderbilt currently sits at No. 14 in the CFP Rankings, which, at this point, has essentially eliminated it from making the College Football Playoff. That’s despite the Commodores going 10-2, their best record in program history, with their only two losses being quality ones as they’re to teams ahead of them in the rating with No. 9 Alabama (10-2) and No. 13 Texas (9-3).

It’s for that reason why there’s as much frustration and desperation to do what they could to change things down in Nashville. Vandy knows it did just about all that it could have, having just posted an all-time season this fall, to have made the CFP.

“Again, if it gives us an opportunity to fight for the national (title)? I mean, just, here’s the thing. Every team in the country wants to win the national championship. That’s what we set course to do. January 7th, 2025, we got together for the first time as a team and said this is our goal,” Lea said. “And now we sit here, having done the things we felt like we needed to do to position ourselves to have a chance to fight for it, and, you know, we’re being held off by subjectivity and moving goalposts, with respect, to what hurdles need to be cleared for an SEC team to get into the tournament.”

This idea takes the thought of anytime, anywhere to a whole new level. That’s what Vanderbilt was willing to do, though, to justify themselves once more as a team that deserves to be in the College Football Playoff.

“To me, if you gave me a chance to play, I’m going to go play,” Lea said. “I bet on my team. I believe in this group. I want to give them every opportunity. That’s just because we believe in who we are, and we believe in what we can do. And, man, there’s nothing that excites me more as a competitor than putting the ball down and playing the game. And, I swear to you. How cool would it be to fly two teams to Puerto Rico, put the ball down in whatever stadium we have there, and just have it? Like that, to me, is what it’s all about.”