Clark Lea pounds table for Vanderbilt to make College Football Playoff with statement

Vanderbilt checked in at No. 14 in the penultimate College Football Playoff rankings on Tuesday night, putting the program in a dangerous position. The Commodores likely need multiple upsets, maybe big upsets, to make the playoff field.

To that end, coach Clark Lea is doing some campaigning. He made a nearly five-minute plea to open a press conference early this week.

“We’re here because we’ve got a really good football team here,” Lea said. “This is not about narratives and stories, it’s about the facts and the data that support a really good football program. It’s my responsibility to make that case and to make sure that I’m fighting for a team that I believe deeply in and I believe with every strand of my being deserves a chance to compete for a national championship.”

So what has Vanderbilt done to claim a potential spot in the playoff? Lea would spend the next few minutes outlining that case.

In doing so, he cited a number of different analytics and metrics. Most seem to paint Vanderbilt in a very favorable light.

“I think it’s the best thing for college football,” Lea said of a Commodores playoff berth. “I think this group of players and staff have worked really hard to put an exciting product on the field, one that’s energized our Nashville community and our Vanderbilt community, but the potential for this goes way beyond that. The merits of the case are about strength of record. The ESPN Football Power Index has us ranked 11th in terms of the strength of record. It’s about strength of schedule of the teams ranked ahead of us, only four have a higher strength of schedule ranking.”

Lea pointed to the schedule Vanderbilt has played as evidence of its worthiness for a playoff bid. It’s certainly an impressive slate.

“We’ve played six teams that were ranked at the time of our game against them,” Lea said. “Four of those were ranked in the top 15. So, again, those are measures for the moment to say that was what was perceived about those teams. Our two losses came on the road, at Alabama, at Texas. They’re a combined 19-5 on the season. Both of those games played out differently, but both we were within striking distance in the fourth quarter.

“We’re 10-2 against the spread. Again, I don’t pay a lot of attention to that, but I know that that record against the spread should be closer to 6-6. The expected point differential in games, we’ve outperformed the perception of our program.”

Lea lamented that perception of what Vanderbilt is as a program is hurting his current team. He said perceptions were formed well before the season began.

“I think this perception started at the beginning of our season,” Lea said. “We had a team coming off a bowl win against a really strong Georgia Tech team. Did return the most production in our league on offense and defense, and it took us all the way up until a win on the road at South Carolina to get ranked and get recognized. I feel like we’ve earned every bit of respect that we’ve gotten this year and I feel like the gap that we have to close keeps getting bigger.”

As for whether Vanderbilt could actually do some damage in the playoff, there’s not a doubt in Lea’s mind. He believes that wholeheartedly.

“We’re peaking at the end of the season,” Lea said. “We’ve come off back-to-back dominant performances in our league, the last of which was at Tennessee against a really good Tennessee team on the road.

“We have the second-best overall scoring differential in our league, behind only Texas A&M. And we have the third-best in terms of scoring differential in SEC games, behind Texas A&M and Alabama. Again, I think if the committee would look at it and take blind resumes into account here, and I know that’s not a part of their process, our team would benefit from that exercise. Just to look purely at the merits, purely at the quality wins and at the losses. Again, I think this group deserves to be competing for a national championship.”

Lea then highlighted the team’s offense and ability to score points to make the case for his team. After all, fans want to see teams with exciting offenses.

“What a great stage for the most exciting offense in all of college football,” Lea said. “When you talk about our offense, this is according to SportSource Analytics, we’re No. 1 in offensive efficiency, we’re No. 1 in yards per play, we’re No. 2 in DSSR (down series success rate), we’re No. 3 in points per possession, No. 3 in third down efficiency, No. 3 in big play percentage, No. 3 in offensive control rating and No. 8 in scoring offense, which includes being No. 4 in points per play. We’ve got the best player in the country playing quarterback for us, Diego Pavia. He is the best in college football. Should be a Heisman front-runner. We believe he belongs in New York and he belongs winning that award. “

Is all that enough for Vanderbilt to get in? Will it sway the committee at all? That remains to be seen.

“This team deserves the brightest lights in the biggest stages,” Lea said. “They’ve earned that right. Look, I don’t care how we have to get there. They can tell me whatever they want to tell me. If they want my team to play four more games, we’ll play four more. If there are teams that we need to play against to play into it, tell me when and tell me where, we’ll put the ball down in the parking lot and play.

“This group is competitive, they’re tough. It’s a blood and guts team and they’ve poured their heart into this. They deserve to have the chance to win it all.”