Clark Lea responds to Nick Saban’s comment that Vanderbilt is easy place to play

When fans stormed the field at Vanderbilt following the team’s win over Alabama, head coach Clark Lea would’ve been able to hear former Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban‘s comments played over the speakers. It was a way of trolling Alabama in the emotional upset.

Nick Saban had recently shared that the only easy place to play on the road in the SEC was Vanderbilt, making it a bit ironic that Alabama fell in Nashville to the Commodores. For Lea, he says he wasn’t aware of the clip but that it also doesn’t bother him.

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“No,” Clark Lea said. “And, shoot, look, that doesn’t affect me. I don’t have an opinion on that. I love Coach. I mean, I’ve got so much respect for him and I don’t take any disrespect.”

For Clark Lea, the win over Alabama can’t be understated. A former Vanderbilt player, he’s now in his fourth year of a rebuild and is coming off a two-win season. So, finding a way to beat Alabama in what is, arguably, the best win in program history was massive.

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“What we need to do is fill the stadium with black and gold shirts, and when we do that, it will be a hard place to play,” Lea said. “It may not be the biggest, but it is on top of you and it can get loud. I think this is a glimpse as to what Saturday night in Nashville can be. So, I didn’t know. I stay pretty well-insulated in general, but that doesn’t have an effect on me.”

Those Vanderbilt fans that were in attendance made their presence felt and as time expired they stormed the field to celebrate. Fans tore down the goalposts and carried them to the Cumberland River for the Nashville Fire Department to fish out later. Now, Vanderbilt is auctioning off pieces of the goalposts.

This comes amid a massive renovation project to FirstBank Stadium. By the time that’s done, Vanderbilt hopes the home atmosphere has improved even more.

Nick Saban’s comments on road games at Vanderbilt

Nick Saban initially made his comments on the Vanderbilt atmosphere during an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show. There, he said it was the only easy SEC road environment.

“But the only place you’re going to play in the SEC that’s not hard to play, Vanderbilt,” Saban said. “When you play at Vanderbilt, you have more fans there than they have, and that’s no disrespect to them, it’s the truth. When we played in Nashville, we had more fans, Alabama fans, than what they had Vanderbilt fans.”

In the end, Clark Lea and Vanderbilt got the win over Alabama and, even if Lea isn’t bothered by those comments, it had to be incredibly satisfying.