Close But No Cigar: The Commodore Curse

by Brendan Paschal

I was looking back on the 2018 Vanderbilt Football Season and it struck me that this wasn’t your mom and dad’s Commodore football team. They weren’t losing by significant margins. They weren’t getting blown out. Instead, they were… actually competing. But somehow they couldn’t shake the Commodore Curse in the fourth quarter.

I want y’all to imagine preparing to run a marathon. All the work you have put in training. Hours upon hours of running. The day of the race you feel extremely confident because of all of the work you have put in prior. Of course, there are a lot of strong racers next to you, but they don’t know how good you really are. During the race, you hang in there with the best of the best. Eventually, you can see the finish line. You are still neck and neck with your competition. That is right until the bitter end. When you’re 100 yards away everyone blows past you as you run out of steam.

Running Out of Steam

That was the story of Vanderbilt last season and the Commodore Curse. They finished the regular season 6-6 (3-5) in 2018, which placed them second to last in the SEC East. But the Commodores weren’t a bad team. In fact, they almost upset (8) Notre Dame, (14) Florida, (14) Kentucky, and Missouri last year. Four of their six losses were determined by ten points or less, all of which were scored in the fourth quarter.

Notre Dame scored late in the fourth to gain a 22-17 edge over Vanderbilt; the Commodores lead the Gators 21-20 after three quarters of play only to get outscored 21-6 in the fourth; Vandy was tied with Kentucky 7-7 only for Benny Snell to score with 8 minutes left in the fourth; and Missouri was down 28-26 going into the fourth only to score a touchdown to win the game.

When it came to close games, Vanderbilt almost always lost their edge at the very end. Sure, they held off a struggling Ole Miss team to win in overtime, but c’mon.

Time to Break the Commodore Curse

Derek Mason has taken the next step with Vanderbilt in its quest to build a legitimate football program, which is making them competitive in the East. He has brought in talented recruits that can run with the big dogs. His starting 11 can compete on both sides of the ball.

That being said, if Mason is to take the next step as head coach – winning these close games – he needs depth. The best teams in college football have deep rosters. Alabama’s second string could beat most teams in the SEC. That’s deep.

Mason wasn’t confident in rotating a lot of guys on defense in 2018. Having DB’s play 50+ snaps is a recipe for getting burned at some point. When their tired, interior linemen start to stand up off the snap, what used to be a 2-3 yard gain turns into a first down.

No matter how inspiring you are, or how driven the players, exhaustion always wins. If Mason can get some depth, however, expect Vanderbilt to raise some eyebrows.

Vanderbilt in 2019

2019 is going to be a tough season for Vanderbilt. The Commodores lost their starting quarterback, Kyle Shurmur to the NFL. They lost their top defensive back, Joejuan Williams to graduation. Vanderbilt has continued to find raw, diamond-in-the-rough-type players. They will compete in 2019, but they need to find a way to build depth.

The Commodore coaching job is the toughest in the SEC, but if Derek Mason is to continue to grow, he needs more bodies that can hang in the SEC. If he can’t do that, he won’t be coaching at Vanderbilt much longer. Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, and South Carolina are all getting better. Not growing doesn’t mean status quo in Nashville… it means you are falling behind.